The Pearl Harbor attack in the winter of 1941 would change the lives of all Americans forever, specifically those of Japanese descent. In the early morning of December 7, a U.S. naval base on the island of Oahu, right near Honolulu, Hawaii, was attacked by Japanese fighter planes, dive bombers and torpedo planes. The planes descended and dropped bombs, destroying a substantial amount of American Pacific Fleet and killing over 2,400 American soldiers and civilians. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan one day after the attack, beginning US involvement in WWII. He referred to it as “a day that will live in infamy.” To study the event in isolation would be insufficient.The history preceding and succeeding this tragedy helps to better understand why Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor and the discrimination that Japanese-American citizens of the U.S. would face after Japan attacked. About 30 survivors of Pearl Harbor gathered at the sight of the initial bombing in Hawaii when the clock stroke 7:55am, the same time the attack began, to participate in rememberence.
Japan and the U.S. were allies in WWI which ended only two decades before the Pearl Harbor bombings. However, their relationship would soon shift. Japan grew their military power in the 1930s and alongside their interest in conquering China for expansion of territory and natural resources. When Japan invaded the Chinese city of Nanjing, where thousands of war crimes were committed, they inadvertently attacked an American gunboat. This event was the breaking point for America, as they had also been in support of China when Japan had invaded Nanjing. The U.S. soon felt uneasy about its political relations with Japan, so Roosevelt put trading sanctions on war materials in an effort to discourage Japan’s expansion of land and power. To the dismay of the U.S., however, Japan continued to grow power and involve themselves in the Axis Powers. President Roosevelt soon after imposed a trade embargo on oil with Japan. This greatly affected Japan, who relied on the U.S. for 90% of its oil imports. The Japanese authorities became increasingly exasperated towards the U.S., which served as one of the motivational factors catalyzing their attack on Pearl Harbor.
During the Pearl Harbor bombing, 120,000 people with Japanese ancestry lived in the United States and almost two thirds of them were born and raised in the U.S. After the attacks, a large wave of anti-Japanese fear caused the Roosevelt administration to create an uncivil and cruel policy towards these citizens. He forced all Japanese Americans out of their homes, separated them from their families, and put them into internment camps where they would live for the rest of World War II. Both the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had certain suspicions about Japanese Americans since the 1930s. Once the Pearl Harbor attacks happened, both of these agencies took 3,000 suspected subversives into custody, half of whom were of Japanese descent. Although there were government officials that were hesitant about incarcerating Japanese Americans, they did not intervene in the president’s decision.
The anti-Japanese beliefs circulating the U.S. after Pearl Harbor and the Japanese internment camps of WWII can be compared to how anti-Asian crimes have risen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 9,000 anti-Asian crimes have occured since the beginning of the pandemic and Asians all over the world have been accused of the pandemic being their fault. Without this nuanced consideration, the holistic legacy of Pearl Harbor would continue to be unrecognized.
Pearl Harbor continues to live in ‘infamy’ as our former president Roosevelt predicted. It’s essential to take this as an opportunity to reflect on the country we were, the country we are and perhaps the one we want to be. Pearl Harbor set America on the course for military hegemony, the loaded act of nation-building and ultimately the will to establish itself as the global superpower and exemplar of democracy it’s known as today. Remembering Pearl Harbor in 2021 takes center stage with the backdrop of various escalating globalist crises which will ultimately force the hand of America to re-evaluate a similar question as the one posed 80 years ago today. This consideration comes at a time when Ukraine braces itself for the ominous threat regarding potential Russian invasion; tensions between China and Taiwan are escalating to the point where American ambiguity may no longer suffice; and diplomacy faltered in Vienna last week during updated Iran Nuclear Deal talks. On this 80th anniversary, it remains essential to remember this monumental tragedy with comprehensive consideration.
