Pearl Harbor, New Program

[Bill Greenwood]

With the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ive seen a couple of programs with new info on tv.
Hitler has no advance notice of the attack but was delighted when he heard, he thought that would guarantee German victory over the U S. He really underestimated our industrial capacity as well as will once the nation was united. In the aftermath of WWI there was a strong peace movement in the U S, but that vanished with Japans attack. Lindbergh was cautious about the war, but was a vaueable aid once it began, and flew some combat in the Pacific.
Churchill had said that if Japan attacked the U S he would declare war immediately and he kept his word. He thought this would bring the US fully into the war as happened.
There was fear of Japanese action before Pearl, but no real intel to give a defintive place and time to any general warning. The day after the attack Gen MacArthur was not prepared to defend either.
The Japanese carriers sent two waves of planes to attack Pearl and had a lot of sucess, but made a mistake in not sending a 3rd wave that could have destroyed even more ships and airport and army bases. They had already negated most of fighter opposition on the ground, but would have faced some antiaircraft fire the 3rd time.
Ive been to the aviation museum on Ford Island, right where it happened, small but worth a visit.
It think many in the U S have an extra animosity toward Japan since the attack was done before war was declared by Japan, they had a message but it was delivered in Wash too late. Japan did not attack civilian areas on Oahu, the few civilian casualties were from "friendly" fire. The program said this attack was one of our two biggest intel failures, along with 9-11. U S losses were similar in both, 2400 and 2900, and both attacks were by aircraft, no ground or naval forces as for as is known.
Prime Minister Abe, will be the first to attend services in Hawaii, perhaps he will offer a sincere apology for starting the war.
Japan was our enemy then, is a close ally now and China has gone from an ally then, to an enemy in the 50s to some mddle role now.