History of the Event

    Between August 1939 and December 1941, Roosevelt’s primary goal was to help Britain and its allies defeat Germany. One of the major problems Britain faced was the need to keep most of its navy in Asia to protect British territory from Japanese attack. In July 1940, Congress passed the Export Control Act which gave Roosevelt the power to restrict the sale of strategic materials to other nations. He responded quickly and reduced the amount of oil being shipped to Japan. Since 80% of Japan’s oil came from the United States, the Japanese were infuriated and formally joined an alliance with Germany and Italy forming the Axis Powers. Roosevelt made it clear that he would lift the oil embargo only if Japan made peace. The Japanese government appeared to be continuing negotiations with the United States, however, they were planning to attack Pearl Harbor.

     On the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese destroyed 20 American naval vessels and 200 airplanes. The day after the assault Congress approved President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s declaration to declare war on Japan. More than two years in the conflict, American had finally joined World War II.

     In the fall of 1943, the United States launched its island-hopping policy, which is the means of crossing an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly across the ocean. The objective was to conquer the Mariana Islands because from the airfields in the Marianas the new bombers, B-29s, could bomb Japan. Despite what American military planners had thought, when the B-29s went to bomb Japan it was simply too far away and the planes did not have enough fuel to their navigational errors or to adjust for high winds. The solution was to capture an island closer to Japan. On February 19, 1945, the United States Marines successful invaded Iwo Jima.

     The goal of the United States was to make Japan surrender, however, it was believed that Japan would not surrender until Japan had been invaded. To prepare for the invasion, the United States needed a base near Japan to stockpile supplies and build up troops (Iwo Jima was too small and too far away). American troops invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945 and by July 22, 1945 the United States had gained the territory.



     Shortly after the United States captured Okinawa the Japanese emperor urged his government to find a way to end the war but the biggest the problem was the American demand for unconditional surrender. Many Japanese leaders were willing to surrender only if the emperor stayed in power. American officals knew that the fate of the emperor was the most important issue for the Japanese, however, many Americans blamed the emperor for the war and wanted him removed from power. President Truman was reluctant to go against public opinion. Furthermore, he knew that the United States was almost ready to test the new weapon of the atomic bomb that might force Japan to surrender without any conditions. The Allies threatened Japan with “prompt and utter desctruction” if the nation did not surrender unconditionally. The Japanese did not respond and between August 6 and August 9, 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan; “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima and “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki.