Pearl Harbor and the coming of the Pacific War : a brief history with documents and essays / Akira Iriye.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Iriye, Akira

Series:

Bedford series in history and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941.

Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941--Sources.

World War, 1939-1945--Pacific Area.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Causes.

World War, 1939-1945--Diplomatic history.

Diplomatic history.

Japan--Foreign relations--1912-1945.

Japan.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xii, 258 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Boston : Bedford/St. Martin's, [1999]

Summary:

Could more have been done during those fanatic months of negotiating between Washington and Tokyo to prevent the surprise attack by Japanese fighter planes on US carriers docked at Pearl Harbor? Assembling over 30 primary documents -- including proposals, memorandums, decrypted messages, and imperial conferences -- Akira Iriye allows the reader to view exchanges between the two governments from both American and Japanese perspectives, asking them to decide how and why particular key figures, events, and contingencies brought the US and Japan to war. A substantial introduction reaches back to Japanese aggression in China and Southeast Asia in the 1930s and to economic unrest and isolationism in the US to frame the ensuing diplomatic crisis leading to Pearl Harbor. A second part of the volume places Pearl Harbor in global context showcasing interpretive essays by historians from China, the Soviet Union, Germany, and Britain to show how these various countries applied pressure, offered assistance, exacerbated rifts, and significantly affected negotiations and Japan's decision to go to war.

Contents:

Part 1 Introduction: "The Day of Infamy"

The War in Europe

The War in Asia

The American Dilemma

Toward Pearl Harbor

The Documents

Imperial Conference, November 5, 1941

Plan A and Plan B, November 7 and November 20, 1941

Washington Discussions on China and the Tripartite (Axis) Pact

Cordell Hull, Memorandum, November 17, 1941

Joseph W. Ballantine, Memorandum, November 18, 1941

Discussing Plan B

Joseph W. Ballantine, Memorandum, November 20, 1941

Joseph W. Ballantine, Memorandum, November 22, 1941

Draft Proposed Modus Vivendi with Japan, November 22, 1941

Revised Draft of Proposed Modus Vivendi with Japan, November 24, 1941

Final Draft of Proposed Modus Vivendi with Japan, November 25, 1941

Discarding the Modus Vivendi

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cable to Winston S. Churchill, November 24, 1941

Winston Churchill, Cable to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 26, 1941

Winston Churchill, Cable to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 30, 1941

The Hull Note

Cordell Hull, Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement between the United States and Japan, November 26, 1941

Joseph W. Ballantine, Memorandum, November 26, 1941

Japan's View of the Hull Note

Tokyo to Berlin, November 30, 1941

Washington to Tokyo, December 1, 1941

Tokyo to Washington, December 1, 1941

Tokyo to London, December 1, 1941

Washington to Tokyo, December 2, 1941

Tokyo to Washington, December 2, 1941

Washington to Tokyo, December 3, 1941

Washington to Tokyo, December 5, 1941

Tokyo to Washington, December 6, 1941

Imperial Conference, December 1, 1941

Japan's December 7 Note

Kichisaburo Nomura, Memorandum, December 7, 1941

Joseph W. Ballantine, Memorandum, December 7, 1941

A Declaration of War That Was Never Sent, December _th, 1941

Illustrations

Part 2 Introduction: Pearl Harbor in Global Context

China

The Soviet Union

Great Britain

The British Commonwealth

The Dutch East Indies

The Philippines

French Indochina

Germany

The Essays

Sumio Hatano and Sadao Asada, Japan's Decision to "Go South"

Minoru Nomura, The Petroleum Question

Waldo H. Heinrichs, Ambassador Joseph C. Grew and the U.S.-Japanese Crisis

David Kahn, Pearl Harbor as an Intelligence Failure

Katsumi Usui, The Chinese-Japanese War

Wang Xi, China and U.S.-Japanese Relations

Anthony Best, The British Perspective

Ken'ichi Gotã ́, The Indonesian Perspective

Bernd Martin, The German Perspective

Alexei M. Filitov, The Soviet Perspective.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-247) and index.

ISBN:

0312147880

0312218184

OCLC:

40985780