Only a day after the attack the new rocked the nation, causing widespread panic and anger towards the Japanese and an outcry for involvement in the war. FDR’s famous “Day of Infamy” speech outlined America’s stance in the war after the attack, stating that “since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan … a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.” An hour after the speech, the war was formally declared by the senate in a landslide of 82-0 and in the House of Representatives in a vote of 388-1. The attack on Pearl Harbor was just what Roosevelt needed to fully bring America into the war because even though shots had already been fired in the Atlantic against US ships, there was still not a strong enough incentive to declare war. Three days after, Germany and Italy declared war on America, showing their faith to their Japanese allies, but introducing a powerful new combatant in the war. Congress once again reciprocated, and declared war on the European powers, confirming America’s dedication to be part of WW2.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the effects spread into America, causing the creation extremely anti-Japanese legislation, such as Executive order 9066 two months after the attack. This order allowed for Japanese-Americans to be placed in relocation camps for the remainder of the war. The attack also spurred America into action, causing the war, formerly seen as “Europe's war”, to be taken more seriously.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/01/06/how-america-changed-after-pearl-harbor
https://military.laws.com/results-of-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor
http://time.com/4593483/pearl-harbor-franklin-roosevelt-infamy-speech-attack/
Great post McKinley. While such a monumental event in history we don't often talk about pearl harbor so it was great to learn some of the more detailed aspects of it such as the stats for how many ships/planes we lost as well as the breakdown of votes in the house of representatives. Something quite interesting I discovered from a Huffington post article was how despite the fact that 8 ships were sunk, all but 2 were returned to the fleet. And even the two that were completely sunk the USS West Virginia and the USS California, both were resurrected and reused. Overall great and insightful post
ReplyDelete--https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pearl-harbor-anniversary-facts_us_5661ce33e4b079b2818e67b0
This post does a great job of summarizing the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was such a significant event not just in the war but in our country's history, and also explaining its immediate impact. This was the event that finally brought us into the war because of its magnitude, so it is interesting that one of Japan's goals was to prevent America from joining the war. Also, as leaders of other countries at the same time were expecting the United States to come into the war eventually, even Hitler, who ended up declaring the war that would bring the US into the war in Europe as well, it is interesting how Japan decided on this surprise attack as a deterrent. I was curious about the one person in the House of Representatives who voted against the war, and I found the article below. The one person out of the House of Representatives and the Senate who voted against the war was Jeanette Rankin. She was from Montana and was actually the first woman elected to Congress. She had voted against World War I as well and often received criticism for her different perspective, which many citizens brought back to the fact that she was a woman and thought of as proof that women were not capable of the challenging decisions involved in national leadership. Nonetheless, Rankin was a pacifist and was not afraid to openly oppose American involvement in wars such as World War II throughout her life, even as much of the public condemned her.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jeanette-rankin-casts-sole-vote-against-wwii
I like how you not only summarize the events that took place during the bombing of Pearl Harbor but you also explain the causes and effects that took place because of it. Furthermore I think that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor achieved the opposite of what it was supposed to achieve, I think that America was now more than ever more eager to strike back despite their loss in navy, which prompted industries to manufacture more vehicles for the military than ever before.
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