Fear and Paranoia: America’s Reaction to Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise air raid on the U.S. military base Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii. The attack came as a shock to many Americans because the War raging in
Europe and in Asia seemed so far from home. However, there was now an attack on American
soil and this woke the American people up to the World War that was occurring. In this paper, I
will examine the reactions from both the U.S. government and the citizens, arguing that this
attack caused both to react out of vengeance, fear, and paranoia. This topic is important because
it shows how people react in times of tragedy. In the aftermath of an unprovoked attack on a
country, its government and citizens will want revenge, but also its people will be afraid and
paranoid. This will cause rash decisions which will most likely hurt innocent people, for example
Japanese Americans in internment camps.
The initial reaction to Pearl Harbor was the defense of the military base and the measures
taken by the American soldiers. Analysis of this reaction provides the reader with more context
and a better understanding of the chaos that was Pearl Harbor. The primary source for these
reactions will be accounts from veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack.1 The U.S. government’s
reaction to Pearl Harbor is needed because its decisions affected both America and the entire
world. The first primary source is President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech given to congress,
stating that Japan had attacked the United States in a surprise offense and the United States
needed to declare war to protect itself.2 That source ties into the fear and vengeance reactions
from the United State’s government because Japan had angered, shocked, and embarrassed the
U.S. The next primary source from the U.S. government deals more with the paranoia-based
reaction. It is an executive order from President Roosevelt stating that it is legal to take any
Arthur R. Lee, “Recollections,” American History 33, no. 5 (December 1998): 58.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, “A Date that Will Live in Infamy,” Speech given to Congress to Declare War on
Japan, Washington D.C., December 8, 1941.
1
2
American citizen of Japanese descent and put them into internment camps.3 This is important
because this is the piece of legislation that took Japanese Americans’ rights away. Overall, these
sources show the U.S. government was very quick to react to the situation, and in many ways it
reacted out of fear, aggression, and paranoia.
The American public’s reactions, as a whole, were not much different from their
government’s. Their initial reaction was they wanted to get revenge on the Japanese for the
unprovoked attack. The primary source used to describe this is a recording done by the Library
of Congress the day after the attack. It is a series of interviews with regular American citizens on
the street and their thoughts on the Pearl Harbor attack.4 The running theme is of revenge, shock,
and fear that they will attack again. Another primary source is veterans remembering their
reactions to the event.5 Some are that of the actual event and others are their reactions after the
fact. Both of these sources are important because it shows the reactions of everyday Americans
and veterans, who the event affected the most. The United States as a whole, citizens and the
government, were both incredibly shocked by this incident because there was a feeling of
separation these two groups felt from this war. There is an ocean separating the U.S. from both
Asia and Europe. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor it was a blow to America’s feeling of
invincibility and safety.
The Japanese Americans’ reactions, who were put into internment camps and were
discriminated against, need to be studied because they took the brunt force of the paranoia
induced reactions from the United States’ citizens and government. Studying their experiences in
the internment camps will give context to the paranoia running rampant throughout America. A
primary source that would be necessary for this would be letters from Japanese Americans
Exec. Order No. 9066, 3 C.F.R. 1092-1093 (1942).
American Citizens, interview by Liane Hansen, Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR, December 10, 2000.
5 Corey Paul, “Veteran Remembers Pearl Harbor, WWII,” Odessa American, December 7, 2012.
3
4
during this time. One example is a letter from a Japanese American from inside an internment
camp.6 It explains the poor conditions and how they were taken from their homes forcefully and
put into these camps. Another source is of a woman remembering back to her time spent in the
internment camp as a little girl.7 Both sources explain how their rights were taken away and how
they were treated as the enemy instead of a fellow American citizen. Seeing the situation from
the Japanese American’s point of view makes it easier to fully understand the paranoia and fear
that was in America at the time.
On the day of the attack, a Japanese pilot crash landed on the Hawaiian Island of Ni’ihau.
He then gained the support of some American citizens of Japanese descent and tried to escape.
He was quickly stopped, however; this incident fueled anti-Japanese ideas in the U.S. It also
gave the sense that any American of Japanese descent would turn on America. This incident
coupled with Pearl Harbor caused the United States government and citizens to react out of fear,
revenge, and paranoia. The U.S. wanted revenge against the Japanese for their surprise attack on
Pearl Harbor. The government and citizens were afraid and paranoid of a Japanese uprising in
the U.S. These fears fueled anti-Japanese actions and made it legal for the American government
to take Japanese American rights away and put them into internment camps. This is an important
topic to study because it shows the evil things people do when they are afraid or paranoid after a
major catastrophic event. The primary sources used will help explain why people reacted this
way and what they were thinking at the time.
6 Frank J. Battisti, Difficult Decisions During Wartime: A Letter from a Non-Alien in an Internment Camp
to a Friend Back Home, Edited by Frank H. Wu, Case Western Reserve Law Review, 2004.
7 Akari Hatanaka, “I’m American, No Matter What,” Weekly Reader News-Senior 82, no. 24 (May 2004):
5.
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