President Ronald Reagan once observed, “History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.” This sentiment is particularly apt this weekend as we commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Most of us know some of the grizzly facts. At about 8 a.m., December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes darkened the sky over Pearl Harbor. A storm of bombs and bullets rained onto vulnerable targets moored and unaware. Approximately 10 minutes into the attack, an 1,800-pound bomb careened through the deck of the battleship, USS Arizona, breaching her forward ammunition magazine. The Arizona erupted and sank taking more than 1,000 men with her.
Next, torpedoes pierced the sides of the battleship USS Oklahoma. The Oklahoma rolled and took another 400 sailors to their cold wet graves. When the onslaught had ended, every battleship in Pearl Harbor — USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada — lay wounded or destroyed. Save for the USS Arizona and USS Utah, all were eventually returned to service.
Along with dry docks and airfields, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor claimed a total of 18 American ships and nearly 300 airplanes. Of course these material losses pale compared to the human toll: almost 2,500 killed and another 1,000 wounded.
Most of us are also familiar with President Franklin Roosevelt’s seminal remarks on the attack, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation… I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Were it only so, Mr. President. It is hard to think about Pearl Harbor without drawing parallels to other atrocities, some more recent, others more distant. Those who are historically minded may remember the prelude cry to war against Spain, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”
In the waning days of the 19th century, American involvement (and territorial ambitions) in Cuban affairs placed the USS Maine on patrol in the Havana harbor. On the evening of February 15, 1898, an explosion tore through the hull of the Maine, sending the battleship and 260 sailors to a terrible end.
The assumed cause was Spanish treachery. The facts are less clear. Nonetheless, it was sufficient for President William McKinley to act. On April 11, 1898, McKinley asked Congress for permission to use military force in Cuba. Interestingly, the Congress also used the occasion to make another statement. With the passage of the Teller Amendment, Congress promised that America would not annex Cuba. Having assuaged international fears of American imperial designs, war was declared on Spain.
Fast forward just a few years more than a century to September 11, 2001. Again, the United States was confronted with a moment of dreadful moral certainty. Again, treachery dragged victims into the abyss. Again, we had an indelible clarion for war.