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Awakening A Sleeping Giant

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Awakening the Sleeping Giant
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant" (Pierce 43). That is just what the Japanese did- awaken a "sleeping giant." The United States had tried for a long time to stay out of World War II. Finally, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States had no choice but to enter the war. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, affected the United States greatly and also changed the course of events that followed in America's history.
Admiral Yamamoto said, "A brilliant man will find a way not to fight a war" (23). Most countries do not attack another country without a valid reason. The Japanese reason for the attack was to dominate all of Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, China, and Australia (Remembering Pearl Harbor 2). In the 1880s and the 1890s, Japan began to spend more money investing in a stronger army and nation (Pierce 10). Although Japan was growing stronger, in 1898 the United States became a very strong power in the Pacific Ocean after the Spanish-American War (10-11). Japanese were eager to spread their empire southward towards China and all along the coast. However, the United States wanted Japan to withdraw forces from China in order to prevent any further war. In order to do so, the United States stopped selling scrap iron, premium steel, and aviation materials to Japan; doing so would hopefully force Japan to withdraw their forces from China. In response to the United States restrictions, Japan Germany, and Italy all signed the Tripartite Pact in September 1940. "The Tripartite Pact declared that the United States was a mutual enemy to Italy, Germany, and Japan" (Davis 24). In July 1941, President Roosevelt announced that the United States was freezing Japanese
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assets. He said that Japan could still trade with the United States, but all trade must be approved by the government. Many people thought that trade was to be totally cut off from Japan...