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Kelsey Reynolds
Prof. Kade Parry
English 1010 – 066
November 20, 2013
Could the Attack at Pearl Harbor Have Been Prevented?
On December 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m., the Japanese attacked the United States base at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii, forcing the United States into the Second World War. It was a result of rising
tensions that had been building between Japan and the United States for decades. For over a
hundred years, Japan had been looking to expand their empire into neighboring countries. Their
main focus was on China, beginning in the 1930s, in hope of finding some resources that they
could use to make warfare. At that time, the United States had been the main supplier for over
half of Japan’s resources like oil, iron, and steel; three big things needed to be able to make
warfare. The United States had been trying to stop Japan from invading other countries and
expanding their empire. When Japan finally joined in an alliance with Germany and Italy on
September 27, 1940, and started invading Northern Indochina, the United States responded by
cutting off Japan’s supply of resources in order to make it harder for them to be able to make
warfare. Japan then started planning an invasion at Pearl Harbor that would end up killing over
2,000 people, and destroy most of the American planes, eight battleships, three destroyers, and
three cruisers. One of the biggest questions asked about the attack on Pearl Harbor is why the
United States was not prepared for an invasion from the Japanese. A lot of research has gone
into what made the United States so blind-sided to such a horrific attack and why we weren’t
prepared for it. Based on the research and evidence found, there is now a lot of controversy over
whether or not the attack on Pearl Harbor could have been prevented (Foner and Garraty).
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Some would say that due to advanced warnings that certain officials had known about,
the attack at Pearl Harbor could have been prevented. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and an
official named Don C. Smith, who was deputy administrator of services to the Armed Forces and
directed the War Service for the Red Cross before World War Two, had apparently known about
the Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor. In a note written to President Bill Clinton on
September 5, 1995, Don C. Smith’s daughter, Helen E. Hammon, recalled a conversation she had
with her father shortly before his death and wrote “…shortly before the attack in 1941 President
Roosevelt called him [Smith] to the White House for a meeting concerning a Top Secret matter.
At this meeting the president advised my father that his intelligence staff had informed him of a
pending attack on Pearl Harbor, by the Japanese” (Borgquist Pg. 20). Smith was advised not to
inform any of the Navy and Military officials in Hawaii, nor the Red Cross officers that were
stationed there. When Smith asked why, President Roosevelt simply stated that “the American
people would never agree to enter the war in Europe unless they were attack [sic] within their
own borders” (Borgquist Pg. 20). With this knowledge, many people believe that President
Roosevelt had always wanted to enter the war, but was just waiting for an excuse to do so. They
believe that if Roosevelt had given more warnings to the officials at Pearl Harbor, we could have
been more prepared for it, and possibly have avoided the attack altogether.
Some say that the attack could have been prevented by the fact that we had broken the
Japanese code “MAGIC,” and were now gaining a better understanding of their motives. In the
months preceding the attack, the U.S. Navy Code Breakers were working on trying to break
Japanese codes, and were actually pretty successful at it. Through these decrypts of the Japanese
messages, “the U.S. government had definite knowledge on the night before 7 December 1941 of
Japan’s intentions to break diplomatic relations” (Budiansky Pg. 47). President Franklin D.
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Roosevelt, along with most of the United States government, had been aware of these MAGIC
codes being broken and had actually had some insight into was had been decoded. One of the
most controversial messages was decoded in October 1941 that had “asked the Japanese
Consulate in Honolulu for regular reports on the location of ‘warships and aircraft carriers…at
anchor, tied up at wharves buoys, and in the docks’ in Pearl Harbor” (Curry). The Japanese was
trying to gain a better understanding of exactly where the United States warfare was in Pearl
Harbor. On November 27 and 28, 1941, there were some vague warnings that were sent out to a
few of the commanders in Hawaii that told them to be on alert, but said that “protective measures
should be confined to those essential for security, avoiding unnecessary publicity and alarm”
(Curry). The commanders had gotten a warning to keep a look out for any possible danger, but
were told not to be too worried about it. The government was aware of some of the Japanese
motives, but didn’t seem worried about it enough to really want to do much about it. But even
with the codes being broken, is it really possible for them to have known the exact time and
place that the Japanese would attack?
On the other side of the argument, some say that there is no possible way the attack at
Pearl Harbor could have been prevented. It has been previously said that Franklin D. Roosevelt
had always wanted to enter into World War Two, but was just waiting for a good excuse to so. It
has also been said that President Roosevelt had known about the Japanese plans to attack Pearl
Harbor because of the Japanese MAGIC codes that had been broken. Yes, it is true that the
United States had broken the Japanese MAGIC codes, but those weren’t the only codes they
needed to break in order to understand the Japanese motives. According to an article that shows
some new declassified documents in the U.S. National Archives, “decryption of Japan’s toughest
codes came far too late for U.S. officials to have known that a Japanese strike would be aimed at
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Hawaii” (Omicinski). Even though Japan’s MAGIC codes had been broken, the Japanese JN-25
code still eluded them. Just six days before the attack, the Japanese Navy had decided to change
all of its codes and call signs, making “decryption virtually impossible just six days before
Japanese air strikes…,” (Omicinski). Without the ability to be able to read the Japanese codes, it
was impossible for the United States to know the exact time and place that the Japanese would
attack. Even if the codes had been broken, the U.S. would still not be able to stop the Japanese
from attacking.
Apart from whether or not we could prevent the attack by breaking Japanese codes, some
say that it was virtually impossible to completely protect the United States from an attack from
the Japanese. The reason why is because in order to completely protect Pearl Harbor from an air
attack, it would have required a lot more air patrols that we didn’t have. According to Roberta
Wohlstetter, author of Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision, she states that “to have a
reasonable chance of detecting a surprise attack would have required instituting dense air patrols,
which would have stripped aircraft from other fronts that seemed in greater danger of attack…,”
(Posner Pg. 50). During the first few years when World War Two started, the United States was
mostly focused on what was going on with the war in Europe with Adolf Hitler expanding the
German Empire faster than we could believe. The United States couldn’t risk turning their main
focus to the Japanese because they weren’t as big of a threat as the Germans. According to
Wohlstetter, “the assumption was…’If we lose in the Atlantic, we lose everywhere.’ This meant
that the Far East simply had to stay quiet” (Posner Pg. 50). Even though the United States had
not joined in the war yet, they were already in heavy combat with Germany in the Atlantic, and it
was difficult to see how we’d be able to take on Japan as well.
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Based on the research and evidence found, there is a lot of controversy over whether or
not the attack at Pearl Harbor could have been prevented. All sides give some very good
substantial evidence as to how it could or could not have been prevented. In my personal
opinion, I believe that the attack could not have been prevented. I think that it takes a lot more to
be able to stop an attack like this than just being able to read a few decrypted Japanese codes.
Even if the United States had known of the exact time and place that the Japanese would attack,
it still would have been extremely hard to stop the attack altogether because nothing like this had
ever happened to the United States before. I think that what people need to understand is that air
warfare was still a very new thing for countries to use in battles. World War Two was the very
first war where air superiority had completely changed the dynamics of warfare and what it took
to win in a battle. It’s hard to predict that something like this would happen when nothing like it
had ever happened before. There’s also the fact that as soon as the United States cut off all
foreign trade from the Japanese, they immediately declared the United States an enemy. From
that point on, the Japanese were willing to do whatever it took to get those resources back to
make the expansion of their empire possible again. I do, however, believe that there could have
been more precautions given to ensure that there would not have been as many deaths and
casualties. According to veteran Soviet intelligence expert, Herbert Romerstein, he thinks that
“at some point Japan probably would have attacked. But even a temporary modus vivendi would
have bought time to prepare the U.S. military to ward off an attack without the loss of so many
American lives,” (Berlau Pg. 19). It’s pretty obvious that the United States had known that the
Japanese were going to try to do something to try to get the resources back that the United States
had taken away. It was just a matter of when and where. When the Japanese attacked Pearl
Harbor, it became one of the most memorable days in American history, or as President
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Roosevelt put it, “a date which will live in infamy.” I think that it’s important for us to look at
whether or not this attack could have been prevented because it helps us learn from our mistakes
and how to prepare better for any possible future attacks from enemy countries.
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Work Cited
Berlau, John. “’Red’ Alert at Pearl Harbor.” Insight on the News. 18 Jun 2001:17-19. SIRS
Issues Researcher.Web. 08Nov 2013.
Borgquist, Daryl S. “Advance Warning? The Red Cross Connection.” Naval History. May/June
1999:20-26. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.
Budiansky, Stephen. “Too Late for Pearl Harbor.” Proceedings. Dec. 1999: 47-51. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.
Curry, Andrew. “Blamed for Pearl Harbor.” U.S. News &World Report. 25 May 2001: n.p. SIRS
Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.
Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty. “Pearl Harbor, Attack On.” The Reader’s Companion to
American History. Dec. 1 1991: n.p. SIRS Isuues Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.
Omicinsk, John. “Fable Rebutted: U.S. Couldn’t Have Prevented Pearl Harbor.” Gannett News
Service. Dec. 8 1999: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.
Posner, Richard A. “Surprise Attack: The Lessons of History.” Commentary Vol. 119, No. 4.
April 2005: 50-54. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 Nov 2013.