Today is the 79th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Please have a look at Pearl Harbor: “Japanese vs. American Civilian Perspectives” from Narratives of World War II in the Pacific at the Texas A & M – Corpus Cristi online library.
Content Warning: Racist cartoon from the historical period.
Making the Japanese attack appear random and unprovoked was an issue of extreme importance to Roosevelt and his government. American officials sought to portray themselves as completely unaware, victims of an unpredictable act of Japanese violence. The notion that the United States government was unaware of Japan’s incoming attack, falls apart under the microscope of historical scrutiny. Historians Paul S. Burtness and Warren Ober, describe the extent of the government’s involvement in “Provocation and Angst”, saying that: “Washington had sent repeated alerts to all the Pacific bases—indeed, FDR had personally ordered warnings sent on November 27 and 28, which included a note that in a confrontation, the United States would prefer to have the enemy fire first.”