What Happened In The 1940's

As Harry Albright once said, “Underlying every successful naval or military operation there must be a plan,” and after accessing the damage, President Roosevelt would recuperate and strike back. In terms of destruction and fatality, 2300 American servicemen died and 68 civilians perished as well in the attack. Many of the vessels docked in Pearl Harbor were lost or destroyed, 18 of them, and 188 aircraft was damaged (Richardson). The Japanese decided the attack “would come in two waves one hour apart. First target priority would be the large American aircraft carriers, then the battleships and the cruisers,” (Albright p.51).

Pearl harbor at 6:30 a.m. on December 7, 1941 six Japanese carriers launched its first wave of attack which consisted of one hundred and eighty-one different kinds of planes such as torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers, and fighters; as it was an unexpected attack in the hours before dawn U.S. Navy Vessels spotted an unidentified submarine near the entrance to pearl harbor. That very same submarine was attacked and reported as sunk by the navy destroyer U.S.S. Ward. One of the United States patrol plane's reported to an operator at the Army Radar Station at Opama. The pilot said "the first wave of attack is on it's way". The officer in charge did not act upon the pilot's information reason being of vague information. The officer took caution in making any judgments on what to do so he put the entire military base on standby. According to the radar sightings the planes were passed off as American Planes due for landing at Pearl Harbor Military Base. The purpose of the wave of attack was to destroy our aircrafts so they would not rise and intercept their fighters and bombers, also twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was sunk or damaged.

During the WWII era minority groups experienced some positive and negative economic changes. Before the war, the people in the United States had to experience the Great Depression. This was a time of poverty, starvation, and ultimate hardships. During the war,

At 7.55am on Sunday 7 December 1941, the Japanese began their attack on the US Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 damaged, and 188 aircraft destroyed. Only chance saved three US aircraft carriers, usually stationed at Pearl Harbor but assigned elsewhere on the day. The attacks killed under 100 Japanese but over 2,400 Americans (Source:A) The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet.

The Japanese lost twenty nine aircraft, sixty four men, mostly aircrew, and five miniature submarines. Another point of the Japanese strategy was to destroy the Pacific Fleet, which was a Pacific Ocean theater level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to the United States Pacific Command. It carried aircrafts and was able to command from its base. “By 1900 the U.S. Navy had grown from twelfth to third largest in the world... In 1908 it began building a naval base at Pearl Harbor (Heineman 9)”

Most of the Pacific Fleet was destroyed, but its aircraft carriers had not been in port at the time of the attack and were still afloat. Surprisingly, Pearl Harbor was very much intact. Although fuel tanks along the Kamehameha Highway and North Road were incompletely camouflaged and visible to Japanese attackers, they were spared because they were not targets. This allowed what was left of the Pacific Fleet to continue operating at Pearl Harbor and not withdraw to the United States west coast. Among the dead from the attack were 2,335 servicemen, 68 civilians and a total of 1,178 injured.

On december 7, 1941 only hours after the attack. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was interrupted from a phone call and told the horrific news. After many meetings with his military advisors he decisively dictated that his secretary Grace Tully (National Archives and Records Administration). To request a declaration of war. Pulling the U.S. into one of the bloodiest wars of all time. Before America had joined the war the Allies had suffered many defeats and America was a key to winning the war. Without the bombing of Pearl Harbor America wouldn't have joined the war, and without America the allies might not have won.

Forty-three fighters, fifty-one dive-bombers, forty-nine high-level bombers, and forty torpedo bombers attacked Pearl Harbor killing thousands of men and injuring thousands more and sunk or damaged eighteen United States warships. It so happened, that at the time of the attack, all three of the Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carrier were not at the harbor at the time of the attack. this was crucial to the success of the United States Navy in the Pacific. In just a little over two hours, the Japanese inflicted a major blow on the United States Navy. The aftermath was

World War II was a tremendously impactful war which was fought during the forties. It had many turning points and great changes that turned not only the United States but the world. One of the first events that occurred was the rise of Communism. With the rise of communism it caused panic in the country of the United States. The panic was inevitable because anyone could be suspected of being a communist. Also, with communism rapidly spreading in Europe it was hard for the United States to stay in a state of isolationism. Therefore, a key factor of the United States abandoning isolationism and joining the war was the incidence of Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was sent by Japan. As a result, the United States declared war on Japan and World War II started. After the war, the impact continued. After World War II, the Cold War began; which was a start to a race in technology, space, and power. The Cold War lasted several decades and was a reaction to World War II.

What historical events impacted American history and the lives of the American people living during a specific time period? The Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights Movement greatly impacted the lives of the American people and helped shaped the nation we live in today.

For the United States the event of WWII was most likely the single largest factor in determining the nation’s financial, political, and social prowess in the 20th century. Where most have knowledge of the war itself, few understand the sheer reach it had and the massive effects it produced globally. At home, it ended the great depression and strengthened our government’s ability to manage the economy. Leading up to the war virtually all industry in the country was majorly crippled if not dead, a problem that may not have ever been fixed were it not for increased demands via the defense industries.

World War II (WWII) had an immense effect on the United States; culturally, economically, and industrially. Although no battles were fought on American soil, the war affected all phases of American life. Among the infinite of changes experienced by Americans during this time, there was a big shift in the industrial complex, a re-imagining of the role of women in society, and economic boost. Social shifts began to shape a new national identity which would change the country forever.

The Americans were not the only ones to lose people and equipment. The Japanese lost about 30 planes, five submarines, and less than 100 men (history.com). Though almost all of our fleet was destroyed, we had three fleet carriers out at sea. The carriers were not hit by anything

However, during the post war era, and particularly in the 1960s the US was spending vast sums of money on warfare (Cold war, Vietnam War), and on improved welfare. The US was financing

World War II was a very important event in American history, but as bad as war is or seems to be there always seems to have better outcomes in the end. By the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and bringing America into the war it opened the eyes of all Americans to the problems not only domestically but internationally and the biggest problem that was discovered after the completion of World War II was the level of social equality around the world. It had been a problem that had plagued the world for many years but the atrocities that brought about by the war coupled with the ever growing eye of the media caused for greater concern in the light of social equality in the world.