While continuing negotiations, they began secret preparations for war should talks fail. Japan’s leaders faced a choice-end their aggression or confront the United States. Roosevelt and his advisers knew they were risking war, but hoped Japan would back down. Without American oil, Japan’s military would soon grind to a halt. and imposing economic sanctions, including an oil embargo. FDR responded by freezing Japanese assets in the U.S. But in July, Japan-emboldened by its mutual defense treaty with Germany and Hitler’s conquest of France-occupied southern French Indo-China. In early 1941, the two nations had begun negotiations to resolve their differences. In May 1940, seeking to deter further Japanese aggression, FDR ordered the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii. The root of the conflict was Japan’s brutal military expansion in China and Southeast Asia during the 1930s.
But FDR and the nation had been anticipating a possible military clash with Japan for months. The Pearl Harbor attack was a massive shock. They ended with one of his finest moments. The next 24 hours were among the most dramatic and consequential of Franklin Roosevelt’s long presidency. and global history.įive thousand miles away, in Washington, D.C., news of the disaster left officials reeling. It would prove to be a decisive turning point in U.S. The surprise attack shocked the nation and instantly plunged it into World War II. Over 2,400 military personnel and civilians were dead. In two hours, they destroyed or damaged 21 ships-including 8 battleships-and more than 300 aircraft. As stunned sailors and soldiers struggled to react, the aircraft unleashed a massive barrage that devastated the fleet. Nearly 200 Japanese warplanes descended from the skies without warning. the calm of this Sunday morning was suddenly shattered. Nearby, at military airfields, hundreds of planes rested, wingtip-to-wingtip, on the tarmac.īut at 7:55 a.m. At the Pearl Harbor naval base on the island of Oahu, most of the U.S. Dawn arrived quietly in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
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