Pearl Harbor's Lesson for America Today

It was 72 years ago today, 7 December 1941, at 7:48 a.m. on Hawaii, that an Imperial Japanese naval-air force attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese goal was to eliminate the American Pacific fleet and neutralize the US while Japan conquered China and the Pacific Rim - Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, Hong Kong, the Philippines and finally Australia and New Zealand. Churchill wrote that, when learning of the Pearl Harbor attack and three days later that the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk in Malaysia, he tossed and turned all night, seeing the "the horror," the frightening image of a Pacific Ocean completely controlled by Japan while Britain and the US were helpless. FDR had moved the US Pacific fleet from California to Hawaii to prevent just that. But the American military strategists believed Japan would attack the US in the Philippines and leave Hawaii alone because of its distance from Japanese military installations. The Pearl Harbor base was attacked by Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight US Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. Fortunately, and this was known to the Japanese, all three of the US Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers - Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga - were absent from Pearl Harbor. Ironically, the Imperial Japanese Navy top command was so focused on destroying the maximum number of battleships that, despite the absence and unknown location of the American carriers, the Japanese Admiral leading the force, Yamamoto, decided to press ahead because the Japanese knew they could hit Pearl Harbor. Their only question was the shallowness of the bay where the US fleet was anchored, which would make it easier for the Americans to raise, repair and salvage the ships hit. In fact, all but one were later raised and six of the eight battleships returned to service and fought in the war. The cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer training ship and one minelayer, as well as 188 US aircraft were destroyed. 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded. Because of low fuel, deteriorating weather and fear that a US air strike from California might ensue - as well as the worry about night aircraft landings on the Japanese return (only the British had night landing capability in late 1941) - Yamamoto decided not to launch a third strike that would have been aimed at important base installations, including the power station, shipyard maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section). These were not attacked and their survival, along with that of the three aircraft carriers, made the US recovery time much shorter. ~~~~~ The attack was a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8), the United States declared war on Japan - Britain actually declared war on Japan 9 hours before the US did because of time zone differences, but largely because Churchill had vowed to declare war on Japan "within the hour" if America were attacked. Domestic American support for non-interventionism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the US prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the US on December 11, which was reciprocated by the US the same day. There were numerous historical precedents for an unannounced military action, such as the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan, however, the lack of any formal warning while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941," a date which will live in infamy." ~~~~~ Dear readers, we need to know the facts about Pearl Harbor because it and other key acts and reactions have shaped the world we live in, from Alexander the Great to today. We cannot escape history, but we can be blindsided by it if we are ignorant of its events and their impact. Today, Pearl Harbor should remind America that military preparedness is vital to its survival as a free nation. There are almost no second chances in history. Nations are strong and survive or they are weak and complacent and they collapse. One must think today of Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, al-Qaida, Islamic Jihadists. They should not be dismissed as weak or trusted as friends. They are independent powers or coalitions who want to replace the Pax Americana with a world ruled by them. It will happen if America fails to bear the burden of world leadership. That burden is onerous, but living a less-than-free existence as a bottom tier country led by a new world power without democratic principles at its core would be infinitely more burdensome - for America and for the world she protects.