THEN & NOW: Pearl Harbor
A look at how today's America may have responded to yesterday's challenges.
Welcome to the inaugural publication of “Then & Now”: what I hope will be a regular series as dates and context dictate where history-altering events are examined. I hope to look at how they changed us for better or worse, and how our contemporary society might have responded if it had happened to us.
It’s (obviously) something I feel strongly about. It’s the impetus for this publication: We have stopped seeking the wisdom of the past and have an unfortunate habit of responding in the same way but expecting a better outcome. I mean, it’s kind of shocking to think that if you’re of Medicare age, you’ve seen America stumble through not only Vietnam but Iraq as well.
And what better event to kick this off than the 80th anniversary of arguably the defining moment of 20th Century global history?
What Happened? (Simple Answer)
Early on the morning of December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched an unprovoked attack on the United States Navy at the US Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day, President Franklin D Roosevelt declared the event “A date which will live in infamy.”
The next day, Congress declared war on Japan. Days later, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States. The US mobilized after a decade of isolationism and economic depression. The following days set records for military enlistment that haven’t been challenged since. People in every walk of life contributed to the war effort to the best of their abilities. “America First” organizations that were previously preaching isolationism renounced their views and disbanded - some emptying their tills for the war effort.
The heroism and sacrifice of an entire generation of boys and girls made us proud and resonates to this day as we continue to say goodbye to the few who remain.
The rest of the decade brought Normandy, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Unconditional Surrender, Nuremberg Trials, post-war prosperity.
What Happened (Nuanced Answer)
Put it like this: the events that began with the attack on Pearl Harbor are still impacting you every day. The global order was reshuffled entirely, leaving the United States and the Soviet Union as lone superpowers.
The Middle East would be reimagined and became a perennial geopolitical hot spot with the dissolution of British Empire interests across the region and the creation of Israel as a nation-state.
The US Armed Forces - after sending a segregated army to defeat Hitler’s dream of a world where Aryan Supremacy reigned across every populated continent - would finally desegregate, putting pressure on the other aspects of American life to do the same.
America learned that she, too, is capable of making gross miscalculations and ignoring human rights in ways not entirely dissimilar to both ally (the Soviet Union) and foe (Germany), as the fog of war lifted and we came to grips with our own concentration camps populated with Japanese Americans.
What if it Happened Today?
While the events that began with the Pearl Harbor attack represent the last time America successfully and indisputably “won” a global military conflict, it wasn’t the last time the country suffered a sneak attack. A little more than sixty years later, the September 11 attacks would rattle the nation to her core. Still, the citizenry responded with near-unity in their resolve to overcome the tragedy.
American flags adorned car antennae, overpasses, front stoops, windowsills, and storefronts. Priests, rabbis, and ministers flocked to their nearest mosque to stand in solidarity with their Muslim brothers and sisters. Hell, we were so drunk on unity that George W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani (yes, that Rudy Giuliani)got standing ovations in the South Bronx!
That’s not THAT long ago, right? “The Simpsons” was on network television then and remains so today. Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl after the 2001 season, and he’s presently the defending Super Bowl MVP.
Looking closer, though, it may as well have been 200 years ago.
The sense of unity following the 9/11 attacks lasted until Karl Rove started dropping hints about invading Iraq. It would be unwise to assume Americans would rally around the flag if a Pearl Harbor happened today.
We can look at the reaction to the Afghanistan withdrawal late this past summer.
The 2016 Republican presidential nominee ran in part on removing America from “endless wars.” He won the election. A little more than three years into his term, he signed an agreement to withdraw all armed forces from the country. He lost reelection. His successor followed through with the plans to end American presence in Afghanistan. There was comprehensive bipartisan support to finally finish what began in the weeks following 9/11 - right before Tom Brady became an injury replacement for former Pro-Bowl QB Drew Bledsoe.
We all know what happened next. A hastily concocted withdrawal, mixed with a near-unanimous demand from the American electorate that we leave Afghanistan - finally and permanently led to a chaotic exit in which friends and allies were initially left behind, coupled with a suicide bombing by ISIS-affiliated terrorists gave “Fox and Friends” all the ammunition they needed to ignore the debate about America’s role in the world and instead score cheap political points against the president - ginning up their base to get outraged over the same exact thing they pointed to with pride when their preferred president made the decision.
Furthermore, would anyone be shocked if progressive media launched a sustained public-relations offensive against the idea of declaring war on Japan?
Would politicians in, say, Texas care about what happened in Hawaii? I mean, they certainly didn’t care what happened to the Northeast following periods of extreme weather, most notably Super Storm Sandy.
Unity is desirable. Most humans have an inherent draw to the idea of community. It’s nice to think that a catalyzing event like Pearl Harbor - or September 11 - would bring this fractured land together in the interests of the greater good.
But earlier this year, we suffered through what should have been one of those “catalyzing events” when the US Capitol was breached by hostile actors for the first time since 1812. That sounds pretty serious and all until you consider the fact that one of the two American political parties vehemently opposed even investigating the insurrection.
So would Americans respond with sacrifices? Would a sense of duty, patriotism, and commitment to the greater good spread across these fifty states, allowing us to reach our full potential and overcome the obstacles keeping us from fulfilling our founding promise?
Given the way many Americans responded to being asked to wear a mask or get a shot to protect friends and family, it’s much more likely that we’d end up speaking Japanese than celebrating VJ Day in Times Square.