Bryan Cassill
20th Century Conflicts Project
Conflict: World War II
Topic: Pearl Harbor/Japanese to US Rivalry
Argument: The Japanese to US rivalry and Pearl Harbor was the most significant cause to World War II,
because it caused the United States to join the war, and the United States was one of the main
contributing factors to ending World War II.
Key Passages:
1. Primary Source
“Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our
interests are in grave danger... I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked
and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed
between the United States and the Japanese empire.”

"American Rhetoric: Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Pearl Harbor Address to the
Nation (12-08-41)." American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in the
United States. Web. 09 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm>.
2. Primary Source
“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four
essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want--which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings
which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of
armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit
an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own
time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny
which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”-FDR
 "Four Freedoms." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Apr. 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms>.
3. Primary Source
“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army
base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than 2,000 times the blast
power of the British "Grand Slam," which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid manyfold. And the end
is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to
supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in
production, and even more powerful forms are in development.”
 "Harry S. Truman's Announcement Of the Dropping Of An Atomic Bomb On
Hiroshima, 1945." Welcome to ClassBrain.com. Web. 09 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.classbrain.com/artteenst/publish/article_99.shtml>.
4. Secondary Source
“The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, Operation Z, as it was called by the Japanese Imperial
General Headquarters, and Battle of Pearl Harbor by some Americans)[6] was an unannounced military
strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on
the morning of December 7, 1941. It resulted in the United States' entry into World War II. The attack
was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war that
the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia, against Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the
U.S. in the Philippines. The attack consisted of two aerial attack waves totaling 353[7] aircraft, launched
from six Japanese aircraft carriers.”
 "Attack on Pearl Harbor." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Apr.
2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor>.