On December 7, 1941, some 360 Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet located at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The following day Congress declared war against Japan with only one dissenting vote.
Japan had apparently been plotting a surprise assault on the Hawaiian islands while pretending to negotiate with the United States over trade agreements and Japanese expansion into Indochina. With assurances from Premier Hideki Tojo that the fight was of no concern to the United States, six aircraft carriers supported by submarines and battleships secretly embarked for Honolulu. Within two hours of the unremitting attack, the Japanese planes hit, sunk or severely damaged eight U.S. battleships, including the Arizona and 14 smaller ships, destroyed 200 aircraft and killed over 2,000 seamen. Tokyo's forces escaped virtually unscathed.
By Tyler Kes,