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. 

 

—President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech to the Congress of the United States, December 8th, 1941 

 

World War II began for the United States in December of 1941, but it began earlier for others. In the European theater, the official start of the War was in September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland (although earlier aggressions had taken place in the Rhineland and Sudetenland). 

 

For the Chinese, however, the war had been going on for years. Imperial Japan had invaded northeastern China in 1931, and by 1938, Japan had occupied much of China and had taken the Chinese capital of Nanking, where Japanese troops killed over 42,000 civilians. Emboldened by a new alliance with Nazi Germany, the Japanese occupied the French colony of Indochina in July of 1940, to which the U.S. responded by cutting off oil exports to Japan. 

 

Shortly thereafter, unknown to U.S. officials, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto began planning an air attack on Pearl Harbor. Further oil embargoes failed to halt Japan’s advance, and in November of 1941, even as Japanese officials were in the U.S. talking peace, six Japanese aircraft carriers and other warships secretly left northern Japan and headed for Pearl Harbor. 

 

Early in the morning, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor began, with devastating effects on the U.S. Navy. The U.S. immediately declared war on Japan, and subsequently responded in kind when Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. The war in the Pacific theatre continued until September 2nd, 1945, when the Japanese officially surrendered to the U.S. on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri. Today, in spite of the harsh conflict of the past, Japan and the U.S. have a close and cooperative relationship.

 

Getting Involved in War (6–8) introduces students to the reasons why the United States became involved in World War II and asks them to consider the reasons Japan decided to attack Pearl Harbor. Students view a detailed interactive map showing the events at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and conclude by writing statements that Japanese and American service people might have made immediately before and after the attack.

 

In Was the United States Ready for Pearl Harbor? (9–12), students consider the United States' level of preparedness for the Pearl Harbor attack and discuss what the U.S. could have done to be better prepared. Students conclude by writing letters to American military commanders in the summer of 1941, suggesting what they might do to prepare for a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

The Legacy of Pearl Harbor (3–5) introduces students to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and asks them to consider the reasons why Japan might have wanted to expand its territory in the early 1940s. They also consider the reasons why the United States would have kept warships in Pearl Harbor. Students conclude by reading some first-hand accounts of what it was like in Pearl Harbor during the attack and by writing letters to American service people who were there.

 

Anti-Japanese feelings ran high in the United States after Pearl Harbor. In what is generally considered one of the largest injustices in American history, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were sent by the U.S. government to detainment camps solely because of their ethnicity. In Giving Voice to History (5–8), students analyze a variety of sources—including the historical novel The Journal of Ben Uchida, firsthand accounts, government documents and select portions of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution—and then write dramatic monologues that testify to some of the injustices of this period.

 

EDSITEment 

In the unit American Diplomacy in World War II (9–12), students examine the World War II alliance between the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union in opposition to the aggression of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.