FDR and Churchill Forced Out of Asia, Japanese Propaganda Poster, January 1942 Rough Schedule Going Forward! Week 5: Into 1942! Week 6: The Struggles of 1942 and 1943! Week 7: The Tide Turns in 1944! Week 8: Downfall, 1945 1
Hawaii, Wake, Guam, the Philippines Pearl Harbor Attack December 7, 1941 2402 Americans killed 188 aircraft lost Japanese carriers sunk battleships (US carriers not at Pearl) Four battleships sunk (two raised), three damaged Attack occurred in homeport, not open ocean Repair facilities and oil storage left unscathed 2
No Third Strike! Three US carriers absent! Admiral Nagumo, Carrier Strike Force commander, failed to follow up with third wave Battleships at Pearl Harbor! Arizona: Exploded; total loss. 1,177 dead! Oklahoma: Capsized; total loss. 429 dead! West Virginia: two bombs, seven torpedoes, sunk; returned to service July 1944. 106 dead.! California: two bombs, two torpedoes, sunk; returned to service January 1944. 100 dead.! Nevada: six bombs, one torpedo, beached; returned to service October 1942. 60 dead.! Tennessee: two bombs; returned February 1942. 5 dead.! Maryland: two bombs; returned February 1942. 4 dead.! Pennsylvania: in drydock, one bomb, debris from USS Cassin; remained in service. 9 dead. 3
Pearl Harbor Gave FDR the Wrong War, at the Wrong Time, in the Wrong Place, Against the Wrong Enemy! Saw Germany as chief threat! Assumption shared by war plans! War with Japan would not necessarily mean war with Germany! FDR refused to ask Congress to declare war on Germany! That declaration came only after Hitler declared war on the US Hitler Declares War on US! Hitler hated FDR! Thought Roosevelt Jewish! Utilize Japanese surface fleet! Hitler never sought to avoid war with the US! From Hitler s perspective, war with the US inevitable. Why not now?! De facto state of war 4
Knox s Report to FDR Had US Forces Repelled the Attack, Admiral Kimmel and General Short Would Have Been Heroes 5
American Officials Too Rational to Anticipate War with Japan Who Received Purple?! The President! Secretaries Stimson, Knox! Gen. George Marshall; Adm. Harold Stark! Adm. Richmond K. Turner! Gen. Sherman Miles; Adm. Theodore Wilkinson! Cordell Hull, sometimes Welles and Hopkins 6
10 Official Investigations of Pearl Harbor Inquiry by Secretary of the Navy Knox, December 1941 Justice Owen Roberts, 1941 42 Admiral Hart Inquiry, 1944 Army Pearl Harbor Board. 1944 Naval Court of Inquiry, 1944 Admiral Hewitt Navy Investigation, 1945 Gen. Carter Clarke Army Investigation, 1945 Congressional Inquiry, 1946 Clausen Inquiry, 1946, Topsecret inquiry by Secretary of War Stimson, authorized by Congress Thurmond-Spence hearings, 1995 Yamamoto s Misperceptions 7
Japanese Overextension! One million Japanese troops, roughly half of Japan s army divisions, remained deployed to Northern China and Manchuria! Burma, Malaya, Philippines, Dutch East Indies Garrisons: roughly 25 percent of Japanese forces! Another 25 percent deployed to face US Central Pacific and US-Australian SW Pacific Campaigns 8
Respective Estimated GDPs 1940 (Rounded), In Dollars, 1940 Prices Allied: 190 Billion! USA: 100 Billion! USSR: 40 Billion! UK: 30 Billion Axis: 75 Billion! Germany: 40 Billion! Japan: 20 Billion! Italy: 15 Billion! China: 20 Billion Tokyo s Strategic Dilemma Items necessary for Japan s war machine came from US! 40% of imports came from US! Including vital commodities such as oil (66%), scrap iron (91%), alloys (98%), copper (92%), automobiles and parts (77%), aircraft parts (63%)! British and Dutch empires provided another 29% of Japan s necessities! Japanese exports to US included non-vital materials such as crabmeat and fish oil 9
American Submarines The Unsung Heroes of the War American Submarines The Unsung Heroes of the War 10
FDR s Wartime Team General Hap Arnold, Air Chief Marshal Portal, General Brooke, Admiral King, Field Marshal Dill, General Marshall, Admiral Pound, Admiral Leahy Admiral Ernest King! Aviation! Subs! Temperament! Reputation! Superstitions 11
Admiral Ernest King! Reporter: Who controls Halsey?! Secretary Knox: Nimitz.! Reporter: Who controls Nimitz?! Secretary Knox: King.! Reporter: Who controls King?! Secretary Knox: (Laughing no response)! Reporters: (Laughter) Admiral Chester Nimitz! Knox: How soon can you be ready to travel?! Nimitz: It depends on where I'm going and how long I ll be away.! Knox: You're going to take command of the Pacific Fleet and I think you will be gone for a long time. 12
Admiral William Leahy Gen. George C. Marshall 13
10/22/15 FDR s Strategic Sense Saw war as global struggle Delegated to talented subordinates Understood importance of logistics, new technologies, air-age globalism Coordination Among Big Three (Unlike Axis Powers, Who Thoroughly Failed to Coordinate) Multiple Simultaneous Fronts Exploit Allied Manpower Advantages; Naval Power, Air Power Winning the Peace FDR s Wartime Strategy Win the War As Quickly As Possible Minimize US Casualties Utilize Industrial, Logistical and Organizational Advantages Hold Alliance Together at All Costs Europe First No Neglect of the Pacific/Asia Theater Keep China, USSR in War 14
Fear of Casualties Marshall on Casualties! I was very careful to send Mr. Roosevelt every few days a statement of our casualties. I tried to keep before him all the time the casualty results because you get hardened to these things and you have to be very careful to keep them always in the forefront of your mind. 15
End War as Soon as Possible Fear of Super Weapons Game Changers Startling New Uses of Weapons:! Atomic Bomb! Guided Missiles (V-1, V-2)! Long-range bombers (B-29)! Incendiaries! Carriers! Kamikazes FDR and the Big Three FDR Worried About Objectives of Soviets and British Obscured by Cold War Ideology Concerns About Postwar Colonial Asia 16
The Shelling of Goleta February 23, 1942 Japanese postcard commemorating the I-17 shelling the Ellwood Storage Facility north of Santa Barbara 17
Raid on Santa Barbara 18
Battle of Los Angeles February 24, 1942 Damage From the Battle of Los Angeles 19
Debris Entirely U.S. Made Hysteria in California 20
Internment Executive Order 9066 Japanese Internment, 1942-45 The Stain of Internment Cannot be Removed from FDR s Record 110,000 of Japanese Ancestry, 70,000 of them U.S. citizens Three Japanese-Americans Challenged Internment in Federal Courts 21
By Order of the President Attorney General Francis Biddle opposed the idea Only ten people ever convicted of spying for Japan (None were Japanese) Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Its 1983 Report Concluded: Race Prejudice War Hysteria Failure of Political Leadership Grave Injustice 22
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