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Secretary of State Cordell Hull held multiple meetings, however
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Franklin D. Roosevelt. Infamy Speech Transcript. <http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/infamy.shtml> 1941 Yuichi Arima, The Way to Pearl Harbor: U.S. vs Japan, ICE Case Studies, December, 2003
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James William Morley, Japan’s Road to the Pacific War, The Final Confrontation: Japan’s Negotiations with the United States, New York: Columbia University Press, …show more content…
Such can be attributed to three factors: Japans alliance to Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy through the Tripartite Pact; Japan’s desire for economic control among Southeast Asia and; Japan’s refusal to leave mainland China. Revisionist historian Charles A. Beard reasoned that Roosevelt had intentionally forced Japan into a position where it had little choice but to attack.4 However, a variety of other factors had contributed to the Japanese decision to bomb Pearl Harbor and sole blame cannot be placed on the foreign policies of the United States. Historian Gordon W. Prange dismissed revisionist arguments, maintaining that President Roosevelt did not deliberately maneuver the nation into the war by permitting the Japanese to attack5. Japan did have the option to agree to Washington’s demands, although this option was obviously must less desirable. Jonathan Utley similarly contends; “No one during the fall of 1941 wanted war with Japan... Roosevelt could see nothing to be gained by a war with Japan. Hawks such as Acheson, [Interior Secretary Harold] Ickes, and [Treasury Secretary Henry] Morgenthau argued that their strong policies would avoid war, not provoke one.” 6 British foreign policies contributed in a significantly lesser way to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Britain had three major concerns with Japan. Firstly, any Japanese expansion to the south would jeopardize British colonial territory. Secondly, Japan’s emergence as …show more content…
Home to the United States pacific fleet, Pearl Harbor at the time had some of the United States Navy’s key ships anchored in her harbor. Of the more than 90 ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there. Seven were moored on Battleship Row along the southeast shore of Ford Island while the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) lay docked across the channel. The attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where she sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. Another objective of Japan was to buy time to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorised by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act (otherwise known as the Two-Ocean Navy Act; passed to increase the size of the United States Navy by 70% 8) erased any chance of victory. Finally, it was meant to deliver a severe blow to American morale, one which would deter Americans from committing to a war extending into the western Pacific Ocean and Dutch East Indies. To maximise the disillusionment felt by the United States, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. The overall
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Franklin D. Roosevelt. Infamy Speech Transcript. <http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/infamy.shtml> 1941 Yuichi Arima, The Way to Pearl Harbor: U.S. vs Japan, ICE Case Studies, December, 2003
2
3
James William Morley, Japan’s Road to the Pacific War, The Final Confrontation: Japan’s Negotiations with the United States, New York: Columbia University Press, …show more content…
Such can be attributed to three factors: Japans alliance to Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy through the Tripartite Pact; Japan’s desire for economic control among Southeast Asia and; Japan’s refusal to leave mainland China. Revisionist historian Charles A. Beard reasoned that Roosevelt had intentionally forced Japan into a position where it had little choice but to attack.4 However, a variety of other factors had contributed to the Japanese decision to bomb Pearl Harbor and sole blame cannot be placed on the foreign policies of the United States. Historian Gordon W. Prange dismissed revisionist arguments, maintaining that President Roosevelt did not deliberately maneuver the nation into the war by permitting the Japanese to attack5. Japan did have the option to agree to Washington’s demands, although this option was obviously must less desirable. Jonathan Utley similarly contends; “No one during the fall of 1941 wanted war with Japan... Roosevelt could see nothing to be gained by a war with Japan. Hawks such as Acheson, [Interior Secretary Harold] Ickes, and [Treasury Secretary Henry] Morgenthau argued that their strong policies would avoid war, not provoke one.” 6 British foreign policies contributed in a significantly lesser way to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Britain had three major concerns with Japan. Firstly, any Japanese expansion to the south would jeopardize British colonial territory. Secondly, Japan’s emergence as …show more content…
Home to the United States pacific fleet, Pearl Harbor at the time had some of the United States Navy’s key ships anchored in her harbor. Of the more than 90 ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there. Seven were moored on Battleship Row along the southeast shore of Ford Island while the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) lay docked across the channel. The attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, where she sought access to natural resources such as oil and rubber. Another objective of Japan was to buy time to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorised by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act (otherwise known as the Two-Ocean Navy Act; passed to increase the size of the United States Navy by 70% 8) erased any chance of victory. Finally, it was meant to deliver a severe blow to American morale, one which would deter Americans from committing to a war extending into the western Pacific Ocean and Dutch East Indies. To maximise the disillusionment felt by the United States, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. The overall