Discuss the climate in America prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor
The United States had been following an isolationist policy for decades, principally due to the fcat the the population resented its intervention in the First World war with practically no gains at all. Although there were (and still are) significant European minorities in the country, the US had its own problems to content with prior to the Pearl Harbour attack. It was still feeling the scars of the Great depression and it had to allay fears that military intervention would not continue to bankrupt the country further and once again provide thousands of American dead.
President Roosevelt also had to content with a raectionary and conservative cabinet as well as a Senate and Congress which was staunchly isolationist. The politicians from the great farming states of Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota and wisconsin argued that the US should remain neautral throughout the war as it had its own economy to contend with. The result was that the military was gravely unprepared for any sort of attack and with the relaxed atmosphere at Pearl Harbour in hawaii, the situation was one of complete oblivion when the Japanese decided to attack.
The US people were also very isolationist in their attitude especially in the central states as they did not wish to intervene in other countries’ affairs. They continued to resist any sort of military intervention and even after Pearl harbour, the mood was generally noncholant as regards intervention in Europe.
References
Caro Robert (2002) Master of the Senate – The Life of Lyndon Johnson Vol 3 Allen Lane
Black Conrad (2005); Franklin Delano Rossevelt – Champion of Freedom Public Affairs
