Pearl Harbor has been part of my consciousness for as long as I can remember. I was born almost exactly 9 months later - on September 9th, 1942. Whenever it was that I understood about sex and procreation, I linked up Pearl Harbor and my parents "procreating" after news of that event. It is just part of my genetic make-up, I guess - not that I have ever said something like that to my students over many years of teaching about Pearl Harbor! So, I feel personal about Pearl Harbor.
I have visited the memorial there as well. It is a remarkable and emotionally moving display, and is really worth a visit. But, as a historian, I have so many questions: why weren't we better prepared? Did FDR want the Japanese to attack, since the American public was still against entering the war? I suppose that's the most important question: did the US do something to provoke the attack? Or, was an attack inevitable with Japan (and Germany) wanting a foothold in the Pacific? There is no question that the attack on Pearl Harbor and its death toll brought nearly 100% of the American public on board for war against Japan, and therefore, against Germany, its ally - there were Gallup polls then, and we really do have that evidence.
So, back in those pre-historic days when there were no computers, and I was in college, I wanted to find out as much as I could about why the Japanese were able to carry out such a surprise attack on the US fleet, nestled quietly in Honolulu Bay. Over the years, I have read many books written about Pearl Harbor, from the Japanese point of view (there was dissension in Japan over this attack and how Americans would react) to various attacks on FDR, accusing him of being a warmonger. I have read the telegrams and letters that the Japanese and American diplomats exchanged in the year leading up to Pearl Harbor. I came up with two major conclusions, and, by the way, I got high A's on every paper I wrote on this topic.
The first conclusion I reached is that while President Roosevelt definitely believed that we should get into this war, there is no evidence that he wanted an attack on the US to be the precipitating event. He was a skilled politician, and the evidence supports that he was trying in every way possible to persuade everyone that the US would have to get involved, sooner or later, in the conflict. As early as 1937, he began to prepare for possible involvement, arguing for "war preparedness" as a theme, but continuing to support "Neutrality" in yet another Act of Congress. In 1938, he asked for and got emergency powers from the Congress. In 1939, he made his famous "Arsenal of Democracy" speech, and spoke about "non-belligerency" instead of "neutrality". He persuaded industry leaders to join the effort and organized the government, creating "committees" that would lead agriculture, manufacturing, and labor initiatives to gear up for war - still in the late 30's. In 1940, he ran for re-election for a third term arguing that while he kept the country out of war for the time being, he was preparing the US for possible involvement because "we can't get back into bed and pull the covers up over our heads". He negotiated the famous "lend-lease" plans to loan allies our older ships on a "lease" basis. In fact, one can say that President Roosevelt was completely aware of the threat posed by Germany and Japan and responded in a way that put our national security first. World War II basically killed him: he aged visibly in the years from Pearl Harbor to when he died of a heart attack in April of 1945. The photographs tell the story.
The second fact that I discovered went contrary to everything I had learned about Pearl Harbor: the fleet that was attacked was aging, not new. This is used as an argument against Roosevelt, that he wanted these old ships to be destroyed so that new ones could be built. The fleet that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor was not modern by Japanese or German standards. It would have been far worse had our newest ships and planes been destroyed - but they were not. Still, if one looks at the unemployment statistics, it is amazing how much industrial build-up had taken place before Pearl Harbor. At the time of the 1932 presidential election, the figure was 29% unemployed. In 1936, that had moved to 19%, and by 1940, it was down to 2%. This happened because of war preparedness and building the "arsenal of democracy" to supply friendly countries. By 1942, after Pearl Harbor, unemployment was at zero, and firms were forced to hire, in order: women, disabled, and last, minorities. But the destruction of our fleet at Pearl Harbor did not set us back, the way many histories imply - in fact, it was what got us into the war - not the holocaust, not the rape of Nanking, not the fear of Germany and Japan taking over the world.
Most people agree that this was a "good war", even though that is such an oxymoron - how can something so awful ever be called good? But it is a national myth that we went into this war for some "moral" reasons. We went into this war because Pearl Harbor forced us to, convinced the American public that it was the right thing to do, and FDR capitalized on this. The President did not want Pearl Harbor, but definitely did want to go into this war because he understood that a Japanese and German victory would be a huge threat to American democracy. The President wanted to help our allies because it was in our national interest to do so. The Japanese calculated that by destroying our fleet at Pearl Harbor, they could defeat the US by the end of 1942 - and Hitler seconded that. But largely because of FDR's leadership, we actually were more ready to fight this war than the Japanese and Germans expected - and more ready than most Americans knew.
The rest is history - and it is hard for me to believe that Pearl Harbor was 70 years ago. Wow. It also means that I am almost 70, too. Perhaps the US way of life is as threatened, in different ways, today, as it was then. I don't think any of us can predict what will happen in the next 70 years, but I do think that the strength to pull together in the face of a perceived threat to our way of life, may be why World War II is remembered as a "good" war.
