A TIMELY RETROSPECT

By Edwin Cooney

If I had a nickel, perhaps even a penny, for the number of times I’ve heard or read someone assert that our December 8th, 1941 entrance into World War II was the last “war declared by Congress that united the nation,” I think I’d be rather wealthy!

Today, December 7th, 2015, is the 74th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the last time we went to war as prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.  A glance backward definitely leaves the immediate impression that we were united, which we were temporarily, but that unity was only surface deep.  For example, the war didn’t make Republicans unsay all of those nasty things they were saying about President Franklin Roosevelt. Nor did World War II address either civil rights or civil liberty issues.  The internment of Japanese Americans in fact violated Americans’ civil liberties almost as much as had slavery and the Jim Crow South. The fact that the government almost totally ran the economy providing subsidies to large industries thus bringing about an end to the Great Depression didn’t bring about peace between management and labor or among powerful elements that foster domestic political division in the United States.

True, the isolationists led by Charles A. Lindbergh, Senators Robert Taft, Burton K. Wheeler, and William Borah were effectively silenced in the face of the Pearl Harbor emergency, but after the war the isolationists would stir up trouble for both Presidents Truman and Eisenhower as they cast nasty interpretations on FDR’s political and personal legacy. Thus, the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor comes at a time when much of America is experiencing both uncertainty and panic in the face of ISIS’s seemingly ever-increasing barbarism.  The most immediate question that comes to mind is: what lesson did we learn from the attack on Pearl Harbor that might assist us in our present crisis?

The first lesson must come from the recognition that FDR’s biggest mistake, dominated as his thinking was by the war in Europe, was not paying sufficient attention to what was really happening in Japanese politics.  Despite our oil and armaments embargo, Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoe, genuinely wanted to avoid Japanese American conflict.  On Sunday, September 6th, 1941, he was given until Saturday, October 18th to broker a peace settlement with Washington.  If he was unsuccessful, then a military solution would probably be sought.  FDR mistakenly thought he had time to let the Japanese dangle.  Thus the administration was shocked when Konoe was sacked on the 18th of October to be replaced by Hideki Tojo who, as some put it, “smelled of gun smoke.”  Every society has hardliners and “softliners” within their structure over a period of time just as the Japanese government did in 1941.  So lesson number one is that all presidents should be aware of any potential enemy’s inside politics.

Another lesson from Pearl Harbor days is that it is dangerous to show contempt for the racial make up of a potential enemy.  The fact was that the United States had shown less respect for the Japanese government and people ever since Teddy Roosevelt denied territory the Japanese government had won on the battlefield as he negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 between Russia and Japan which resulted in his winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  Then came the passage of a bill in California in 1913 denying the right of Japanese citizens to own land in that state.  After that, in 1924 all Japanese immigration into the United States was banned.  Finally, in 1932, the United States government gave in to lobbying by Chinese interests to prevent Japan from claiming territory it had won on the battlefield with China over Manchuria although it was behaving no differently in the Far East than Britain, France or the United States.

All of these little incidents, understandable and fixable as they individually were, drove Japan into its Axis treaty with Italy and Germany.

What has been lacking too often in American foreign policy since perhaps Korea, is sufficient knowledge of our opponents and, specifically, the forces that have an effect on the decisions they make.  During World War II, we knew pretty well who was most likely qualified to replace Hitler in Germany, and Mussolini in Italy. As for Japan, fortunately we realized that whatever we did, we would be strengthened by the presence of Emperor Hirohito as we pacified and democratized postwar Japan.

What we know seventy-four years after the fact is that the attack on Pearl Harbor was not inevitable.  We also know unity rather than chronic and quarrelsome debate will bring victory over terrorism no matter who it is.

As for those who suggested that the losses at Pearl Harbor were calculated by FDR as an excuse for him to take us into World War II, do they think we wouldn’t have gone to war with Japan had we been prepared enough to successfully defend Pearl Harbor?

Important as it is to know our potential enemies, it’s also essential that we clearly understand what we ourselves are willing and capable of sacrificing and thus achieving. It’s called self-realization!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY