PEARL HARBOR

December 7, 1941

Abstract

Background: On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise

attack on the US Naval Base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On December 8,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous infamy speech
and decided to enter the Second World war against the Axis powers.
But within a few years of the end of hostilities, Revisionist historians led
by Charles A.Beard began to challenge the official of the attack on Pearl
Harbor and claimed that Roosevelt used the American navy as a bait to
convince Americans that entering the war was necessary.
In this project I will seek to present the different points of views of
American historians (Revisionists Vs progressives) As Pearl Harbor
raised many questions , historians still debate, Whether the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor was unprovoked or planned, and did it come
without warning, as the Roosevelt administration claimed at the time?
Or was it part of a deliberate plan by the president to make the
Japanese force a reluctant United States into the war?
Key concepts : Revisionism , conspiracy , isolationism , interventionism

Be it a surprise attack
or a manipulative
studied maneuver to
enter the war?

Major Combatants
Japan
Fleet of 6 Aircraft Carriers with 423 Aircraft

United States
Pearl Harbor Naval/Army Base with:
destroyed 18 U.S. ships and 200 aircraft.
American losses were 3000, Japanese losses less than 100.
In response, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, entering
World War II.

USA not ready for this attack!

Where it took
place?
It took place on
December 7,194 at
the
Pearl harbor in Hawai

USA Response
President Roosevelts
Address to the nation
December 8, 1941 FDR
s speech

Asks Congress to
declare war on Japan

How much did F.Roosevelt know?

oF.D.R s speech
was addressed to
the US on
December 8, 1941.
oHe asked
Congress to
declare War on the
Japanese.

Charles Austin Beard

American Historian
He graduated from Columbia University
Revisionist school
Charles A.Beard began to challenge the
official of the attack on Pearl Harbor and
claimed that Roosevelt used the American
navy as a bait to convince Americans that
entering the war was necessary.
An Economic Interpretation of the U.S.
Constitution (1913), The Rise of American
Civilization (1927) and President Roosevelt
and the Coming of the War (1948)

(November 27, 1874

September 1,
1948)

President Roosevelt and the

Coming of the War (1948)
The American Policy was deliberately
provocative
the United States ensured that the Japanese
would strike out into the southwest Pacific
Beard supported his argument by citing
Secretary of War Henry Stimson's comment
in his diary: "The question was how we
should maneuver them into the position of
firing the first shot. (Beard , 1948)

John Toland
American writer and
revisionist historian.
He graduated from
Williams College
Adolf Hitler: The
Definitive Biography
(1976) and Infamy: Pearl
Harbor And Its Aftermath
(1982)

(June 29, 1912

January 4, 2004)

InfamyPearl Harbor And Its Aftermath (1982)

The American navy knew at least five days in

advance that Japanese aircraft carriers were heading
toward Hawaii.
Toland concluded that Roosevelt must have known
that an attack was forthcoming and that he allowed it
to occur in the belief that a surprise attack would
arouse the nation.
In his article The Register of the Kentucky Historical
Society Lloyd J. Graybar says that the conclusion
he ( Toland ) draws from it is that FDR and more than
a dozen senior cabinet and military leaders ... Were
involved in a monstrous plot to lead America into war
by offering the pacific fleet as a bait (Graybar, 2004)

Conclusion
Pearl Harbor infuriated Americans and motivated an
undivided decision to enter the war.
However, a revisionist view of the issue sparked a
debate that has never fully subsided till today.
Be it a surprise attack or a manipulative maneuver
to enter the war.
the certain fact is that FDR used this defining
moment in American history to put forward his
interventionist agenda taking advantage of a good
opportunity to establish his Arsenal of
Democracy.

Works Cited

Beard, Charles A. President Roosevelt and the

Coming of the War: A Study in Appearances and
Realities. Hamden, CT: Archon, 1968. Print.
Toland, John. "Book Review: Infamy: Pearl Harbor
and Its Aftermath by John Toland 1982."
YouTube. YouTube, 7 May 2009. Web. 14 Dec.
2015.
Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein, and
Katherine V. Dillon. At Dawn We Slept: The
Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1981. Print.