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- December 8, 1941 was a solemn day. The day after Japan dropped the bomb on Pearl
- Harbor, the people of the United States mourned. If ever there was a time when Americans
- wanted to enter World War II, it was then. The United Sates had been deceived by the Empire of
- Japan, with whom they thought they were at peace. Franklin Roosevelt’s speech to Congress,
- asking for permission to declare war on Japan, shows the resentment and despair of the American
- people.
- After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans felt a lot of resentment against Japan,
- and the Japanese. Much of this resentment arose because Japan gave the United States a false
- hope of peace between the two countries. Also, from the evidence, it appeared that the attack
- was premeditated. Because of the distance between Japan and Hawaii, it was found that the
- attack had been planned days, possibly weeks beforehand (Roosevelt, 170). During the time
- before the attack, the Japanese had deceived the United States into believing they were at peace
- with one another.
- Because of the bombing by Japan, the American people were mourning the loss of their
- soldiers’ lives. They also were angry with the destruction of the naval and military forces, along
- with the attacks on Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Wake Island, and Midway Island
- all within hours of each other. The American people, along with the government, wanted nothing
- more than to destroy Japan, and win the war.
- In the Monica Sone document, I belief that the frustrations that the Americans were
- feeling are expressed in their entirety. The American people were so angry with the Japanese
- people, and so afraid that the Japanese would attack again, that the Americans basically rejected
- anyone that looked Japanese. To the Americans, regardless of whether you were native born, if
- you looked Japanese you were the enemy. The American government did not want to take
- chances, so they gathered all the people of Japanese decent and made them live under military
- law. They even had to live in military camps. How horrible for all those innocent people to be
- assumed the enemy when they had lived as Americans their whole lives.
- In the Monica Sone document, it is evident that, at first, the government was looking to
- only interview the important people in the Japanese community to ensure none of them were
- spies. However, things got out of control and the United States government declared that all
- people of Japanese decent give up their property and move into assembly centers, in order to
- isolate them from the rest of the American people. This shows how terribly desperate the
- American people felt after the Pearl Harbor bombing.
- Looking at Franklin Roosevelt’s speech and Monica Sone’s document memoire, it is
- evident how desperate the American people were to save their country and destroy Japan. They
- would go to such extremes to save what they believed to be right and just. There are many
- similarities between the two documents, but they are showed in an opposite manner. In
- Roosevelt’s speech you see the American determination to defeat Japan and win the war. In the
- Monica Sone document you see the desperation of the American people to protect their country,
- and their resentment of the Japanese people. Both represent the feelings of the Americans, but
- unfortunately, the Monica Sone document shows what extreme measures the American people
- were willing to go to protect what they believed to be right.
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- Words: 580
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