Pearl Harbor

The 1930s is a decade of aggression. Italy, attacks Ethiopia,

“dreaming of a modern Roman empire. Hitler's thousand year rike calls for his”

seizure of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The Japanese empire expands with the invasion of Manchuria and China, but intends to dominate all of Asia. To accomplish that,

the military and Japan know they must first eliminate the United States as a seaborn power.

They act accordingly. This is World War II, with Tom Hanks, episode 4, Pell Haba. In late 1937, the Japanese escalate their military campaign in China. They already occupy Manchuria.

“After three months of fighting, they take Shanghai.”

And move to the ancient Chinese capital of Manchuria.

The Japanese brutality that follows will shock the world. They enter the city and instead of just occupying it, they let the Japanese troops off the leash, they rape, they pillage, they burn, they steal. The Japanese commanders ordered their soldiers not to take any prisoners, which meant executions. This was Japanese soldiers looking down on the Chinese as an inferior people and as being non-humans.

Japanese soldier who committed atrocities himself, he described it as killing pigs.

“Japanese officers had a competition to see who could be the first to kill a hundred civilians”

with a sword. This was printed in Japanese newspaper. To show pictures of swordsmen, decapitating bound prisoners in the 20th century, may the people doing the killing seem almost like they were barbarians from another era. And it struck Americans and people in the western world in a different way than had they shown people being lined up against a wall in shot.

Hundreds of thousands of people raped and murdered by the Japanese. It was called the rape of non-king. In just six weeks, the Japanese army killed 200,000 Chinese and non-king. Most are civilians. The Japanese invasion does identify the Japanese as an aggressive power

in the Pacific that they are brutal in the way that they've treated the population. And this starts to change people's perceptions with regards to the Japanese. By the end of 1939, Japan controls vast areas of north and central China, as well as the southern port cities. The Japanese are driven by the desire for raw materials.

The luck of the historical draw has put the Japanese people on a series of beautiful islands which are unfortunately resource poor. Take iron ore. The Japanese have almost no indigenous sources of iron ore. Their steel industry is based on U.S. scrap iron. They need the raw materials and almost limitless manpower of China.

Japan is a modern and complex nation. At the pinnacle of society is the Emperor Hirohito.

The constituent made the Emperor of Japan a divine figure.

Literally a living god.

“Taking literally his god on earth or a mystical figure who people aren't”

really supposed to have much direct contact with. Emperor Hirohito is not really a policy maker in Japan. He's not the wartime planner. He doesn't go through details of of tax policy in the way you would think a president or a prime minister does.

He's a guarantor and a protector of Japanese tradition.

Emperor Hirohito approves government policy. But real power lies with the Japanese army in navy and its political allies. They wanted period Japan to control Asia.

“For the last couple of decades it has been a major industrial power, powerful economy.”

Its armed forces have been built up. It's in a really strong position. The Japanese resent the Western colonial empires that dominate Southeast Asia and control resources.

The British rule over Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya and Singapore.

There's French in Dochina and the Dutch East Indies. Even the United States has territories called protectors in Guam and the Philippines. Japan intends to create what they term the greater East Asia co-prosperities fear under their leadership. By this point, Japan is Asia's pre-eminent power by a long way.

“I think because of that, the Japanese have a sense that they are”

destined to bring the rest of Asia with them. Japan had an interest in becoming the supreme power of not only continental China, but also Asia for the Asians was one of the propaganda slogans, one of the key slogans of the Japanese empire. Asia for the Asians was understood by some Japanese politicians at the time as an honest

interest in liberating Asia from the Western colonizers. But there were some voices in the Japanese military who had a different understanding of France's Asia for the Asians saying, "Okay, Asia for the Asians means actually Asia for Japan." You get people in the Japanese government who are militarists, who have a very constrained view of the world. Their attitudes are somewhat disdainful of Western comfort and

softness and all these sorts of things. The Japanese believe their soldiers are the toughest in the world. They combine modern weapons with the traditional training and values of the Samurai warrior, known as the Code of Bouchido. Bouchido was an older tradition that had now been inculcated into the manpower of the Japanese army. The Japanese didn't choose this aspect of their history randomly. They don't have the aircraft to compete with the West. They don't have the heavier tanks

in artillery. There needs to be an equalizer and they believe they found that equalizer in the superior fighting spirit of the Japanese soldier. By 1940, Japan controls most of China. In Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is alarmed and fears further Japanese aggression could threaten the entire Asian Pacific region. Japan is the authoritarian power, organized and driven by a theory of racial superiority,

an a-marge of aggressive conquest. That was what Japan was doing. Now, the only problem there is that the United States has traditionally seen the Pacific as its own area of operations. Roosevelt is determined to dislodge Japan from China and the Japanese are determined to stay. To counter continued Japanese aggression in China, Roosevelt orders the

Japanese mainland. This is a land that is an extension of the United States. It is the United States.

“Roosevelt is sending a clear signal. He hopes will deter Japan. The Pacific is America's”

sphere of influence. He wants the fleet to be positioned far enough forward that the Japanese will take it seriously, but at the same time not to be overtly provided by moving it to a place like the Philippines or maybe Singapore. Pearl Harbor is now the front line of American naval power in the Pacific. The Pearl Harbor naval base is perfect because it's got a narrow channel into a wide harbor with an island right in the middle. So it looks like a fortress.

Outside the naval base is the thriving city of Honolulu. The Hawaiian Islands to America

looks like a paradise. Beautiful beaches, relaxed culture, amazing weather. But there are security

“concerns among top naval and army commanders. Because now they are surrounded by a population”

that is disproportionately Asian and a population that also includes a very large percentage of Japanese Americans. 30% of the population of the Hawaiian Islands has Japanese heritage. One of the major fears is sabotage from local Japanese Americans. General short, who is in charge of the army at Hawaii, is much more afraid of sabotage than air attack. So he takes the fighter planes out of their protective bunkers, lines about on the air field, where

he thinks his soldiers can protect them from sabotage. Unfortunately, he's presented a line of sitting ducks. The U.S. expands its profile in the Pacific. At the same time as Germany's forces,

“sweep through Europe and conquer nation after nation. Heeler doesn't realize what he's done.”

But in Topping France, he's set in motion a kind of ripple effect of aggression that is going

to move far and wide. Going back to the First World War, there's a sense in Japan, but

when things happen in Europe, there's an opportunity for Japan in Asia. If they can get their hands on something while the big powers are busy in Europe, then they will. That's exactly what happens in June 1940. Germany's conquest present Japan with an opportunity. Germany now occupies the Netherlands, colonial ruler of the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Great Britain still at war with Germany controls the resources of Malaya, Singapore, Burma, and Hong Kong. And the French who rule

Indo-China have surrendered to the Nazis. The Japanese now realize that an opportunity is beckoning. The Dutch can't defend the Dutch East Indies any longer. The British are going to have a heck of a time trying to defend Singapore. And on and on the French in Indo-China, the resources await. And it seems to the Japanese that a once-in-a-century opportunity has a risen to seize those colonies. Who's going to defend them? So the French are overrun. By the

Nazis, you have a busy regime being set up. The Japanese really have their eyes on Indo-China, because of the resources there. The sense that actually it won't put up much of a fight

giving that the French a busy elsewhere. Japan's first target is French Indo-China. In September

1940, it pressures the French V-Chig government to see to them the northern region. That same month, Japan's leaders signed a formal alliance with Germany and Italy called the Tripartite Pact. The three nations become known as the Axis Powers. One of the characteristics of the Axis, of course, is that they were three hyper-aggressive militant powers eager for war. The strange bedfills. There seems to be no overlap between German interests which are focused

on Eurasia, Italian interests focused on the Mediterranean and North and East Africa. Japanese interested are in East Asia, and so there's no obvious overlap between the three. They come together because they're all kind of outcasts. The Tripartite Pact is a

There isn't a great deal of ideology there. It's simply a case of how do we keep the

“Americans at bay for now so that we can do what we need to do in Asia.”

In the summer of 1941, the American Japanese relationship reaches crisis level when Japan takes control over all of French Indochina. The French yield and the Japanese come down and they start helping themselves to the resources they need to keep the war going. And then eventually they just outright take it over. It's a great source of resources. It's also a great staging post for whatever else you might want to do in Southeast Asia. Japan now has access to even more raw materials.

The thinking in Tokyo is we need to get 10 and box-side from Malaya. We need to get oil from the Dutch East Indies. We need to get rice from the Philippines and everything you need is there. It's a no-brainer. The United States has one major weapon to force Japan out of China and Southeast Asia. And President Roosevelt is about to use it. In the summer of 1941, the United States takes its strongest stand yet against Japan's territorial

ambitions. The United States has been concerned about Japanese expansion and aggression in Asia for some time. Roosevelt has stopped short of a military response, but there's been a series of embargo on weapons and embargo on scrap iron. Japan is almost entirely dependent on oil imported from the US. So FDR imposes an embargo on the Japanese. In the summer of 1941, America essentially turns off the tap. The embargo becomes a disaster

for the Japanese economy and military. By installing an oil embargo, we have basically said we are

going to control your future. The Japanese have to find a way out and there's oil nearby. The Dutch, for example, control huge amounts of oil in that region. So it becomes almost a temptation. Why wouldn't you take it? Especially when you feel like the United States had no right to

“cut you off from oil in the first place. I mean, would a European power stand for that?”

The moment Roosevelt turns off the tap, the clock is ticking. In Tokyo, the Japanese make plans to strike back. Japan thinks about how do we get out of this straight jacket? Well, we have to

replace those things by seizing the raw materials of Southeast Asia. And the first step will be

to knock out the American Pacific Fleet. The Japanese finalized plans to attack American interests in the Pacific. There's a sense amongst the Japanese that the Americans are merchants rather than warriors. And that if you do give them a really bloody nose, they'll think, "Actually, this isn't for us." So if you really show them some proper steel, then they might back away. But not everyone in Japan is committed to conflict with the United States.

Prime Minister Funumara Kanouge wants to find a peaceful solution. Very much of a noble background. He is an internationalist. He has great relationships with

“diplomats in the West. His big concern, I think, is how you reach some kind of a settlement”

with the United States, and managed to bring the Japanese military along with you. But War Minister Hadekate Tojo is determined to go to war against America. Hadekate Tojo does have a very aggressive sense of what Japan is going to have to do. The destiny of Japan is to be the preeminent power in Asia, is to push the Americans out, push the British out, to push the Dutch out. Look at what's happening in Europe. Look at the success

of the Nazis, that is the way a great power is going to run itself in the future. Emperor Hirohido is caught between the war and peace factions in Tokyo. He gathers just political and military leaders for an imperial conference where he recites a poem written

In such a world wide do the waves rage, the winds roar. The Japanese try to interpret Hirohido's feelings about the war from the poem,

but he never states his views explicitly.

Prime Minister Kanowai still wants to find a diplomatic solution. There's no harm done in keeping open channels of communication. There are ambassador and special envoy in Washington talking to the U.S. State Department, but the Americans still demand the Japan withdrawal from China. I don't think they see any possibility that this problem can be negotiated away.

“I think the Japanese have made a pretty firm decision to go to war.”

In mid-October 1941, a frustrated Prime Minister Kanowai resigns. He tells his government secretary, "His imperial majesty is a pacifist. I told him that war was a mistake. He agreed. But the next time I met him, he leaned more to war. I felt the Emperor was absorbing more and more the view of the army and navy high commands. Hirohito heard plans being discussed in detail constantly.

He never really said yes, but the crucial factor is that he never said no.

War Minister Tojo becomes the new Prime Minister. Japan's destiny is now in the hands of the military.

“In Honolulu, there's a new employee at the Japanese consulate.”

The Kiyo Yoshikawa. Akiyo Yoshikawa was a member of the Japanese navy and was sent to Hawaii as a spy. Yoshikawa is hoping that he's going to find some sympathizers within the Japanese population, that'll give him additional information. But what he quickly discovers is that the vast majority of the Japanese Americans on Awahu are loyal to the United States.

So he's renting planes to take sightseeing tours around the harbor. He's driving around town. He's taking pictures. I'm a tourist. He's renting boats to go around and actually measure the depth of the harbor and so forth. So he gathers a lot of intelligence about the daily activities of the Pacific Fleet. Yoshikawa is the one who comes up with the insight that Sunday morning really is

the best time to launch an attack against the Americans. Although meant to deter Japan, FDR is ordered to move the Pacific Fleet base from California to Pearl Harbor. It means it's now within striking distance. Roosevelt doesn't really understand that by moving the fleet this far forward, it now becomes a potential target for the Japanese because the Americans in general don't

understand the sophistication and level of capability that the Japanese now have. On a cold Wednesday morning, the fleet of the Japanese Imperial Navy heads out into the Pacific. In overall command is Grand Admiral Isiroku Yamamoto. It was his plan to launch a surprise attack against the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Yamamoto is a really good appreciation for just how powerful the United States is. He's lived in the

U.S., he was a naval attache, we speak some English, and so he understands that any war with the United States is going to have to be a very fast affair that they've got to get this thing over as rapidly as possible. Hit them hard at the outset and try to go after American morale. The way he thinks he can do that is by sinking as many of our battleships as possible. Maybe then the Americans will come to the bargaining table, and we can get this war over

“within six months or something like that. Key to the operation is grouping six modern aircraft”

carriers together for the attack. Yamamoto is an air power advocate. He has been consistently pushing to beef up Japan's aircraft carriers. When they create this organization, Keto Boutai,

tasked with defending heavy battleships. The Japanese are like, we're going to take all of our

“carriers, we're going to put them into a carrier fleet of six big flight decks.”

The canal bring 350 aircraft across the ocean. That is going to allow the Japanese to deliver

these enormous pulses of firepower over the battlefield, which has never been seen before in

naval warfare. The Japanese have another challenge. How do you get this enormous Armada across three and a half thousand miles of ocean without being detected? First, they shut down all radio communications and travel in silence. Then eight oil tankers sail alongside the fleet. The ability to refuel at sea is one of the masterstrokes of Pearl Harbor because your fleet didn't

“have to stop at any basis. This is how the Japanese fleet could stay radio silent. Refueling at sea”

literally allowed the Japanese fleet to vanish like a ghost. As the Japanese fleet steams towards Hawaii and Washington DC the Japanese and the Americans continue to negotiate. On December 6th, President Roosevelt writes to Emperor Hero Hito directly. It is clear that a continuance of such a situation is unthinkable. We have a sacred duty to

historic traditional amity and prevent further death and destruction in the world.

“Roosevelt saying that war would be a harrow is war that none of us want. But this point Hero”

Hito is embarked on war. The Japanese fleet has reached the point of no return. December 7th, 1941. Just before 4 a.m. a patrol ship the USS Ward receives a message. A small submarine has been spotted in the area near Pearl Harbor. At 6.40 a.m., the Ward drops depth charges on the submarine. They send a citing report upstairs. The people at Pearl Harbor look at it and they're like this is a brand

new captain. He's only been on duty for a day at this point. He probably doesn't know what he's

doing and don't worry about it. Even though the Ward has successfully fired the first shot

in this war, her report is completely ignored. Twenty minutes later, two young radar operators spotted huge formation of planes approaching the area. They reported to their senior officer. He knows that there's a group of American B-17s that are due in this morning that should be coming from roughly that direction and the result is that he tells those two radar operators don't worry about it. 183 Japanese planes descend on Pearl Harbor in the first way

of the attack. They're target. The airfields. The result is going to be this concentrated bombing attack to try to put as many American planes out of business at the outset of the attack.

That's 755 a.m. The first bombs hit. When you hear the air planes

every had you like, oh boy, it's sure I do in training early today. And then when all of a sudden things start to explode, I like, oh man, somebody's really going to get in trouble because this training event's way out of hand. At 8 a.m. on Honolulu, the Japanese spy to KO Yoshikawa tunes his radio into a Japanese weather forecast. The announcer uses the phrase, "Hagashi no Kazeame."

Another formation of Japanese aircraft dive on the ship's anchored along battleship row.

“Torpedo planes at low level and overhead bombers.”

It's not until ships actually start exploding. Bullet start ripping through the decks that they realize, oh my god, this is really real. Torpedo attacks are very, very successful. The Oklahoma and the West Virginia are very heavily hit.

Oklahoma ends up capsizing, trapping hundreds of men in this overturned ship.

Over 400 sailors and Marines die on the USS Oklahoma.

“At the same time, the level bombers are coming in overhead and dropping their bombs.”

And one of them lands a devastating hit on the battleship Arizona. And destroys her in just the blink of an eye. The explosion on the USS Arizona kills 1,117 men. So if you think about every soldier sailor Marine, they cannot connect the idea of what is happening. There are bombs exploding. There are ships sinking. There are men on fire. There are body parts

flying around. And you can imagine just trying to wrap your mind around all that. After two waves of attack, the Japanese withdraw. 188 US aircraft are destroyed. 1,178 servicemen and civilians are wounded. 2,403 are dead. But the United States Navy's aircraft carriers are at sea and escape the devastation.

If we want to talk about the current and flexion point in World War Two, it's December 7, 1941.

At 755, it's the world as we've always known it. 15 minutes later at 810, the world is different.

We are now at war. [Music] Artors has your family covered for every summer first, first steps, first swim lesson, or first sleepover. Our clothes help kids and parents shine thanks to company design and easy dressing details. Visit carters.com to shop the latest styles or find a carter store near you.

[Music] The America that wakes up on December 8, 1941 is a different country.

“The countries being tested. Are we up to this? Can we meet this challenge?”

We are being put in the balance and would we be found wanting or not? Prime Minister Tojo tells the Japanese people about the victory of its navy at Pearl Harbor. He also tells them that Japan is a tax Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines. While American attention is focused on the surprise attack,

They're bombing Malaya, they're bombing the Philippines.

“At 12.30pm, Congress assembles. Yesterday, December 7, 1941,”

a date which will live in Inferme. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. By naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. He dictated a good part of the speech to a Secretary of Grace Tully. The initial formulation was yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history. At some point before he gets to Capitol Hill,

he writes in a wonderful handwriting of his, "Date which will live in Inferme."

It was his edit of his own dictation that created an indelible phrase.

“I asked that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dazzledly attack by Japan”

on Sunday, the December 7, 1941, a date of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. Look very carefully at what Franklin Roosevelt said on the 8th of December,

we are declaring war against the Empire of Japan. He does not mention Germany.

The 8th goes by, the 9th goes by, the 10th goes by, and not until the 11th when Hitler decides to declare war on the United States did the United States then in turn to

“declare war on Germany. America now faces a global war on two fronts. We were dragged into this.”

Let's be very clear. The United States of America did not wake up in the middle of the 20th century and decided it was going to defeat tyranny. tyranny had to force us into a struggle that we now recognize to be the great existential struggle, arguably of the last millennium, but it was not a quick or easy date with destiny. We are now in this war. We're all in it all the way. Every single man, woman, child

is a partner and the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. It will not only be a long war to be a hard war. We are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows. America is now at war, the most devastating in-world history. Germany reigns from the Atlantic to the outskirts of Moscow. Imperial Japan has swept across the Pacific,

forcing America into an arms struggle it is not yet ready to fight, not on land, not in the air, not at sea. World War II with Tom Hanks is produced by Nytopia Limited, Aini Factual Studios, Playtone Productions and Backpocket Studios in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd,

additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Reagan. From the History Channel, our executive producers are Eli Lera and Live Fidler. For Playtone, executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Getsman. For Backpocket Studios, our executive producer is Ben Dixon.