James Baquet

In 1939, Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, mounted an unprovoked invasion on neighboring Poland and touched off the Second World War.

Half a world away, the United States had remained aloof. The U.S. Congress had passed a series of “Neutrality Acts” in the 1930s in direct response to the growing turmoil in the world. This policy hampered the ability of the United States to come to the aid of its allies, and was reversed in 1941 as a result of increasing aggression by German submarines on U.S. shipping.

But it was the December 7, 1941, attack by the Japanese on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in what was then Hawaii Territory that caused President Franklin D. Roosevelt to state in a famous speech, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.” Days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S., and the U.S. reciprocated. America had entered World War II.

Within a seven-hour period, Japan also had launched attacks against Malaya (now Malaysia), Singapore, Hong Kong (all British possessions at the time), Guam, the Philippine Islands, Wake Island, and Midway Island (all then U.S. possessions). FDR called December 7th “a date which will live in infamy.”

The Pearl Harbor attack was devastating. Four U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, and four were sunk. (Six of the damaged battleships were later repaired and returned to service in the war.) Five smaller ships were sunk or damaged; 188 aircraft destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed; and 1,178 more were wounded. Japan lost only 29 of 414 aircraft, with 74 more damaged, and all five of their midget submarines. Sixty-four Japanese were killed, and one captured.

The Japanese were confident the war would be over before the U.S. could respond. They were wrong, as the conflict dragged on another four years.

At the time of the bombing, Japan had neither declared war officially nor explicitly warned the U.S.; a tribunal later determined the attack on Pearl Harbor to be a war crime.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. cowardly, low-down

2. apart, uninterested

3. court of justice

4. held back, unable to proceed

5. continued slowly

6. fame for a bad reason, negative reputation

7. clearly, straightforwardly

8. without cause for action

9. very destructive

10. caused to ignite or explode