Pearl Harbor Retrospective

On Dec. 7, 1941 the former Japanese Empire launched a sneak attack on the United States' principal Naval installation for the Pacific front: Pearl Harbor. The attack resulted in a near complete decommission of American Naval power not to mention over 1,000 casualties. The most notable repercussion of this attack was the U.S. declaring war on Japan and joining the Allied war effort. However, there was another event the history books are trying to overlook but serves as a major portrait of society in 1940s America: The Japanese concentration camps. Easily one of the worst examples of prejudice and hatred in American society, it lead to the forced displacement of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, 62 percent of which were U.S. citizens.

Although this event happened almost 70 years ago, the social effects remain as a powerful reminder of how prejudiced and judgmental society can be. Yet, compared to recent events, the signs of social segregation are much more subtle. If you look at the only other unannounced attack on U.S. soil, 9/11, the repercussions did lead to war but the social hate against Middle Eastern cultures, as misplaced as it was, did not lead to anything as drastic as concentration camps. If we can gather anything from this observation, it is that society has in some way evolved.

The reasons for this social evolution might also be a cause of Pearl Harbor. World War II exposed the modern world to a level of carnage and inhumanities from which we are still recovering. Although the attacks on Pearl Harbor did not cause the Nazi concentration camps, it did lead American troops to join the war and eventually find said camps. Jump forward 60 years and although racism and cultural tensions are present as a cause of the 9/11 attacks, the fear of recreating anything as terrifying as a concentration camp maintains the hatred at a superficial level.

These two events stand as the worst attacks on American soil in history. The repercussions are very similar and the country is certainly not the same after they have occurred. Yet, the social contrast on how the American people and government dealt with hatred has shifted significantly. Concentration camps are nowhere to be seen this day and age, and as we look back on the Pearl Harbor attacks it is important to see how America's introduction to WWII has not only shifted world history, but also our own society.