Pearl Harbor Research Topic via ProQuest eLibrary
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan.”
With those words, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Seventy-five years ago tomorrow Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaii Territory. The surprising assault came in the early hours of a tranquil Sunday morning, and it hastened the United States’ entry into World War II. Over 2,400 servicemen and civilians lost their lives that day. For the Greatest Generation, Pearl Harbor was their September 11th.
The attack at Pearl Harbor was a pivotal moment in American history. Until December 7, 1941, the United States’ policy regarding World War II was one of isolation. The provocation by the Japanese that day transformed America from the once fourteenth-ranked military power to the world’s leading superpower. It moved the United States to be more involved on the world stage.
Very few, if any, American military and government leaders thought Pearl Harbor would ever be attacked. It was believed to be “the strongest fortress in the world” and too far from Japan. The Philippines was a more likely target. Two waves of Japanese Zero fighters, more than 350 in total, launched from six aircraft carriers within 300 miles of the Hawaiian islands from took aim at Battleship Row and Hickam Airfield where over 300 American warbirds stood tip to tip. Japan’s goal was to prevent the United States from hindering its military actions in Southeast Asia by neutralizing the U.S. Pacific Fleet. In just 90 minutes, Japan devastated the American forces at Pearl Harbor. The attack was a great tactical victory for the Japanese.
The numbers were staggering: 2,403 lives lost, 1,178 wounded, five battleships sunk and almost 200 planes destroyed. The sight of the sunken USS Arizona remains one of the most iconic images of that day. To this day, 1,177 men lie at rest in her remains on the harbor floor.
Wreckage of the USS Arizona [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons
The numbers of World War II veterans dwindle each day and their personal accounts go with them. To read their stories and learn more about the attack at Pearl Harbor, search eLibrary and its vast resources of timely newspapers, magazine articles and primary source materials.
Related Research Topics
World War II
Japan in World War II
U.S. Navy
Related Posts
August 4, 2015 Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 70 Years Since the Atomic Bomb
December 3, 2013 Remembering Pearl Harbor
August 31, 2016 100th Anniversary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park