research paper on pearl harbour

Pearl Harbor at 75

Seventy-five years ago on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaii Territory.

Seventy-five years ago, on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaii Territory. In President Roosevelt’s address to Congress asking for a declaration of war, he called it a “day which will live in infamy.”

The Japanese hoped that the 184 aircraft in their first wave of attack would strike a paralyzing blow. They hit 24 American warships, including eight battleships (four of which sunk), destroyed several hundred aircraft, and killed 2,403 people. The blow, however, was far from paralyzing.

The attack has been called the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. But political scientist John Mueller argues that, militarily, the attack was more of “an inconvenience than a catastrophe” for the U.S. He echoes the Navy Department’s official analysis: the attack only “temporarily disabled every battleship and most of the aircraft,” most of which were soon back in service or replaced many times over. Six of the eight damaged battleships actually saw service again. Only two ships hit at Pearl were complete losses.

The salvaged battleships—the youngest was 20 years old—mattered little in context of the unprecedented American industrial-military expansion unleashed by the war. Superior replacements in great numbers soon flooded the Pacific, where aircraft carriers were becoming infinitely more important than battleships in the new era of naval warfare. For airplanes, the situation was similar: in 1942, the U.S. produced 47,836 military aircraft, compared to Japan’s 8,86l.

The Japanese utterly failed to cripple the American navy. Some have argued that the attack was engineered to gain time for the simultaneous Japanese attacks on U.S. bases on the Philippines, Guam, and Wake, as well as on the British positions in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Mueller and others respond that the U.S. was in no way prepared to fight those battles yet.

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Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, appointed chief of the Pacific Fleet just weeks after the attack, would later thank God that the antique fleet had been in Pearl Harbor rather on the open sea confronting a modern Japanese fleet. He felt the losses would have been far greater in those circumstances.

Mueller does go on to argue that “disaster” is a fitting word to describe Pearl Harbor if you look at the strategic and political consequences. It was certainly a monumental disaster for Imperial Japan. As an attempt to defeat the will of the American people, the attack “was phenomenally successful in its shock effect, but the shock was exactly the opposite the Japanese hoped for.”

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Pearl Harbor

By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 6, 2022 | Original: October 29, 2009

Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

Japan and the Path to War

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise , but Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades.

The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market.

To this end, Japan declared war on China in 1937, resulting in the Nanking Massacre and other atrocities.

American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan would have to rein in its expansionism.

Instead, the sanctions made the Japanese more determined to stand their ground. During months of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, D.C ., neither side would budge. It seemed that war was all but inevitable.

Where Is Pearl Harbor?

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii , is located near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from Japan. No one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii.

Additionally, American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would take place in one of the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific: the Dutch East Indies, Singapore or Indochina .

Because American military leaders were not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields.

To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistibly easy target.

USS Arizona

The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack.

At about 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored below. At 8:10, a 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside.

Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma . With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater.

Less than two hours later, the surprise attack was over, and every battleship in Pearl Harbor— USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada —had sustained significant damage. (All but USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired.)

Impact of the Pearl Harbor Attack

In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most importantly, more than 2,000 people died.

But the Japanese had failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. By the 1940s, battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel: Aircraft carriers were, and as it happened, all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were away from the base on December 7. (Some had returned to the mainland and others were delivering planes to troops on Midway and Wake Islands.)

Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the base’s most vital onshore facilities—oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks—intact. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack.

How Many People Died in Pearl Harbor? 

The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel , including sailors, soldiers and civilians. Additionally, 1,178 people were wounded. 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. 

Half of the dead at Pearl Harbor were on the USS Arizona. Today the sunken battleship serves as a memorial to all Americans who died in the attack.

'A Date Which Will Live in Infamy'

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on December 8, the day after the crushing attack on Pearl Harbor.

“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.”

He went on to say, “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.”

America Enters World War II

After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war.

The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japan’s first occupation by a foreign power.

Did you know? The single vote against Congress's declaration of war against Japan came from Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana. Rankin was a pacifist who had also voted against the American entrance into World War I. "As a woman," she said, "I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else."

On December 8, Congress approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war on Japan . Three days later, Japan’s allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States.

For the second time, Congress reciprocated, declaring war on the European powers. More than two years after the start of World War II , the United States had entered the conflict.

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• HISTORY & CULTURE

80 years after Pearl Harbor, here's how the attack changed history

Certain of inevitable war with the U.S., Japan launched a preemptive strike that shocked Americans and prompted the nation to enter World War II.

Masao Asada had just finished delivering groceries around Pearl Harbor, Oahu, when he heard some huge booms. No big deal, he thought—he was used to hearing noise from dredging activity in the Pacific Ocean lagoon. But the booms kept coming.

Asada jumped in his truck and drove toward the pier used by the U.S. Navy and Army. En route, he was flagged down by the driver of another car. “Get out of here!” the man shouted, Asada recalled in an oral history taken years later. “This is not practice! It’s war.” That’s when Asada looked to the sky and saw Japanese warplanes zooming overhead.

The grocery store owner was one of the thousands of eyewitnesses to Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—an act of war that, though just 90 minutes long, irrevocably changed the course of world history.  

( Pearl Harbor survivors forgive—but can't forget .)

The lead-up to the Pearl Harbor attack

Tensions between Japan and the U.S. simmered throughout the early 20th century and came to a boil in the 1930s as Japan attempted to conquer China, even attacking civilians. In 1937, China and Japan went to war. By 1940, the U.S considered the Japanese expansion into China threatening enough to its interests that it began to provide military aid to China and started to sanction Japan. After Japan signed mutual defense pacts with Nazi Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union in 1940 and 1941, the U.S. froze Japanese assets and forbade all exports into Japan.

Meanwhile, Nazi Germany continued its conquest of much of Europe. Though the U.S. was officially neutral in both conflicts, its stance was increasingly challenged both by Japan and Nazi Germany’s wars.

FREE BONUS ISSUE

Neutrality was the most divisive public issue of its day, and a majority of the American public, which remembered the losses of World War I and was still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression, opposed entering any war overseas. Still, many Americans wanted the nation to help its embattled allies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accomplished this through the Lend-Lease Program , which provided allies like Great Britain and China with weapons and military equipment.

But as Japan continued its war with China, a conflict with the U.S. became all but inevitable, prompting Japanese leaders to assess their options. The U.S. Navy was formidable, and Japan didn’t have the resources it needed to eliminate the American threat to their imperial ambitions. But they had one trick up their sleeve: surprise. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku convinced Japan’s military officials that instead of declaring war on the U.S., they should confront them in the Pacific, doing as much damage to the Pacific Fleet as possible.

Planning the attack

While mainland U.S. forces mobilized in the wake of a surprise attack, Yamamoto argued, Japan could seize strategic Pacific islands. Japan was desperate for supplies, and the islands that lay between Japan and the furthest U.S. territory in Hawaii could provide much-needed oil and rubber.

Yamamoto spent months patiently planning the operation with naval captain Minoru Genda and others. In December 1941, Japan’s monarch, Hirohito, finally bowed to months of pressure from the military and authorized war.  

( Rare World War II maps reveal Japan's Pearl Harbor strategy .)

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Despite evidence that Japan was building up air forces, the attack took the U.S. by surprise. On December 6, 1941, Army intelligence officers even intercepted a message that indicated war was imminent. But the military had no idea Pearl Harbor was the target—and by the time the message was en route to a telegraph office in Honolulu, the attack had already begun .

What happened December 7

The first shot of the attack on Pearl Harbor was actually fired before dawn by the U.S.S. Ward , an American destroyer that had been alerted to an early-morning submarine periscope sighting near the harbor entrance. The Ward   sank the submarine. But since American forces did not expect an aerial assault, there was no general alarm. At 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian time, the first wave of Japanese dive bombers began flying over Pearl Harbor. Their targets were Navy-held Ford Island and seven nearby battleships located along what was known as “Battleship Row.”

Within minutes, much of the U.S. fleet had been damaged or destroyed. Over the course of two waves, a total of 353 Japanese planes and 28 submarines irreparably destroyed two battleships, Oklahoma   and Arizona , and damaged all of the rest and several other fleet craft. The Japanese also targeted nearby airfields.

Though caught by surprise, the Americans did fight back. They manned antiaircraft guns and even got some airplanes off the ground; in all, 29 Japanese planes were shot down during the attack.

The toll of Pearl Harbor

Ultimately, nearly 2,400 Americans died. Nearly half of those deaths took place on the Arizona , which took a direct hit to its hull. Thirty-eight sets of brothers , including multiple sets of three brothers, served on the ship, and only one of those sets survived.

Some civilians were killed by friendly fire when anti-aircraft ammunition that did not detonate while being fired at Japanese aircraft fell. Only 64 Japanese servicemen were killed that day.

The U.S. enters World War II

The attack shocked the nation—and thrust the U.S. into a war it had managed to sidestep for years. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan. Calling December 7 a “date which shall live in infamy,” he told the U.S. Congress that the nation was in grave danger. Only one member of Congress, Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, voted against the declaration . Rankin, a pacifist and the first woman in Congress, had also voted against the U.S. entering into World War I.

On December 11, both Germany and Italy honored their pact with Japan and declared war against the U.S., which swiftly reciprocated. What followed would be a conflict that laid waste to much of Europe and Japan and that ended in 15 million battle deaths, 25 million wounded in battle, and at least 45 million civilian deaths. Ultimately, 416,800 American service members would die in the war.

Pearl Harbor had other brutal legacies. The Japanese military’s act was used to justify the internment of about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in the mainland U.S., including 70,000 U.S. citizens. And it forever ended the U.S.’ pre-1941 stance of isolationism and neutrality.

The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the entry of the world’s mightiest military power into World War II. It was also a turning point for the nation. “Everyone I talk to seems to feel that the old world we lived in before December 7, 1941 has passed out of existence,” Pittsburgh cab company executive Paul L. Houston said in a man-on-the-street interview in February 1942. “And we are in a whole new universe.”

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Skip to Main Content of WWII

The path to pearl harbor.

On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, decimating the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war. 

Top Image: Propaganda poster developed by the Office of War Information following the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Image: Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-1663.)

The Roots of the Conflict

While Japan’s deadly assault on Pearl Harbor stunned Americans, its roots stretched back more than four decades. As Japan industrialized during the late 19th century, it sought to imitate Western countries such as the United States, which had established colonies in Asia and the Pacific to secure natural resources and markets for their goods. Japan’s process of imperial expansion, however, put it on a collision course with the United States, particularly in relation to China.   To a certain extent, the conflict between the United States and Japan stemmed from their competing interests in Chinese markets and Asian natural resources. While the United States and Japan jockeyed peaceably for influence in eastern Asia for many years, the situation changed in 1931. That year Japan took its first step toward building a Japanese empire in eastern Asia by invading Manchuria, a fertile, resource-rich province in northern China. Japan installed a puppet government in Manchuria, renaming it Manchukuo. But the United States refused to recognize the new regime or any other forced upon China under the Stimson Doctrine, named after Secretary of State and future Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. 

The ineffectual Stimson Doctrine guided US policy in Asia for the next decade. On the one hand, the doctrine took a principled stand in support of Chinese sovereignty and against an increasingly militaristic Japanese regime. On the other hand, however, it failed to bolster that stand with either material consequences for Japan or meaningful support for China. In fact, US companies continued to supply Japan with the steel and petroleum it needed for its fight against China long after the conflict between the countries escalated into a full-scale war in 1937. But a powerful isolationist movement in the United States countered that the nation had no business at all in the international conflicts developing around the world. Even the Japanese military’s murder of between 100,000 and 200,000 helpless Chinese military prisoners and civilians and the rape of tens of thousands of Chinese women during the 1937 Rape of Nanking failed to immediately shift US policy.   The strong isolationist movement also influenced the initial US approach to the war in Europe, where by the end of 1940 Nazi Germany controlled most of France, Central Europe, Scandinavia, and North Africa, and severely threatened Great Britain. Prioritizing the war in Europe over Japan’s invasion of China, the United States allowed the sale of military supplies to Great Britain beginning in 1939. But neutrality laws and isolationist sentiment severely limited the extent of that aid prior to 1941. 

“Each [nation] stepped through a series of escalating moves that provoked but failed to restrain the other, all the while lifting the level of confrontation to ever-riskier heights.”

David M. Kennedy, PhD

The war in Europe had another significant impact on the war in the Pacific because Germany’s military successes unsettled the other European nations’ Asian colonies. As Japan seized the opportunity to become the dominant imperial power in Asia, United States-Japan relations soured. As historian David M. Kennedy, PhD, explained, “Each [nation] stepped through a series of escalating moves that provoked but failed to restrain the other, all the while lifting the level of confrontation to ever-riskier heights.”

The Impending Crisis

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made one of those escalating moves in July 1940 when he cut off shipments of scrap iron, steel, and aviation fuel to Japan even as he allowed American oil to continue flowing to the empire. Japan responded by entering resource-rich French Indochina, with permission from the government of Nazi-occupied France, and by cementing its alliance with Germany and Italy as a member of the Axis. In July 1941, Japan then moved into southern Indochina in preparation for an attack against both British Malaya, a source for rice, rubber, and tin, and the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. This prompted Roosevelt to freeze all Japanese assets in the United States on July 26, 1941, which effectively cut off Japan’s access to US oil.

That move pushed Japan to secretly ready its “Southern Operation,” a massive military attack that would target Great Britain’s large naval facility in Singapore and American installations in the Philippines and at Pearl Harbor, thus clearing a path for the conquest of the Dutch East Indies. While diplomatic talks continued between the United States and Japan, neither side budged. Japan refused to cede any of its newly acquired territory, and the United States insisted that Japan immediately withdraw its troops from China and Indochina. 

On November 26, 1941, as US officials presented the Japanese with a 10-point statement reiterating their long-standing position, the Japanese Imperial Navy ordered an armada that included 414 planes aboard six aircraft carriers to set to sea. Following a plan devised by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who had earlier studied at Harvard and served as Japan’s naval attaché in Washington, DC, the flotilla aimed to destroy the US Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor. 

To catch the Americans by surprise, the ships maintained strict radio silence throughout their 3,500- mile trek from Hitokappu Bay to a predetermined launch sector 230 miles north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. At 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, a first wave of Japanese planes lifted off from the carriers, followed by a second wave an hour later. Led by Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the pilots spotted land and assumed their attack positions around 7:30 a.m. Twenty-three minutes later, with his bomber perched above the unsuspecting American ships moored in pairs along Pearl Harbor’s “Battleship Row,” Fuchida broke radio silence to shout, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!)—the coded message informing the Japanese fleet that they had caught the Americans by surprise.  

The USS Arizona in flames following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Image: Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-104778.

For nearly two hours, Japanese firepower rained down upon American ships and servicemen. While the attack inflicted significant destruction, the fact that Japan failed to destroy American repair shops and fuel-oil tanks mitigated the damage. Even more significantly, no American aircraft carriers were at Pearl Harbor that day. The Japanese, however, immediately followed their Pearl Harbor assault with attacks against US and British bases in the Philippines, Guam, Midway Island, Wake Island, Malaya, and Hong Kong. Within days, the Japanese were masters of the Pacific. 

In Washington, a decrypted message had alerted officials that an attack was imminent moments before Fuchida’s planes took to the skies. But a communications delay prevented a warning from reaching Pearl Harbor in time. The Americans missed another opportunity when an officer discounted a report from an Oahu-based radar operator that a large number of planes were headed their way. 

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From the Collection to the Classroom: Teaching History with The National WWII Museum

At the White House, Roosevelt learned of the attack as he was finishing lunch and preparing to tend to his stamp collection. He spent the remainder of the afternoon receiving updates and writing the address he intended to deliver to Congress the following day asking for a declaration of war against Japan. As he drafted and redrafted the speech, Roosevelt focused on rallying the nation behind a war many had hoped to avoid.

The Attack On Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

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The Center for Legislative Archives

Attack on Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers staged a surprise attack on U.S. military and naval forces in Hawaii. In a devastating defeat, the United States suffered 3,435 casualties and loss of or severe damage to 188 planes, 8 battleships, 3 light cruisers, and 4 miscellaneous vessels. Japanese losses were less than 100 personnel, 29 planes, and 5 midget submarines.

The day after the attack, before a joint session of Congress, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan. 

Four years after the attack, Congress established the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Their task was to make a full and complete investigation of the facts relating to the events and circumstances leading up to or following the attack. In its investigation, the committee sought to determine whether shortcomings or failures on the U.S. side might have contributed to the disaster and, if so, to suggest changes that might protect the country from another attack in the future. The committee's public hearings began on November 15, 1945, and continued until May 31, 1946.

The Radar Plot of Detector Station Opana was an exhibit of the Joint Committee. The 22 x 31-inch radar plot was made by Private Joseph L. Lockard at the Opana Radar Station on the morning of December 7, 1941. It indicated a large number of aircraft approaching the island of Oahu. The control officer believed the radar signals announced the approach of American B-17s scheduled for arrival the same day, but the signals actually tracked the first wave of Japanese bombers and torpedo planes that attacked Pearl Harbor.

Visit our featured document the  Day of Infamy Address  for additional information.

Radar Plot from Station Opana, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1941, RG 128, Records of the Joint Committees of Congress, National Archives.

View in National Archives Catalog

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Course: US history   >   Unit 7

• Beginning of World War II
• 1940 - Axis gains momentum in World War II
• 1941 Axis momentum accelerates in WW2

Pearl Harbor

• FDR and World War II
• Japanese internment
• American women and World War II
• 1942 Tide turning in World War II in Europe
• World War II in the Pacific in 1942
• 1943 Axis losing in Europe
• American progress in the Pacific in 1944
• 1944 - Allies advance further in Europe
• 1945 - End of World War II
• The Manhattan Project and the atomic bomb
• The United Nations
• The Second World War
• Shaping American national identity from 1890 to 1945
• On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• The surprise attack by some 350 Japanese aircraft sunk or badly damaged eighteen US naval vessels, including eight battleships, destroyed or damaged 300 US aircraft, and killed 2,403 men.
• Across the nation, Americans were stunned, shocked, and angered. The attack turned US public opinion in favor of entering the Second World War . The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941.
• Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States on December 11. The United States responded in kind, and therefore entered World War II.

The Pearl Harbor attack

Motive for the attack, forewarnings about the attack, what do you think.

• On the attack at Pearl Harbor and the events surrounding it, see David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 500-526; Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981), 499-504.
• Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 521-522.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, “ Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War with Japan December 8, 1941 ." Courtesy the American Presidency Project.
• Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 512.
• See James L. McClain, Japan: A Modern History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2001), 470.
• Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 519.
• Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 517, 525.

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86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples

Check some Pearl Harbor essay examples to write about the history of Japan’s attack during WW2 and the subsequent bombing. Our team has also prepared a list of topics & research questions for students.

🏆 Best Pearl Harbor Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

📌 most interesting pearl harbor project ideas, 👍 good pearl harbor essay topics, ❓ research questions about pearl harbor.

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• Pearl Harbor: The Causes and the Aftermath It is important to note that, achievement of such expectations was one of the hardest things to achieve for Japan, because of the great powers that America had over this region.
• Seven Principles of Mission Command After the Pearl Harbor Attack From the importance of intelligence gathering to the effective use of command and control, the seven principles all played a crucial role after the tragedy of Pearl Harbor and remain influential in mission command today.
• The History of the Attack on Pearl Harbor The cause of the attack notwithstanding, Japan was determined to strike the American Pacific Fleet and she never relented on this pursuit.
• Intelligence Failure Leading Up to Pearl Harbor Answering the research question requires providing an overview of different types of intelligence information that had been provided to the decision-makers in the American government leading up to the attack.
• “The New Pearl Harbor” by David Ray Griffin In his book “The New Pearl Harbor”, David Ray Griffin presents a collection of documents that highlights the falsehood present in the whole of the official story and suggests that there must be some factor […]
• Pearl Harbor: A Look at the Historical Accuracy Scholars have studied the events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack in order to identify reasons for the Japanese bombardment of the Pacific fleet.
• The Impact of the Attack on Pearl Harbor With the country focusing on the reality of the Pearl Harbor attack, it was quite clear that there was a need to join the Allies and make the world safe again.
• Attack on Pearl Harbor: Foreign Policy Biases’ Effects To begin with, each of the intelligence-gathering units was not willing to carry out the roles presumed to the mandate of other companies, even in instances where the corporation and teamwork are in the best […]
• Pearl Harbor Attack: Paranoia and Conspiracy According to a conspiracy theory related to the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt was informed of the impending attack and had not warned military commanders in Hawaii in order to involve the country in […]
• Pearl Harbor and 9/11: Intelligence Failure Based on the findings of the bodies and the ongoing discussion among Americans concerning the similarities, the ensuing discourse compares the events of 7 December and 11 September.
• Why Did the Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor? Japan considered the U.S.as its only hindrance in its effort of obtaining raw materials from the Southeast and especially its naval base at Pearl Harbor The United States of America Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor […]
• Attack on Pearl Harbor: Effects of Foreign Policy Specifically, the surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor will be related to the actions of the U.S.before, after the attack, and eventual participation in the Second World War.
• Pearl Harbor in the World War II Pearl Harbor is very significant in the history of the World War II because it is the place where the war started. This was another factor that contributed to the World War II, which began […]
• The Attack on Pearl Harbor The most important and drastic outcome of this event was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by America. This was the outcome of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The Pearl Harbor Bombing and the Artifacts Displayed at the Museum of Florida History
• The Events Following the 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack on U.S. by Japanese Planes
• Pearl Harbor and Why Nations Go to War
• The Japanese Set Up Interment Camps After the Bombing of Pearl Harbor
• The Details of the Greatest Disaster in U.S History the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941
• The Tragic Event of the Japanese Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
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• Top 10 Most Important Facts About Pearl Harbor
• The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and Subsequent American
• The Massacre of the Allied Troops During the Battle of Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Omaha Beach
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• Too Great a Challenge: The Mismatch of U.S. Intelligence Capabilities and Mission Prior to Pearl Harbor
• The Attack on Pearl Harbor Shapes American History
• Waking a Sleeping Giant: Pearl Harbor
• The Contribution of the Pearl Harbor to the Involvement of the U.S. in World War II
• The Qualities That Make Michael Bay’s Movie Pearl Harbor a Big Hit
• The Day Pearl Harbor Was Attacked by the Japanese Army
• The Start of the Manhattan Project After the Pearl Harbor Bombing and Its Impact
• The Complicated Investigation of the Attacks on Pearl Harbor
• U.S. Provocations into the Bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Knowledgeabl
• The Bombing of Pearl Harbor Was Avoidable or Not
• The Surprise Attack of Pearl Harbor and the Involvement of the United States in the Second Great War
• The Events of the Fateful Sunday Morning During the Attack at Pearl Harbor by Japanese Planes
• The Road to Pearl Harbor and America’s Involvement in World War II
• The United States Mobilized for War After the Attack on Pearl Harbor
• The Story of the Entrance to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
• Japanese Internment After Pearl Harbor
• The Series of Events That Led to Pearl Harbor Attack by the Japanese
• The Use of Contrast and Dialogue to Present the Central Theme in Monica Sone’s Pearl Harbor Echoes in Seattle
• The Pearl Harbor Attack Catalyzed Involvement of America
• The Theme of Infamy in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Speech on the Pearl Harbor Attack
• The Cause and the Effects of the Attack of Pearl Harbor
• U.S. Advanced Warning Regarding the Bombing of Pearl Harbor
• The Pearl Harbor Conspiracy: The Attack on Pearl Harbor Could Have Been Prevented
• The History of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor
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• The Effects of Technology Warfare Due to the Attack on Pearl Harbor
• How Did Pearl Harbor Affect American Society?
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• Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor?
• Why Did the Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor History?
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• Who Really Was Responsible for Pearl Harbor’s Devastation?
• Did Franklin Roosevelt Know Pearl Harbor Was Going?
• Why Did Japan Bomb Pearl Harbor History?
• How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor?
• Did FDR Know About Pearl Harbor?
• What Caused the Bombing of Pearl Harbor?
• What Was Pearl Harbor?
• Who Caused Pearl Harbor?
• Why Did the Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor?
• Why Did the Japanese Force Strike America?
• Why Did the Japanese Army Carry Out the Pearl Harbor Attack?
• Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor DBQ?
• Did Britain Have Prior Knowledge of Pearl Harbor and Not Warn the U.S?
• Why the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor?
• Why Study Pearl Harbor?
• Did Franklin Roosevelt Know Pearl Harbor Was Going to Be Attacked?
• How Did Pearl Harbor Affect the Japanese?
• Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor Bryan Allen Period 3?
• Did President Roosevelt Know About Pearl Harbor Before the Attack?
• Why Was Pearl Harbor Unavoidable: A Japanese Perspective?
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• Why Did Japan Attack the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor Was the Attack?
• What Did We Learn From Pearl Harbor?
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IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/pearl-harbor-essay-examples/

"86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/pearl-harbor-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/pearl-harbor-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/pearl-harbor-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "86 Pearl Harbor Research Questions, Topics, & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/pearl-harbor-essay-examples/.

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• Pearl Harbor

The following are a selection of primary resources available at the Pratt Library that include first-hand accounts of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

• Charles Lindbergh's Transatlantic Flight
• The Civil War in Maryland
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• World War II in Maryland

"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." - Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech , December 8, 1941. Explore the primary sources below to read more about the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Library of Congress American Memory includes primary source information for the air raid on Pearl Harbor.

The Pearl Harbor Museum website provides maps and information on the heroes, ships and the attack.

World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument is home to the USS Arizona Memorial. The website includes photos and videos and history about the attack.

Diaries and Related Personal Narratives

Evans, David C., ed. & trans. The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers . 2nd ed. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986. D777.J3 1986

Grew, Joseph C. Report from Tokyo: A Message to the American People . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1942. DS889.G7Q

Grew, Joseph C. Ten years in Japan: A Contemporary Record Drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Joseph G. Grew, United States Ambassador to Japan, 1932-1942. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. DS849.U6G7

The Memoirs of Cordell Hull . 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1948. E748.H93A3

Kimmel, Husband Edward, 1882-1968. Admiral Kimmel's Story . Chicago: H. Regnery, 1955. D767.92.K54

King, Ernest J., and Walter Muir Whitehill. Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record . New York: W. W. Norton, 1952. E928.K56

U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey [Pacific]. Naval Analysis Division. Interrogations of Japanese Officials. 2. vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1946. XD767.2.U5 v.1-2

Newspaper & Magazine Articles

"Blitz Chronology: Swift Stroke by Japanese Caught U.S. Forces Unawares." Newsweek, vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 19-21.

• An early description of the first days of the Pacific war.

Burns, Eugene. "Japs Declare War on U.S.: Honolulu, Manila Bombed; Naval Battle Off Hawaii." Sun(Extra Edition), December 7, 1941, page 1.

• Available online in Historical Newspapers (with library card).

Hale, William Harlan. "After Pearl Harbor." New Republic, vol. 105, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 816-817.

• Written more than three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, this article suggests that President Roosevelt was forcing Japan to decide the question of war or peace.

"Forcing Showdown With Japan: Why U.S. is Pressing Tokyo for Quick Decision on War or Peace." United States News, vol. 11, no. 10, September 5, 1941, pp. 14-15.

"Nation's Full Might Mustered for All-Out War; Initial Reverse Stirs Demand for Investigation; Washington Banks on Its Long-Range Strategy." Newsweek, vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 15-17.

• This early assessment focuses on the military aspects of the war.

Stone, I. F. "War Comes to Washington." Nation, vol. 153, no. 24, December 13, 1941, pp. 603-604.

• Writing on December 8, 1941, liberal journalist I. F. Stone reflects on the failure of U.S.-Japanese negotiators in preventing war.

"Untold Damage Done Honolulu, Witness Says." Sun (Extra Edition), December 7, 1941, page 1.

• Written by an NBC observer while the Japanese attack on Hawaii was still in progress. Available online in Historical Newspapers (with library card).

"The U.S. at War." Time, vol. 38, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 17-27.

• A good overview of the events of December 7, 1941 and its immediate aftermath.

"The White House: M-Day Log." Newsweek, vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, p. 18.

• This article summarizes activity at the White House on Sunday, December 7, 1941.

Government Publications & Related Official Sources

Gantenbein, James W., comp. and ed. Documentary Background of World War II . New York: Octagon, 1975. D735.G25

• Gantenbein offers reprints of numerous official publications relating to the outbreak of war.

Japan's Decision for War: Records of the 1941 Policy Conferences. Translated and edited by Ike Nobutaka. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1967. D754.J3I4

• "Invaluable records of 62 conferences held in Tokyo between March and December of 1941" - Inside ft. cover.

U.S. Congress. Official Congressional Documents Relating to the U.S. Declaration of War against Japan. D767.92.U6

U.S. Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States - Japan: 1931-1941 . 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943. E183.8.J3U6

U.S. War Department. Army Pearl Harbor Board. Report of Army Pearl Harbor Board, Appointed by the Secretary of War . . . to Ascertain and Report the Facts Relating to the Attack Made by Japanese Armed Forces Upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941 . n.p., [1945]. D767.92.U64

Photographs

Goldstein, Donald M., Katherine V. Dillion, and J. Michael Wenger. The Way it Was: Pearl Harbor - The Original Photographs . Washington, DC: Brassey's (US), 1991. XD767.92G65 1991Q

Dye, Bob. Hawai'i Chronicles III: World War Two in Hawaii, from the pages of Paradise of the Pacific . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. D767.92.H376 2000

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Planning Pearl Harbor

Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku opposed war with the United States, but once the decision was made, he did his duty, laying meticulous plans for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hoover fellow Mark R. Peattie joins David C. Evans in describing how Yamamoto achieved a brilliant tactical success—only to set in train the events that would lead to Japanese defeat.

Kaigun . The word means "navy" in Japanese. But to older Japanese, the English translation hardly

encapsulates the enormous difference between the Nihon Teikoku Kaigun--the Imperial Japanese Navy--which opened the Pacific War in December 1941, and the small Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), which today plays a modest role in cooperating with the U.S. Navy to preserve the security of Japan's home waters.

The old navy constituted a mighty fighting force. At the opening of the Pacific War, it comprised 10 battleships; 10 aircraft carriers; 38 cruisers, heavy and light; 112 destroyers; 65 submarines; and numerous auxiliary warships of lesser size. At the time, Japanese naval aviation was world class: Its fighter aircraft and medium bombers were among the world's finest, and among the major navies, its air crews were unquestionably the best trained and most experienced. To have observed the Japanese battle line in column on maneuvers in the northern Pacific during the interwar years, to have viewed the vast bulk of the superbattleship Yamato anchored in Truk lagoon, or to have watched the clouds of fighters and attack aircraft lift off the decks of six carriers in the early morning of December 7 must have been among the great spectacles in modern naval history. Never again will Japanese naval power be so visually impressive.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was emblematic of the rise of Japan as a world power. Yet the overriding aspect of the Japanese navy is its ultimate defeat. Indeed, it was not just beaten by the U.S. Navy; it was annihilated. To Americans of an older generation, particularly those who fought against Japan's navy, that defeat has been a cause of considerable satisfaction and pride. To older Japanese, particularly those who served in their navy, it is a source of humiliation and regret. For those scholars on both sides of the Pacific who study the Japanese navy, its ultimate defeat is the ineluctable fact in assessing its capabilities, its combat performance, even its victories. The Imperial Japanese Navy set in train the events that would lead to its annihilation, rousing the United States against it with a brilliant tactical success and a strategically disastrous provocation, the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is an irony that the attack was planned by a man who opposed war with the United States, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku.*

Earliest Conceptual Origins

The conceptual origins of the preemptive aerial strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor--when and how it was conceived, how it evolved, and along what lines--are not entirely clear to this day. Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet, is usually identified as the creator of the concept. Hard evidence suggests, however, that before Yamamoto proposed it early in 1941, the idea had been propounded in varying degrees of detail and similarity to the actual attack.

At least some of those conceptual precedents may have stimulated Admiral Yamamoto's thinking on the subject. At furthest remove are the civilian writings of the 1920s and 1930s--Japanese, American, and British--on the possible course of a Japan-U.S. war in the Pacific. Some of this speculation was informed, some of it merely sensational. But references to a Japanese attack on Hawaii were so generalized and so diverse in assumed conditions and outcomes that their existence demonstrates only that such vague ideas were floating about in public during these decades.

A Japanese officer like Yamamoto was probably more influenced by studies undertaken by fellow professionals in his own navy than by any other source. And, indeed, several other Japanese naval officers had tested, written about, or spoken about the concept by the time it was taken up by Yamamoto. It is logical to assume that, over time, Yamamoto became conversant with their assessments. But if Yamamoto did not originate the concept, it took someone in the Japanese naval high command of his position, stature, and heretical outlook to make the argument at the highest levels and then push it through to activation.

Yamamoto Decides

It was the results of the fleet's naval air training in 1939–1940, however, that provided the immediate stimulus for the formation of Yamamoto's Pearl Harbor plan. Because of Yamamoto's efforts, the fleet had begun to emphasize air power in its annual training and maneuvers, which brought together the various air units of the fleet. Of special interest was a simulated raid by carrier-based torpedo planes against warships in the harbor at anchor. Although there was much disagreement on the results of that particular exercise, Yamamoto was evidently persuaded that such an attack, if coupled with surprise, would be a success. By the end of the maneuvers in the spring of 1940, Yamamoto had realized that the range and firepower of Japanese naval aviation could make possible a telling first blow against the American enemy, even in his home waters.

About this time, too, his ideas may have been furthered by a memorandum from his senior staff officer, Captain Kuroshima Kameto, on the possible opening moves of a Japan-U.S. war. Although making no reference to Hawaii, Kuroshima proposed a long-range surprise attack by carriers against the enemy's battle force.

In reflecting on the evolution of the preemptive strike concept, it is important to understand its rationale in Yamamoto's thinking. Abundant evidence suggests that Yamamoto was fundamentally opposed to a war with the United States and Britain. Yet, as commander of the Combined Fleet, he had a keen sense of responsibility that he must have at hand the most effective means for victory if war came. In Yamamoto's view, the navy's strategic orthodoxy--the wait-and-react strategy--was a recipe for ultimate defeat. Unable to bring the U.S. Navy to battle on Japanese terms, the Combined Fleet would simply be worn down in a long war in which the United States would eventually bring its vastly superior industrial might--and thus overwhelmingly superior naval strength--to bear.

But what concrete alternatives were there? Air power suggested a solution, but the Japanese navy had too little of it. This being the case, how best to use air power most effectively? The advance of the U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in May 1940 probably furthered the preemptive strike idea in Yamamoto's thinking. As late as the end of October of that year, however, he still apparently considered the idea too dangerous. Perhaps the remarkable success of the British torpedo bombing attack on Italian ships at anchor at Taranto convinced him that the potential gain was worth the risk. In any event, sometime in November, judging from his communications to a few trusted colleagues, he concluded that a preemptive aerial attack on the Pacific Fleet at its Pearl Harbor base offered the Japanese navy its best chance in a war against great odds.

On January 7, 1941, Yamamoto committed his ideas to paper in his blandly titled memorandum Gumbi ni kansuru shiken (Views on military preparations) to the navy minister, Oikawa Koshiro. Its first major point was that the navy needed to greatly expand its air forces. Second, he noted that although fleet training had been based on the wait-and-react strategy leading up to the classic gun battle in past war games and maneuvers, the navy had never succeeded in winning such an encounter. Usually, the exercises were called off before umpires deemed the navy's strength exhausted. Moreover, Yamamoto argued, the power of aircraft and submarines made it unlikely that a decisive gun battle would ever take place. Hence, the navy needed to give its commanders better training in small-unit tactics for the numerous smaller engagements that would most likely occur.

Most of all, in Yamamoto's view, it was essential to change the navy's basic strategy. As a quantitatively inferior naval power, Japan's best hope lay in a qualitatively superior strategy: a violent and crippling first blow at America's main battle force in the first few hours of the war. Time, distance, and geography dictated that this could best be accomplished by an air attack by several carrier divisions on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Yamamoto did not downplay the enormous risks involved in the operation. Although he had complete confidence in the technical and combat skills of the navy's carrier forces, the enormous distance involved--far greater than any operation in the navy's history--and the great risks of discovery made executing the operation a dangerous proposition. The plans for the surprise attack on Russian naval forces at Port Arthur in 1904 had been far less complicated, far less taxing, and far less hazardous, and yet the objectives had been met only incompletely. It was why, originally, Yamamoto wished to lead the Pearl Harbor strike force himself.

The General Staff Resists

Since the beginning of 1941, the general staff had been proceeding with its planning for a war with the United States on the basis of that year's annual operational plan. This in turn was predicated on the wait-and-react strategy, governed largely by the priorities of the "southern operations" to secure Southeast Asia and its resources for Japan. In heated arguments during the summer of 1941 between the general staff and Yamamoto's Combined Fleet staff over the wisdom and propriety of the Hawaii operation, the chief of the staff's Operations Section, Captain Tomioka Sadatoshi, provided an extensive list of objections to the Hawaii plan. In sum, he argued that the Japanese navy could not afford to wager its carefully built-up naval air strength in such a desperately risky venture, particularly in view of the fact that it would be needed in other major operations. More than anything else, Tomioka feared that diverting surface and air strength to the Hawaii attack would critically undermine the southern operations and, hence, the major objectives of the coming war. Even if the navy were willing to undertake such an enormous gamble, in Tomioka's view, the Pearl Harbor strike was not truly necessary. Of course, there was the danger that the U.S. Pacific Fleet might try to hit the southern operations in the flank, but Tomioka argued that the enemy would far more likely launch an attack on the Marshall Islands. That would be all to the good since the navy had great confidence that it could intercept the enemy there and launch a smashing counterattack.

The bitter controversy between the general staff and the Combined Fleet staff was not resolved during the summer of 1941, even as training and preparations for the Pearl Harbor operation continued. Nor was it resolved during the September map exercises at the staff college or in October aboard the Nagato ; those discussions and exercises relating to the Hawaii operation were held separately and were accessible only to those few naval officers who would be involved in carrying it out. Of all the points of contention, the sharpest concerned the number of aircraft carriers to be used in the attack. Yamamoto had originally proposed four; the September map exercises simulated an attack with three, which the umpires judged to have achieved only marginal results. But those on the general staff working out the details for the invasion of Southeast Asia insisted on reserving some carriers for the southern operations since the navy's land-based air power, specifically its fighters, did not have the range to reach the necessary targets and return.

The Plan Falls into Place

Then, in early October, the navy general staff was brought around to Yamamoto's idea. There were several reasons for this volte-face, some operational, some bureaucratic. To begin with, the compromise between the army and navy on nearly simultaneous attacks on the Philippines and Malaya eased navy planning considerably. The availability of the splendid new carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku in late September permitted two other carriers to be released for the southern operations and thus eliminated one of the general staff's key objections to the Yamamoto plan. Finally, Yamamoto had carefully and quietly passed the word to the high command that rejection of the Pearl Harbor plan would result in his resignation. Keenly aware of Yamamoto's popularity and prestige within both the navy and the government and faced with the prospect of disharmony, the general staff gave in.

Later in the month, however, a new storm of controversy broke when Yamamoto insisted that the Hawaii operation employ all Japan's fleet carriers then in commission. He based his views on the map exercises aboard the Nagato , which used six carriers; the results with six carriers were judged far more impressive than with only four carriers. Opposition from the general staff might have derailed the Pearl Harbor strike once and for all, had it not been for the success of tests in the Eleventh Air Fleet, which demonstrated that engine adjustments to the Zero fighters based on Taiwan made them operational for flights to and from the Philippines. Now that the task forces involved in the southern operations would be supplied with adequate air cover, the last barrier to the Yamamoto plan came down.

On November 5 the Combined Fleet's Operations Order No. 1 secretly briefed senior officers on the impending war plans, including the cryptic statement, "To the east, the American fleet will be destroyed." Vice Admiral Nagumo, commander of the First Air Fleet and overall commander of the Pearl Harbor strike force, received his final instructions six days later. On November 22 the strike force began to assemble in its cold and lonely rendezvous, Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands: six carriers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, nine destroyers, three submarines, and eight tankers and supply ships. Four days later, in heavy fog, the advance elements of the strike force, including the carriers, departed Hitokappu and sailed into history.

Excerpted and adapted from Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941 , published by the Naval Institute Press. To order, call 800-233-8764. Available from the Hoover Press is the Hoover Essay A Historian Looks at the Pacific War , by Mark Peattie. To order this essay, call 800-935-2882.

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Attack on Pearl Harbor

Learn about this historic event that caused the United States to enter World War II.

Sunday, December 7, 1941, was supposed to be a day of rest for the military soldiers at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor naval base on the island of Oahu. But at 7:55 a.m., Japanese fighter planes zoomed in without warning and attacked the United States Pacific fleet, or naval vessels, moored in the harbor. Thousands of lives would be lost that day.

It was, as then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would call it, "a date which will live in infamy."

The sudden attack in Hawaii —at the time a territory of the United States , not a state—might have taken many by surprise, but the Japanese had been planning the operation for months.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese naval forces and architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, didn’t want a fight with America. But much of Europe and Asia, including Japan, were involved in World War II at the time. Yamamoto wanted to take over certain countries in southeastern Asia and use their oil to help fuel Japan’s military vehicles and naval fleet.

But because the U.S. base in Hawaii was relatively close to these countries, the Japanese worried that the United States would send soldiers from Pearl Harbor to defend the nations if they were attacked. By destroying the U.S. military presence in the region, the countries Japan wanted to target would be left vulnerable. So Yamamoto decided to move forward with a surprise attack on the U.S. fleet in Hawaii.

So on November 26, 1941, 31 warships carrying fighter planes and bombers slipped from Japan into the North Pacific. They moved silently until they closed in on the Hawaiian Islands. A small Japanese plane made a loop around the target and radioed back: “Pearl Harbor sleeps.”

At dawn on December 7, 350 planes launched in two waves from Japan’s ships. The bombers dropped bombs on American warships below, while the fighter planes targeted the U.S. aircraft on the ground so they couldn’t fight back.

Following both attacks, 19 U.S. naval vessels were sunk or damaged; 188 aircraft were destroyed. In all, 2,280 servicemen and women were killed, 1,109 were wounded. Sixty-eight civilians—people who are not in the military—also lost their lives. The attack lasted just under two hours.

THE AFTERMATH

Repair crews went to work on the ships. Except for the U.S.S. Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma, every damaged ship returned to sea.

The day after the attack, the United States declared war on Japan, officially entering World War II. In the nearly four years that followed, the U.S. Navy sank all of the Japanese aircraft carriers, battleships, and cruisers that participated in the Pearl Harbor attack.

The United States and its allies— Britain , France , and Russia , among other countries—eventually won the war, defeating Japan and its allies, Germany and Italy .

Today visitors can tour the Pearl Harbor National Monument, built on the water above the wreckage of the U.S.S. Arizona,  one of the eight battleships attacked and damaged during the fight. From there you can still glimpse at the remains of the sunken ship 40 feet below the water, a memorial to the brave people who fought in this important battle.

TEXT ADAPTED FROM  PEARL HARBOR: A RETURN TO THE DAY OF INFAMY, OIL AND HONOR AT PEARL HARBOR , AND  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CONCISE HISTORY OF THE WORLD: AN ILLUSTRATED TIMELINE

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Women heroes, african american heroes, u.s. presidents, remembering the titanic.

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  Pearl Harbor - Primary Sources

"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."

Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech , December 8, 1941

A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study.  These sources offer an inside view of a particular event.  Princeton University  

The Central Enoch Pratt Free Library/ Maryland State Library Resource Center has a large collection of primary source materials available.

Library of Congress American Memory includes primary source information for the air raid on Pearl Harbor. 

The Pearl Harbor Museum website provides information on the heroes, ships and the attack. Also included are maps.

World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument is home to the USS Arizona Memorial. The website includes photos and video's and history about the attack.

Diaries and Related Personal Narratives

Evans, David C., ed. & trans. The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers . 2nd ed. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1986. D777.J3 1986 Evans reprints memoirs written by Japanese officers. 

Grew, Joseph C. Report from Tokyo: A Message to the American People . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1942. DS889.G7Q

Grew, Joseph C. Ten years in Japan: A Contemporary Record Drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Joseph G. Grew, United States Ambassador to Japan, 1932-1942. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. DS849.U6G7 Grew served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1932 through 1941.

Kimmel, Husband Edward, 1882-1968. Admiral Kimmel's Story . Chicago: H. Regnery, 1955. D767.92.K54 Kimmel was Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. 

King, Ernest J., and Walter Muir Whitehill. Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record . New York: W. W. Norton, 1952. E928.K56

U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey [Pacific]. Naval Analysis Division. Interrogations of Japanese Officials. 2. vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1946. XD767.2.U5 v.1-2 Testimony from Mitsuo Fuchida, air group commander of the carrier Akagi, who led the attack.

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

"Blitz Chronology: Swift Stroke by Japanese Caught U.S. Forces Unawares." Newsweek , vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 19-21. An early description of the first days of the Pacific war.

Burns, Eugene. "Japs Declare War on U.S.: Honolulu, Manila Bombed; Naval Battle Off Hawaii." Sun (Extra Edition), December 7, 1941, page 1. Available online in the Baltimore Sun, Historical (1836-1990) Database (with library card).

"Forcing Showdown With Japan: Why U.S. is Pressing Tokyo for Quick Decision on War or Peace." United States News , vol. 11, no. 10, September 5, 1941, pp. 14-15. Written more than three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, this article suggests that President Roosevelt was forcing Japan to decide the question of war or peace. 

Hale, William Harlan. "After Pearl Harbor." New Republic , vol. 105, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 816-817.

"Nation's Full Might Mustered for All-Out War; Initial Reverse Stirs Demand for Investigation; Washington Banks on Its Long-Range Strategy." Newsweek, vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 15-17. This early assessment focuses on the military aspects of the war.

Stone, I. F. "War Comes to Washington." Nation , vol. 153, no. 24, December 13, 1941, pp. 603-604. Writing on December 8, 1941, liberal journalist I. F. Stone reflects on the failure of U.S.-Japanese negotiators in preventing war.

"Untold Damage Done Honolulu, Witness Says." Sun (Extra Edition), December 7, 1941, page 1. Written by an NBC observer while the Japanese attack on Hawaii was still in progress. Available online in the Baltimore Sun, Historical (1836-1990) Database (with library card).

"The U.S. at War." Time , vol. 38, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 17-27.

A good overview of the events of December 7, 1941 and its immediate aftermath.

"The White House: M-Day Log." Newsweek , vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, p. 18. This article summarizes activity at the White House on Sunday, December 7, 1941.

Government Publications and Related Official Sources

Gantenbein, James W., comp. and ed. Documentary Background of World War II . New York: Octagon, 1975. D735.G25 Gantenbein offers reprints of numerous official publications relating to the outbreak of war.

Japan's Decision for War: Records of the 1941 Policy Conferences . Translated and edited by Ike Nobutaka. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1967. D754.J3I4 "Invaluable records of 62 conferences held in Tokyo between March and December of 1941" - Inside ft. cover.

U.S. Congress. Official Congressional Documents Relating to the U.S. Declaration of War against Japan. D767.92.U6

U.S. Department of State. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States - Japan: 1931-1941 . 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943. E183.8.J3U6

U.S. War Department. Army Pearl Harbor Board. Report of Army Pearl Harbor Board, Appointed by the Secretary of War . . . to Ascertain and Report the Facts Relating to the Attack Made by Japanese Armed Forces Upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941 . n.p., [1945]. D767.92.U64

Photographs

Goldstein, Donald M., Katherine V. Dillion, and J. Michael Wenger. The Way it Was: Pearl Harbor - The Original Photographs . Washington, DC: Brassey's (US), 1991. XD767.92G65 1991Q

Dye, Bob. Hawai'i Chronicles III: World War Two in Hawaii, from the pages of Paradise of the Pacific . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. D767.92.H376 2000

If You Need More Help 

Contact us through our  Ask A Librarian Service , call (410) 396-5430, or write:

Enoch Pratt Free Library State Library Resource Center 400 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201

Or, if you are outside of Maryland, contact your local library.

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Sharing teaching and learning resources from the National Archives

Education Updates

Pearl Harbor Primary Sources & Teaching Activities

As the Pearl Harbor anniversary approaches, we’re sharing historical documents, posters, photographs, and more related to the attack and its impact on U.S. History.

On DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives, you can find primary sources like maps and speeches – even images taken by the Japanese military during the attack that were later captured.

DocsTeach also includes posters that used the attack on Pearl Harbor as a rallying cry for a variety of war efforts, like joining the Coast Guard, buying war bonds, or working harder in a factory.

We also have online teaching activities related to Pearl Harbor. In Pearl Harbor Dispatch Analysis , students analyze the “This is Not Drill” naval dispatch sent from the Commander in Chief of the Pacific that announced the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The activity forces students to look for evidence to decode the true meaning of the message.

Or students can explore one of the most famous presidential speeches of all time – FDR’s “Day of Infamy” speech – by comparing it with its first draft in Two Versions of FDR’s Infamy Speech .

Can you find the first major edit?

DocsTeach also includes audio, like this recording of FDR’s Fireside Chat After the Declaration of War on Japan . 

You can find more of FDR’s Fireside Chats on DocsTeach as well.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Pearl Harbor — The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

• Categories: Pearl Harbor

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Words: 660 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 660 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, historical context of the attack, immediate and long-term consequences, lessons learned, references:.

• Barnhart, M. A. (2010). Japan prepares for total war. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/Barnhart-t.html
• Goldstein, D. M. (1992). The Pearl Harbor papers: Inside the Japanese plans. Naval Institute Press.
• Perloff, J. (2016). FDR knew about Pearl Harbor in advance. The New American. Retrieved from https://thenewamerican.com/fdr-knew-about-pearl-harbor-in-advance/
• Prange, G. W. (1986). Pearl Harbor: The verdict of history. Penguin Books.

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Pearl Harbor: Bombed battleships' boost for climate science

Weather data from several ships bombed by Japanese pilots at Pearl Harbor has been recovered in a rescue mission that will help scientists understand how the global climate is changing.

Crew members aboard various vessels -- such as the USS Pennsylvania and the USS Tennessee -- died when their battleships were targeted in December 1941. Despite these losses, many boats returned to service during the Second World War and US naval servicemen continued their daily duties, which included recording weather data.

A new research paper, published in Geoscience Data Journal , tells the story of the recovery of World War II weather data that comes from 19 US Navy ships. Its rescue was made possible thanks to the hard work of over 4,000 volunteers who transcribed more than 28,000 logbook images from the US Navy fleet stationed at Hawai'i from 1941-1945. Previous studies have suggested these years were abnormally warm. The new dataset, encompassing over 630,000 records with more than 3 million individual observations, will help to show whether this was the case.

Dr Praveen Teleti, the University of Reading research scientist who led the research, said: "Disruptions to trade routes in World War II led to a significant reduction in marine weather observations. Until recently, records from that time were still only available in classified paper documents. The scanning and rescuing of this data provides a window into the past, allowing us to understand how the world's climate was behaving during a time of tremendous upheaval.

"There are two sets of people we need to thank for making this mission a success. We are very grateful to the global team of citizen scientists for transcribing these observations and creating a huge dataset that includes millions of entries about air and sea surface temperatures, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, and wind direction.

"The greatest respect must go to the brave servicemen who recorded this data. War was all around them, but they still did their jobs with such professionalism. It is thanks to their dedication and determination that we have these observations 80 years on."

Data from devastated ships

The logbooks used in the project come from 19 different ships, including battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and cruisers, most of which played pivotal roles in World War II events. Many ships that data was recovered from were present at Pearl Harbor during the attack by Japanese bombers on 7 December 1941, although all ships listed in the study saw action in the Pacific at some point during the war. USS Pennsylvania was hit when Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese air force in December 1941. One bomb fell on the battleship and caused the deaths of nine servicemen, but it remained in service. The USS Tennessee was bombed twice in December 1941, resulting in the death of five servicemen. It returned to service in February 1942.

Future climate studies

Observations from naval vessels were the primary sources of marine observations for the World War II period but many records were destroyed as an act of war, or simply forgotten due to the length of time they were considered classified.

The recovered dataset reveals how wartime necessitated changes in observation practices. For example, more observations were taken during daytime than nighttime to reduce exposure to the enemy ships and avoid being detected. It is believed that changes such as this could have led to slightly warmer temperatures being recorded, meaning today's history books show a period of abnormal warmth in global datasets during World War II. The new data will help resolve this uncertainty.

Few or no other digitised observations exist from the Indo-Pacific and Far East during World War II. The rescued data will help scientists correct and fill gaps in existing datasets and ensure they can better understand how global climate has evolved since the early 20th century.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Reading . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Praveen Teleti, Ed Hawkins, Kevin R. Wood. Digitizing weather observations from World War II US naval ship logbooks . Geoscience Data Journal , 2023; DOI: 10.1002/GDJ3.222

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