Pearl Harbor

The event I choose was the attack on Pearl Harbor. On this tragic day, December 7, 1941, more than 2,000 Americans died and over 1,000 were hurt. The Japanese sent over 150 planes (just in the first wave) to attack the naval base in Hawaii. After this, President Roosevelt motioned to declare war on Japan, which was passed almost unanimously by Congress. This event marked the start of the United States in World War II.

The picture shows how devastating the attack was. There were twenty-one ships that were sunk or destroyed and 188 destroyed air crafts. The attack sent America in a very different path than it had been on before. The United States has managed to stay out of the war for a couple of years but this event pushed us over. Another result of the attack was discrimination of Japanese Americans. Other Americans felt like Japanese Americans could no longer be trusted. If this event would not have happened, many thing could have been prevented, the major one being the atomic bomb. Ultimately, the Japanese had no idea what effects bombing Pearl Harbor would have.