The Pacific Asian Theater

1. The Pacific (Asian) Theater Standard 10.8

2. Pearl Harbor On December 7th, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. The attack lasted from 7:00 am to 9:45 am. 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded. 200 warplanes were destroyed, 18 warships were sunk, and 8 of the 9 battleships were destroyed. Japan lost only 29 planes. FDR called Pearl Harbor, �A date which will live in infamy.� and asked congress to declare war on Japan.

4. Island Hopping By 1942, the Japanese had all of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands under their control. The U.S strategy to defeat the Japanese was called Island Hopping. The U.S. attacked islands that had specific use for the Japanese (communication, airbases, naval bases). The war in the Pacific was carried out both by air and by sea.

6. Turning the Tide Battle of Midway: June 4, 1942. This is the turning point battle in the Pacific. Japanese General Yamamoto knew the Americans had a large naval fleet on Midway Island. He wanted to destroy the American fleet � so he attacked. The Americans sunk four Japanese carriers, 250 of their planes, and most of Japan�s skilled naval pilots. After this battle, the Japanese were no longer able to launch any more offensive operations in the Pacific.

8. Iwo Jima 700 miles away from Japan lay a tiny island of caves and tunnels. Here for 74 days, the U.S. planes and warships poured 7,000 tons of bombs, and more than 20,000 shells onto Iwo Jima�s defenders. When the marines landed, the Japanese fought furiously to defend their island. It took the U.S. a month to finish and they only took 216 Japanese prisoners. Americans lost 25,000 men 27 medals of honor were given

12. Manhattan Project Albert Einstein � a Jewish Physicist (who fled Nazi Germany), sent FDR a letter in 1939 telling him that it was possible to create an atomic bomb. FDR started the process right away. 1942, Enrico Fermi was the first to create a controlled chain reaction at the University of Chicago. July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists field-tested the world�s first atomic bomb in the desert of New Mexico.

14. To Drop or Not to Drop Other possibilities for ending the war A massive invasion of Japan, expected to cost millions of Allied casualties A naval blockade to starve Japan, along with continued conventional bombing. A demonstration of the new weapon on a deserted island to pressure Japan to surrender A softening of Allied demands for an unconditional surrender.

15. Interim Committee Met in 1945 to discuss what to do to end the war with Japan. President Truman made the final decision. Rather than lose any more American lives, he considered the bomb to be a military weapon and said it should be used for its purpose.

16. Enola Gay August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped one bomb on Hiroshima a city in southern Japan, and the site of a large army base. 80,000 people died instantly, from the continual fires, or from radiation poisoning

17. Truman Takes Responsibility Great controversy has always surrounded the bombings. One thing Truman insisted on from the start: The decision to use the bombs, and the responsibility it entailed, was his. Over the years, he gave different, and contradictory, grounds for his decision. Sometimes he implied that he had acted simply out of revenge. To a clergyman who criticized him, Truman responded, testily: �Nobody is more disturbed over the use of Atomic bombs than I am but I was greatly disturbed over the unwarranted attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor and their murder of our prisoners of war. The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them.�

18. Nagasaki August 9, 1945 another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 14, 1945 the Japanese accepted the American terms for surrender. V-J day was celebrated August 15th. Formal surrender agreement was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd, 1945