"1,,,J~P""t'Jt',111.1(1"1mP""rl
Holrb.'r,H.z,,·~ii,the SovietU nioninjuneIY41,Rooseveltusedrhc
L\:m{Leaseschemetosendaidtothe Russians, too.
Fightin gwas alsotakin g placein Asiaat th is time.
japaneseforceshad in vaded Manch ur iaIII 193 1 an d
C h ina in )lJ37 ,InJuly 19·H,they also occupiedthe
Fren chcolonyoflndochina.This alarmed th e
Americangovernment. hsawthe growingpowerof
japanasa th reatbothtopeace in Asia andto
Americantrad in gin terests.Eversinceth e 1937
attack on Ch inath eUnitedStateshad been red ucing
itst'xport~toJ apanofgoods that wer t' usefulin
war- aircraft andche micals.fo r exam ple. No w , in
july IlJ4 l, it sto p pedall ship m entso f o il.
j apa nfareddisaster. I t imported80 percentofits o il
fromtho:U nited States,Witho utthisAmeric:Inoil its
indu strieswouldbeparalyzed."japanISlikea tishIII
a pondfromwhichth ewan-tISbeingd rained awa y.'
a sen io r navalofficertold Em pero r l Iiro hiro.
In O ctober. Gen er alHidok i Toj obecame j apan's
Prim eM inister .T oj o waswell kn o w nfo rhis belief
that a sharpUSt'afforceW:ISo ften rhc bcsrwayto
solved isagreements.Thishadearne dhim.
n ickname-th e Razo r.T he rewas plentyofoil in
SoutheastAsia.Tojod ecidedthatjapanmust seize
it-andmustmake itimpossiblefortheAmericansto
usctheirPacificbattleNl'l'ttostopthem.
( )IIDecembcr 7, 1941 ,j ap anesew arplanesro aredin
o ver PearlI lnrbo r. H aw aii,theA merica nnavy's
mai n base inthePacificOcean.Theirbombsand
torpedoe ssankorbadlydamagedeig ht American
battleships,blewuphundredsofaircraft an d killed
over1,0 00 men.
Whcn the Pearl Har bo r attackto o k place,the U ni ted
Statesand Jap anw erestil l atpeace,T he United Sta res
d eclaredwar0 11DecemberR. 194 1.Sinc eGermany
w as j apan 'sally.H itlerthend eclar edwar onthe
U n itedScan-s.T he war inEuro peandthe war in Asia
becameo newar. Britain ,th eSo v ietUnionandthe
U n i tedStates(t h e Allies)werethemamcountrieso n
o neside.Germanyandj apan (theAxis)werethe
mainco un tr ies ontheother,The U n i ted Staresg o vern mentorganized thewhole
Americanecono m yto w ard swinningthew ar.It
placedcontrols on w agesand p rices,andIntroduced
high incometaxes.Gasolineandsomefoodswere
ratio ned .Factoriesstoppedproducingconsumer
goodssuchasautomobilesandwashingmachines.
and startedmakin gtan ks,bombers an d otherwar
103