n countries, with Great Britain coming to their defense. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had been able to keep out of World War II even while focusing on the war in Europe and greatly supporting Great Britain against Germany and Italy. International policy of the United States in 1941 was to deal with “Europe first” because Germany posed a bigger threat to the United States than Japan did. The United States could not stay out of the war that began in Hawaii, its major Pacific territory, when 360 Japanese planes attacked the United States Pacific Fleet (Bahrenburg 12). Unknown to anyone, the plans for the attack on Pearl Harbor had been in the works for a very long time. Japan’s purpose in attacking Pearl Harbor was to knock the United States Pacific Fleet out of action long enough for Japan to continue to invade countries in the Pacific. Japanese Admiral Nagumo’s 1st Air Fleet had begun forming at Hitokappu Bay in November 1941. This task force consisted of 33 ships, including 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 11 destroyers, 3 submarines and several tankers. On November 26th the Japanese Fleet headed for Pearl Harbor. United States observers, who had been watching the movements of the Japanese Fleet, had lost track on November 16th of the Japanese ships on radar. The Japanese Fleet encountered very bad weather on its voyage, but this actually helped the Japanese because it kept the fleet undetected. On December 2nd, the Japanese Fleet was given the authorization from Tokyo to attack when ready. Prior to the attack, Japanese and American diplomats were negotiating in last minute efforts to avoid war. The Japanese diplomats were unaware of the planned attack, and even met with the United States representatives in Washington the morning of the attack (Layton 199). On December 7th, the Japanese Fleet reached launch position 180 miles North of Pearl Harbor. The attack came without any fo...
