On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, about 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived on the US mainland, mostly along the Pacific Coast. About two thirds were full citizens, born and raised in the United States. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, however, a wave of antiJapanese suspicion and fear led the Roosevelt administration to adopt a drastic policy toward these residents, alien and citizen alike.
The USS Utah (AG-16) had a long and sometimes peculiar career before the veteran warship met its end at Pearl Harbor.
Jessie Alton Mahaffey was aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma when Japanese air forces attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Major events are often rooted deeply in the past—the “long fuse” that leads to explosions.
On the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, join The National WWII Museum with student reporters from Hawaii and New Orleans to learn more about why on December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
On the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, join The National WWII Museum with student reporters from Hawaii and New Orleans to learn more about why on December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
While US strategy in 1941 was largely focused on the war in Europe, the bold carrier raid seized the initiative against increasing US pressure over Japan’s ongoing war in China. Captain Rick Jacobs will discuss the events of that terrible, heroic day—from the opening of Japan by Commodore Mathew Perry in the 1850’s through the devastation at Pearl Harbor on December 7.