December 7, 1941 : We Remember Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later

It was 75 years ago today that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and forced the United States into the Second World War. • • • Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The devastating air barrage lasted just two hours. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote -- that of Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Rankin was a pacifist who had also voted against the American entrance into World War I. Rankin said : "As a woman, I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else." Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict, America had finally joined World War II. • • • WHAT LED TO THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been at odds for decades. The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerence toward China. The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market, so Japan had declared war on China in 1937. American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan would have to rein in its expansionism. Instead, the sanctions made the Japanese more determined to stand their ground. Months of negotiations between Japan and the United States were futlie. War seemed inevitable. But, no one believed that the Japanese would start the war with an attack on American territory. First, Hawaii and Japan were 4,000 miles apart. And, American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would take place in one of the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific -- the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina. Because American military leaders were not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields. To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistible target. The Japanese plan was to destroy the US Pacific Fleet so that the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. • • • “A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY.” At about 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, a Sunday morning, Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored below. At 8:10, an 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater. By the time the attack was over, every battleship in Pearl Harbor -- USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada -- had sustained significant damage. All but the USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired. In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, almost 2,500 men were killed and another 1,000 were wounded. But the Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and as it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were away from the base on December 7 -- some had returned to the US mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands. Further, the Pearl Harbor assault had left intact the base’s most vital onshore facilities -- oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks. As a result, the US Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack. • • • THE AMERICAN ENTRY INTO WWII CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY. “Yesterday,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said on December 8, “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked....No matter now long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” • After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time after years of discussion and debate about staying out of the world's trouble spots, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them. Instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japan’s first occupation by a foreign power. • On December 8, Congress approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. For the second time, Congress reciprocated, declaring war on Germany and Italy. More than two years after the start of the conflict, the United States had entered World War II. • • • DEAR READERS, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Pearl Harbor on December 26 and 27, the first visit by a Japanese leader. Abe will not apologize for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 75 years ago, according to Abe's top aide, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who said the purpose of Abe's visit is to console the souls of those who died in the war. While the lack of an apology could disappoint US war veterans, Abe hopes the visit will highlight the close alliance between the former foes. Experts say it is a message Abe wants to send both to regional rival China and to US President-elect Donald Trump, who has criticized Tokyo as a free-rider on defense. Suga told a news conference after the visit was announced : "This visit is for the sake of consoling the souls of those who died in the war, not for the sake of an apology. I think that the prime minister’s visit will be an opportunity to send the message that the calamity of war must not be repeated and...express the value of reconciliation between Japan and the United States." The planning for Abe's Pearl Harbor visit began after Prasident Obama became the first serving US President to visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where the United States dropped an atomic bomb in the closing days of the war in 1945. • We await Prime Minister Abe and will wlecome him as a trusted friend of America, but that does not erase the memories of the December 7, 1941, attack that killed so many American soldiers. Nor will it erase the call to "Remember Pearl Harbor" -- one of the darkest days in US military and diplomatic history.