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Pearl Harbor Context.
In the year of 1940 the United States had upset japan by placing an embargo act on them that would prohibit exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel (Pearl 1). Due to the lack of these resources, Japan took over Northern French Indochina in 1941 in search for the necessary ingredients to prepare for war. Nations including the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands cut off all assets to Japan due to their most recent actions. Following this, General Tojo Hideki became Japan's leader in mid-October of that same year. He then secretly set November 29 as the last day in which Japan would accept a settlement without war (Pearl 1). .
The U.S. was aware that they had broken the Japanese diplomatic code which had led the U.S. to expect some sort of retaliation. A warning had been sent from Washington to Pearl Harbor, but it had arrived too late (Pearl 1). The attack on Pearl Harbor began on the morning of December 7th, 1941 just before 8 A.M. The first wave of the Japanese fleet had left behind only 6 aircraft carriers. In the two waves of terror lasting almost two hours, Japan had killed or wounded over 3,500 Americans and sank or badly damaged 18 ships (Pearl 2). The Japanese attack brought the U.S. into war on December 8 which would ultimately turn into what we know of as today as World War II.
Biography of George W. Bush.
On July 6, 1946 George W. Bush was the first born of six children to George Herbert Walker bush and Barbara Bush. George spent the majority of his childhood growing up in Houston Texas; in 1961 he entered the Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass (Greenstein 388). Upon graduation, George set his sights on Yale University where he would receive a bachelor's degree in history. Like his father, he was a member of the secretive Skull and Bones society but did not excel in academics or athletics (Greenstein 389). Near the end of his studies at Yale, Bush applied for a pilot trainee in the Texas Air National guard, commissioned as a second lieutenant in July 1968, he became a certified fighter pilot in June 1970 (Greenstein 389).