Pearl Harbour: Primary Source Essay
Created | Updated Jan 31, 2005
War is the consequence of various causes, students of history realise that “no war comes in a moment” crisis could be better prevented in the future if we would concentrate on the diplomatic as well as military aspects. For example, the minority Report criticised the Pearl Harbour investigation for blaming the country’s [legislation] system when the facts showed the fault being mostly human. By exploiting these “weakness” of management cooperation and individual judgement, we will learn to coordinate a more efficient “unification of command.”
The failure to defend Pearl Harbour, the chief responsibilities of civil and military commanders who depended on each other to properly prepare the naval base, was therefore the result of several top authorities neglecting their duties. Washington should have given some essential information and orders to alert Hawaii, the commanders in the field “in charge of the fleet and of the naval base” should have brought the lack of trained manpower and unprepared Pearl Harbour to Washington’s attention. Therefore, the summary strengthens the evidence of human failure.
Apparently, Roosevelt had his reasons when he decided not to inform Hawaiian commands and kept a lax fleet. FDR needed to war the Axis Powers with a unified nation, so he pressured the Japanese economically in hopes “of enticing a Japanese surprise attack upon Pearl Harbour.” Although most blamed the Japanese for the attack and entry into WWII, the stratagem of diplomatic provocations was actually President Roosevelt’s secret catalyst to push the U.S. into War.
Kept in the dark, the Hawaiian commanders anticipated that the Japanese were preparing to attack the Soviets. The signals of catastrophe were “in the company all sorts of information that is useless and irrelevant for predicting the particular disaster,” as Roberta Nolstetter asserted. People do not realise how the right information can be beneficial whereas extra and overabundance information may misguide and distract: one will not know the relevancy until the aftermath.
Pearl Harbour definitely sparked the Unites States into the Second World War. Rendered incredulous by the surprise bombing, the American people and “eight official investigations […] could not come up with the clear-cut, foolproof answers” despite the “reams of testimony and documentation.” There were too many other causes and shadowed speculation to cast doubt on any individual’s role, it shall be unfair to incriminate or assign fault to any party involved in an enigma of the American past.
The failure to defend Pearl Harbour, the chief responsibilities of civil and military commanders who depended on each other to properly prepare the naval base, was therefore the result of several top authorities neglecting their duties. Washington should have given some essential information and orders to alert Hawaii, the commanders in the field “in charge of the fleet and of the naval base” should have brought the lack of trained manpower and unprepared Pearl Harbour to Washington’s attention. Therefore, the summary strengthens the evidence of human failure.
Apparently, Roosevelt had his reasons when he decided not to inform Hawaiian commands and kept a lax fleet. FDR needed to war the Axis Powers with a unified nation, so he pressured the Japanese economically in hopes “of enticing a Japanese surprise attack upon Pearl Harbour.” Although most blamed the Japanese for the attack and entry into WWII, the stratagem of diplomatic provocations was actually President Roosevelt’s secret catalyst to push the U.S. into War.
Kept in the dark, the Hawaiian commanders anticipated that the Japanese were preparing to attack the Soviets. The signals of catastrophe were “in the company all sorts of information that is useless and irrelevant for predicting the particular disaster,” as Roberta Nolstetter asserted. People do not realise how the right information can be beneficial whereas extra and overabundance information may misguide and distract: one will not know the relevancy until the aftermath.
Pearl Harbour definitely sparked the Unites States into the Second World War. Rendered incredulous by the surprise bombing, the American people and “eight official investigations […] could not come up with the clear-cut, foolproof answers” despite the “reams of testimony and documentation.” There were too many other causes and shadowed speculation to cast doubt on any individual’s role, it shall be unfair to incriminate or assign fault to any party involved in an enigma of the American past.
