244 ChaPter^5
goods and fight so they took drastic action, attacking a U.S. naval base in
Hawai’i, Pearl Harbor, on December 7th. Japan’s successful attack was due to
U.S. mistakes, missed signals, and some incompetence but was not, as some
critics charged, a case of Roosevelt “allowing” Japan to attack so he would
have an excuse for war [if that were the case, U.S. hostilities with Germany
in the Atlantic would have been a sufficient cause for war]. FDR, calling it
“a date which shall live in infamy,” asked Congress for a declaration of war,
which he received. Germany, Japan’s Axis partner, then declared war on the
U.S. and World War II had officially begun. The Japanese attack was some-
thing of a desperate measure. Running short of resources, it hoped that the
Pearl Harbor action would shock the Americans and force them to negotiate
and avoid military conflict. It did not. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, head of
Japan’s navy, predicted that he would be able to control the Pacific for 6
months to a year but was “utterly without confidence” after that, once
American military production was at full strength and its forces deployed in
the Pacific. He even allegedly said [it has not been verified] “I fear all we have
done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.” In any
event, Japan and the U.S. were now in a war for the Open Door in Asia.FIGuRE 5-1 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941