Does Pearl Harbor Mean Anything Anymore?
Today marks “A day that will live in infamy” as said by President Roosevelt for the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941. Does it resonate anymore with anyone who was not alive at that time? It was not yet named World War II when Pearl Harbor was attacked, only because the US was not in direct combat. There was tremendous conflict going on. Europe and Asia had massive battles for over two years. There was untold slaughter going on in Russia in their fight with Germany. The Japanese were on a genocidal bent in China. The US was happily isolated by two oceans. Many people did not want the US to be involved, it was not “our fight.” We were very involved from a supply of armaments, we just had no major combat forces involved.
It is interesting that Japan for the time after the war taught that they were justified for the attack because the US had created an embargo around Japan to prevent supplies from coming in. Japan has very little natural resources. In the 1980’s, Japan was a huge investor in Hawaii. I was at the Pearl Harbor memorial and during the presentation it was mentioned the justification of the attack. The locals there did not want to offend Japanese investors.
Today it is hard to fathom just how large an impact Pearl Harbor was to the psyche of the American public. It turned a large industrial country that was relatively quiet on the global stage into a military making machine. The vast majority of the country turned to war production. And produced they did on a level the world had never seen or since.
As with all national tragedies, time erodes the emotional impact of event. Even 9-11 has lost some of its impact, except maybe in the New York city area. “Remember the Alamo” not really. Pearl Harbor “A Day in Infamy” yes but hard for anyone today to comprehend. What Pearl Harbor does mean that if you attack the US and it gets the majority of the population riled up about it, stand by because the country can fight and will.
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