Pearl Harbor

The Road to Pearl Harbor

  • Almost from start of WW2 USA and Japan on collision course
  • US alarmed by Japan’s aggressive designs
  • Anxious to find way to restrain her
  • Yet Administration just as cautious and hesitant as it was towards Germany
  • FDR not willing to allow Japan to dominate South East Asia but because of strength of isolationism and his own revulsion against war he did no more than react against Japan’s moves

Japanese Moves

  • Spring 1940 after Nazi triumphs in Europe had whetted Japanese appetites
  • France and Netherlands prostrate – they saw chance to extend their ‘New Order’ in East Asia
  • Stepped up the war against China
  • Coveted French Indochina and Dutch East Indies for oil and rubber
  • Pressured GB into closing Burma Road – chief supply route to Nationalist China
  • Forced Vichy France to grant them bases in northern Indochina
  • September 1940 military alliance with Italy and Germany
  • US public opinion averse to war with Japan but favoured denying them raw materials needed in war with China
  • FDR gradually applied economic sanctions

US measures against Japan

  • July 1940 banned export without licence of strategic materials especially oil
  • September absolute embargo on all scrap iron and steel except to Western hemisphere and GB
  • December cut off machine tools, chemicals and certain other vital war materials
  • Increased aid to China
  • Encouraged GB to open Burma Road (they did)
  • Warned Japan of consequences of any move against GB or Dutch colonies

Japanese reaction to FDR’s next moves

  • None of these steps had much effect on Japanese expansionists
  • What deterred them for a while was fear that if Japan was at war with US, the Soviets would attack Manchurian border
  • Japanese – Soviet Neutrality Act of April 1941 and then invasion of Russia by Hitler two months later removed that threat
  • Japanese made fresh demands on Vichy to secure bases in south Indochina
  • Seemed to portend an attack on Malaya and Dutch East Indies
  • 26th July FDR froze all Japanese assets in US
  • Also closed Panama Canal to Japanese ships
  • Philippine militia mobilised
  • August 1st banned oil exports to Japan
  • GB and Dutch did same
  • It meant virtually a world-wide oil embargo on Japan
  • Japanese oil reserves would last only 18 months at most
  • Japan either had to abandon its expansion or go to war to get supplies

Negotiations

  • Militarists wanted to continue but the navy was anxious to avoid a war they might lose
  • Prime Minister Konoye continued with attempt to negotiate settlement with US
  • Japan ready to promise they’d refrain from further expansion in SE Asia and would withdraw from Indochina on settlement of the ‘China Incident’
  • In return they demanded: an end to aid for China; unfreezing of Japan’s assets; restoration of oil supplies
  • September 3rd 1941 US rejected the demands and insisted Japan withdraw from China and end Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy
  • FDR’s critics say he was hell-bent on war and that he rejected Konoye’s proposals to provoke Japan into striking first blow
  • FDR wanted peace in Pacific but not at China’s expense
  • He and his advisors convinced Japan bluffing
  • His inflexibility was a godsend to the military in Japan

Last Ditch Negotiations and War

  • September 6th 1941 Imperial Conference in Tokyo agreed to give diplomacy one last chance
  • If no agreement by early October they would resort to war
  • This was extended to December later
  • Negotiations continued right up to outbreak of war but neither side would budge on the issue of China
  • November 26th after rejection of their final terms Japanese cabinet confirmed decision to go to war
  • December 7th Japanese carriers attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii without declaring war
  • Also attacked Siam, Philippines, Malaya and Dutch East Indies
  • Universal indignation in USA
  • Even FDR’s strongest critics agreed on need for retaliation
  • Day after Pearl attack Congress passed resolution declaring war
  • Only single vote against
  • Germany and Italy knew nothing about plan to attack Pearl but declared war on US December 11th

Subsequent Controversy

  • Over responsibility for Pearl Harbor disaster
  • It was asked why it hadn’t been anticipated and steps taken to repel it especially as US had broken Japanese diplomatic code and could read messages between Tokyo and Japanese representatives in US
  • Revisionist historians say FDR knew attack was coming and exposed the fleet to it so he could unite US behind him
  • Administration did know an attack was coming but intercepted dispatches gave no hint where the blow would fall
  • US leaders thought Malaya, Dutch East Indies and possibly Philippines were the target
  • Few believed Japan foolhardy enough to attack Hawaii
  • Few thought they had the capacity to do it all simultaneously
  • Basic reason for Pearl Harbor debacle was miscalculation, misunderstanding, negligence and misfortune
  • Material in decoded intercepts wasn’t properly evaluated or effectively distributed
  • Commanders in Hawaii should have taken more precautions
  • When radar detected Japanese planes it was thought they were US B17s
  • US left crippled for a time in the Pacific
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