CP Note: This is the second post in a three-part series by Jean Sasson. The first post is: “Seventy Years Ago and Seven Days Before December 7, 1941. The third post is: “70 Years Ago: December 8-14, 1941.”
Seventy years ago:
“I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”
—British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Date: December 7, 1941
Place: Chequers (the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, located near Ellesborough, England.)
With: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and his two American guests, American Ambassador John Gilbert Winant and President Roosevelt’s Special Envoy, Averell Harriman.
December 7 came on a Sunday in 1941. On that cold evening in the United Kingdom, a war exhausted Winston Churchill was sitting with American visitors Ambassador Winant and Special Envoy Harriman at the Chequers residence of the British Prime Minister. When time came for the nine-o’clock news, Churchill kept to his usual routine and turned on his wireless set. The three men listened quietly as the broadcast gave the latest information about the Russian front as well as the British front in Libya. Without elaborating, the newscast finished with a few brief sentences about a Japanese attack on American shipping at Hawaii, before a casual mention about a second attack on some British ships in the Dutch East Indies.
Due to the brevity of the Hawaiian reference, along with the newsman’s unruffled demeanor, Churchill later admitted that he had failed to catch the importance of the remark connecting Japan to Hawaii. While Churchill was expecting the Japanese to attack American and British interests in the Pacific, he had long feared that the Japanese might cunningly target British interests only. Churchill knew that unless Japan or Germany openly attacked America, or declared war on the country, Roosevelt would be unable to convince the United States Congress to declare war on the villain regimes.
Churchill was so concerned about the possibility of the Empire fighting yet another war front without American involvement that he looked to dissuade Japan to attack America or Great Britain. For this reason he had recently pushed for the Empire’s newest battleship, Prince of Wales, to join the Repulse in the area. The Prince of Wales was now within striking distance of the Japanese fleet.
In 1941, Churchill made the priorities of the British clear. First they had to defend their island home against a Nazi invasion, as well as hold their own in the U-boat war with the Germans. Secondly, they must win in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Thirdly, they must assist the Russians as best as they could to keep that country from joining the long list of Nazi conquests. Lastly, there must be some kind of resistance to the Japanese threat.
A visibly perturbed Harriman broke the silence, repeating that there had been a Japanese attack on Hawaii. That’s when Churchill took notice of the enormity of the moment. Churchill’s butler overheard the conversation and walked in the room to tell the Prime Minister that the staff had heard that the Japanese had attacked the Americans.
Churchill later said that the news was so overpowering that he sat without speaking, although his mind was active. If Japan had really attacked America in Hawaii, then the Americans were finally in the war. Furthermore, his government had assured the Americans that if they were attacked by the Japanese the British government would respond with a declaration of war within the hour.
An intense Churchill finally stood up. Followed by Ambassador Winant, he bounded out of the room to place a call to President Roosevelt.
Within minutes, Churchill was talking with Roosevelt, who famously told his British friend, “They have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.”
After the telephone exchange, the men once again returned to the sitting area, talking about the surprise Japanese attack which had just occurred, an important event that would change everything. In 1941, instant news did not exist, so the severity of the attack and the enormous loss of life were not yet known. Churchill later wrote that “My two American friends took the shock with admirable fortitude. We had no idea that any serious losses had been inflicted on the United States Navy. They did not wail or lament that their country was a war. They wasted no words in reproach or sorrow. In fact, one might almost have thought they had been delivered from a long pain.”
Since the fall of France and the German Blitz against Great Britain, Roosevelt and members of his cabinet realized the urgency of the threat. America would eventually be drawn into the war, whether the American people liked it or not. Although the British finally had Russian company in their war against the Germans, the two countries would find it difficult if not impossible to be victorious against the military might of the Nazis, who had the support of the Italians and the Japanese. Churchill also knew that if America waited much longer, they would find themselves fighting all alone, for the British were dangerously overextended, and the Russians had been ill prepared for full war. But dangerous divisions had arisen in America, with an influential and vocal group staunchly against any American participation in the European war. But now that would change.
Knowing that finally the United States was in the war, and that as such, the three fanatic regimes ruling Germany, Italy and Japan, would be defeated no matter how long it took, the Prime Minister admitted that, “Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”
Date: December 7, 1941
Place:Washington, D.C.
With: President Franklin Roosevelt
The president of the United States was having lunch with his aide Harry Hopkins at 1:40 PM when a telephone call interrupted their meal. The Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, was on the line, relating dire news from the Pacific. The Navy had just received a radio message from Hawaii saying that Pearl Harbor was under attack by the Japanese.
Only the day before Roosevelt had tried to petition for peace. In the hopes that his country and Japan could avoid war, Roosevelt had drafted a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo. The Emperor had not responded to his appeal.
Roosevelt now knew that Nomura Kichisaburo and Kurusu Saburo, the Japanese diplomats who had been negotiating peace plans with the Secretary of State Hull, were nothing more than distractions buying time for the Japanese government. They were decoys whose plans were to keep the Americans engaged in diplomatic talks even as the Japanese fleet made its quiet way across the Pacific to attack America.
But such a deceitful attack had its benefits. The attack would galvanize America. Roosevelt’s struggles with the isolationists were over. Now America would join Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China and others in battling the evil regimes murdering and enslaving millions of innocent people from Europe to China.
According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book No Ordinary Time
According to Goodwin’s book, Eleanor looked at her husband and saw that he was deadly quiet. “He was completely calm. His reaction to any event was always to be calm. If it was something that was bad, he just became almost like an iceberg, and there was never the slightest emotion that was allowed to show.”
Date: December 7, 1941
Place:Hawaii
With: The men of the Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii
There were warnings, but all were too late. Commanders in Philippines, Panama, California, and Hawaii were sent the message to be on alert. The Imperial Japanese Navy might be readying for an attack somewhere in the Pacific arena.
The teletype warning was completed by 6:47 a.m. in Hawaii, but did not arrive until 7:33 a.m. Due to the early hour, the message was sent by a boy on a motorcycle. While the motorcycle messenger was on his way to deliver the message, gunfire was heard over Pearl Harbor.
A second warning was misunderstood. Trainees closing down the radar for daylight hours saw blips indicating airplanes approaching the islands. The lieutenant in charge believed the blips to be a flight of Fortresses due to arrive from the West Coast. The blips were ignored.
A third warning came to the attention of the American military too late, as well. The day before, on December 6, 1941, Japanese submarines initially evaded detection by theUSminesweepers and destroyers. Five of those submarines were midget submarines hovering in the waters near to Pearl Harbor, so close that they could hear music drifting offshore from Waikiki’s nightclubs catering to American servicemen. The Japanese seamen watched in silence, waiting until the time came to attack.
But before the Midget subs could attack, an American ship spotted a periscope and gave chase. The Midget sub disappeared into the waters. Other Midget subs were destroyed. The Americans reported the intrusion to military intelligence, but it was too late. As they were pondering the meaning of the sighting, hell broke loose over Hawaii. Sailors spotted torpedo bombers breaking out of the skies and roaring at them. Torpedoes began exploding in the bay, ships were hit.
At 7:58 a.m., an alarm was sounded: “Air raid, Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill!”
There were 183 Japanese planes in the air, all simultaneously hitting targets across Oahu, including Pearl Harbor, Wheeler Field, Hickam Field, Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay and others. The attack came in two waves, with 171 planes launched in the second assault.
In less than two hours, the devastation was massive. Losses were heavy with 2,402 Americans killed and 1,282 wounded. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were hit, with four being sunk. There were other losses. Three destroyers, three cruisers, one minelayer and an anti-aircraft training ship were destroyed or sank.
There was some good news. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy had seven aircraft carriers, but none were at port in Hawaii. The Enterprise was supposed to have been at Pearl Harbor, but a storm prevented her arrival.
Due to the surprise of the attack, the Japanese losses were extremely light. They had 65 killed or wounded servicemen. One Japanese sailor was captured. They lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines.
The Japanese had deviously attacked without a declaration of war, believing that the United States could not fight a war across the Pacific if their naval fleet was destroyed. Only after the Japanese aircraft returned safely to their carriers, was war finally declared from the Japanese Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time.
Date: December 8, 1941
Place: Washington,DC
With: President Franklin Roosevelt
World reaction to the attack was varied.
Adolf Hitler crowed, “We cannot lose the war! Now we have a partner who has not been defeated in three thousand years.”
Charles de Gaulle, the French leader who was in exile in Britain said, “The war is over. Of course, there are years of fighting ahead, but the Germans are beaten.”
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku viewed the situation pessimistically, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
President Roosevelt delivered his Day of Infamy Speech on December 8th, 1941 at12:30 PM to a Joint Session of Congress, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base. His speech still rings with the drama of the day.
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a day 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.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking forward to the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United Statesand his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the life and safety of our nation.
As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
All of America was so stunned and furious by the massive and coordinated attack upon Pearl Harbor, that the United States Congress easily passed a declaration of war againstJapan.
The war had come to the Americans.
Date: December 8, 1941
Place:London, England
With: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Churchill never denied that he was joyful to have the United States by Great Britain’s side. Later he wrote that with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Americans were “up to the neck and in to the death” in the war. “So, we had won, after all! . . . England would live . . .”
The British government’s War Cabinet authorized a declaration of war against Japan. That’s when Churchill sent a polite but firm message to the Japanese Ambassador to Great Britain informing the Imperial Japanese Government in the name of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom that a state of war existed between their two countries.
Churchill courteously signed the message of war by saying,
“I have the honor to be, with high consideration, Sir, Your obedient servant, Winston S. Churchill”
Churchill later revealed that some people did not agree with his ceremonial style, but he famously replied to any and all complaints by saying,
“But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.”
Despite Churchill’s unabashed joy at gaining America as a war ally, the worse was yet to come. Reports containing dreadful news would soon arrive for Churchill, news he considered to be the most depressing of the entire war.
Bibliographical Guide:
The Second World War, Volume: The Grand Alliance, by Winston S. Churchill.
No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Library of Congress records pertaining to World War II
December 7th 1941, “a date that will live in infamy”. Almost exactly 40 years later, while I was attending a conference on liver disease in Hawaii, I decided to pay my respects at the National War Memorial in Pearl Harbour. Another thirty years on I vividly recall standing on the structure which had been built over the sunken remains of the USS Arizona, soberly and sombrely thinking about that dreadful event and the wasted young lives of the 1,777 US crew entombed below where I stood — and how could a nation so proud of its code of chivalry, bushido, engage in such a dastardly act? Then I was suddenly surprised by two events. The first, I spotted an oil slick below me — the old war horse was still leaking fuel 40 years later, and the second… I became aware of hundreds of bird-like voices twittering around me and mingled with those voices the sound of dozens of camers shutters.
During my reverie I had been surrounded by people — I looked at them. Without exception they were Japanese.
Jean Sasson has done another good job here, caught the tone and the tempo of those fraught times.I look forward to episode three.
Jean Sasson gives another highly detailed history lesson. The attack on Pearl Harbor is a magnanimous tragedy, the scope of which the entire free world will remember, always in infamy. Reading this article was like looking at a snapshot in time. And, knowing that it happened exactly seventy years ago gives me chills. Anyone that is studying the attack on Pearl Harbor, WW2 or simply Sir Winston Churchill will most assuredly appreciate Ms. Sasson’s article.