Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Pearl Harbor” Speech

Context

Although World War II began in Europe in September 1939, the United States remained officially neutral for over two years. The country's position was basically isolationist, as many Americans conceived that for a second time Europeans had failed to keep the peace and that they were responsible for resolving their own conflicts. Roosevelt respected public opinion, but he was also aware that vital U.S. interests could be damaged should the Axis powers win the war. At the same time, he was keenly aware of the increasing militancy of the recent Japanese governments, beginning in the early 1930s, when military men began dominating Japanese politics and promoted the extension of Japanese rule to other parts of Asia.

Roosevelt pursued policies aimed at strengthening the U.S. military, aiding Great Britain—through a lend-lease program that provided Britain with ships, planes, and other valuable equipment—and checking Japanese expansionism through trade embargoes. Although Roosevelt was warned that Japan might strike directly at the United States, he was unclear as to when or where that attack might come. Washington actually sent warnings to the fleet at Pearl Harbor and at other ports, but postwar congressional investigations would conclude that the warnings were not taken very seriously.

Without question, Roosevelt's efforts to curtail Japanese access to the raw materials required for conducting war was viewed by the Japanese as an assault on their own sphere of influence in Asia. Japan did not underestimate the strength of U.S. forces, which is precisely why the Japanese high command believed that a surprise opening strike at the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor would be an essential part of their effort to preserve and enlarge their empire.