Roosevelt and Pearl HarborOn December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States Navy base at Pearl Harbor. The attack was a surprise to the Americans because most people thought Germany would be the first to strike. The causes of this attack by Japan leave a documented trace from many years ago to the president of the United States, T. Roosevelt. It was Roosevelt's policies – in the years before 1941 – aimed at helping Britain against Germany in the European theater that provoked Japan's attack. The attack itself crippled the U.S. Navy in the Pacific and was a strategically planned attack that helped Japan conquer the Pacific. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In November 1938, Roosevelt advocated the production of 10,000 military aircraft by 1940 and the ability to produce 10,000 aircraft each year thereafter. This was done to demonstrate to Hitler that we are serious and have the ability to react if necessary. In July 1939, Roosevelt issued a military order requiring agencies related to our nation's defense to report directly to the president. But Japan also saw this happening and kept it in mind. There were many other policies that led to Japan's attack. One of these was the Neutrality Act of 1939, in which Roosevelt declared that they would remain neutral in the war two days after France and England declared war on Germany. But despite this, Roosevelt did everything he could to help England and France in the fight against the Nazis. Roosevelt asked Congress to remove the gun ban on nations at war, and the country as a whole supported this idea. So Congress passed a new law stating that we can now sell weapons to nations at war only if they pay cash and transport the weapons themselves. In the following years, Roosevelt began to lean towards the Allied Powers and did everything he could to help them. This is what really angered Japan and prompted the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan needed resources, which is why they invaded China in 1937, but they didn't just want China. By 1941 they controlled most of China's coastline and wanted even more. They depended on the United States for materials such as steel, iron, and oil and needed these supplies to continue their efforts. Eighty percent of Japan's oil supply came from the United States, and they could not afford to lose it. In 1940, the Export Control Act was passed, giving the president the power to restrict the sale of any strategic materials (materials used/needed to fight a war) to other nations. This created a lot of tension between Japan and the United States because the United States wanted Japan to withdraw from China, while Japan wanted to continue conquering. Roosevelt decided to block aircraft fuel and iron from Japan, which made Japan very angry and because of this they signed an alliance with Germany and officially created the Axis powers. It was Japan's need for resources that caused the tension between the two countries. But it was in the United States' strategic interest not to let Japan become an even larger empire. In the spring of 1940, Winston Churchill asked America for its old and unused destroyers because Germany had destroyed half of them. They needed these ships to protect merchant ships from German submarines and to block a naval attempt to invade Britain. But because of the Neutrality Act,Roosevelt could not simply sell the destroyers to Britain because the Neutrality Act required cash to purchase and Britain had already exhausted its money. Roosevelt, however, asked Britain for permission to build American military bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda and many Caribbean islands and in exchange Britain would receive 50 old and obsolete American destroyers. Since there was no money transfer between the two nations, this did not go against the Neutrality Act. At this point, Japan became taking note of Roosevelt's actions in aid of the allies and it was at this time that Roosevelt decided to run for a third mandate. This was very surprising because all presidents before him had stopped after their second term. With a nation in the midst of conflict and a critical need for a strong leader, he decided to re-introduce himself. Roosevelt believed that the United States should dig deeper into the war and help fight for democracy. Roosevelt won the election by a landslide, which, in turn, gave Japan more and more reasons to hate the United States. By now, Britain was economically deprived. They had exhausted all available funds for the war. But it was in America's strategic interest to remain diplomatic. They needed to keep Britain in the war, so they didn't have to. Roosevelt had said: “If we want to stay out of the war, we must keep Great Britain in the war, otherwise they will fall and Italy, Germany and Japan will go on to conquer the world.” American then adopted the Lend-Lease Act. Roosevelt, once again, found a loophole and found a way to remove liquidity requirements from the Neutrality Act. The act stated that the United States could lend or lease weapons to nations vital to the national defense. Britain fell into this category, because without them they would have had to go to war on their own. The United States sent weapons to Britain with the promise that they would one day return them or for payment after the war. By the end of World War II the United States had loaned $40 billion worth of supplies. This policy also applied to the Soviet Union and China. They began sending weapons to China to defend itself and to force Japan to focus its efforts on China, freeing surrounding countries from Japanese power. These efforts by the United States failed, and in July 1941, Japan sent troops to Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Roosevelt believed that because Japan had so much controlled territory, they were now within striking distance of the British. shipping routes and Singapore. So Roosevelt not only limited Japan's iron and aircraft fuel, but now froze all Japanese assets. This was a major blow to the Japanese Empire because it was dependent on US oil. Once again, Roosevelt's actions were noticed by Japan and tensions increased. Roosevelt sent Douglas MacArthur to the Pacific to build American defenses. He told Japan that if they wanted to lift the embargo, they should withdraw from China and make peace with these nations. Now that Japan was in danger due to a lack of oil, it began a plan to attack the oil-rich colonies in Southeast Asia that were controlled by Britain. They also decided to conquer all of the Philippines and attack Pearl Harbor. If they wanted to conquer the Pacific, they could risk US interference, and the only way to prevent this was to cripple their Pacific Navy which was stationed at Pearl Harbor. It seemed that Japan was continuing i.