December 7, 1941 is a day that will forever live in infamy. The brutal, horrific attack on Pearl Harbor came as a complete surprise. Or did it? The truth is that United States government knew that the Japanese would strike Pearl Harbor. No one could have anticipated what tragedy was to come. Or could they? The truth is that the United States government received warnings almost a full year before the attack. The President did all he could to keep the United States out of World War II. Or did he? The truth is shocking, and more devastating than the attack itself.Our president, the very man appointed to protect the country, had set the united States up for one of the most destructive attacks in history.
Prior to World War II, Japan already had numerous problems. She was dangerously dependent on outside sources for raw materials, especially oil. Conflicts with the Chinese in 1937 lead to the Sino-Japanese War, one of the bloodiest wars in world history. This war was seriously depleting Japan's resources and military forces. Desperate for raw materials, and following Germany's lead, Japan attempted to seize control of several Southeast Asian countries. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was strongly opposed to the expansion of Germany and Japan. Although the US supplied materials to the countries at war with Japan and Germany, she tried to stay neutral. A vast majority of Americans were opposed to entering the foreign wars, and Japan didn't want to start a war with the Western Powers anyway. Because the Western Powers were stronger, Japan had little chance of coming out of it in good shape, let alone victorious. Japan sided with Germany and Italy in September of 1940, forming the Axis Alliance. Still desperate for raw materials, Japan decided to secure access to the abundance of resources in Southeast Asia. She began by seizing southern Indochina. The US was in great opposition to this, and imposed an oil embargo on Japan to halt her expansion.
