According to FDR's Pearl Harbor Address, "betrayal" is exactly what Japan had just done to its good friend, the United States, with this whole attack.
Wait…were Japan and the U.S. friends? Or were they frenemies?
Well, on paper, Japan and America were friends. But just like those supposed "best friends" who can't wait to talk trash behind each other's backs, the relationship between the two had some issues.
Japan was trying to get its expansion on, taking over new land by conquest and making folks in the West pretty nervous. It just wanted to do something to combat the economic stagnation that had taken it over (and Japan really wanted its own natural resources).
The U.S. responded to Japan's land grabs with increasingly severe sanctions that it thought would slow Japan's roll, but all they did was push the small country's struggling economy even further down the drain.
Both sides were tense. But they were trying to work it out…or so the United States thought.
Until it became quite clear that Japan wasn't trying at all…and hadn't been for some time.
It had all been lip service, and the U.S. had fallen for it. Feelings were hurt. The circle of trust had been broken.
But it didn't take long for President Roosevelt to bury his pain under a thick, roiling layer of righteous anger, stand up in front of a bunch of his countrymen (and some cameras), and tell Japan in no uncertain terms that their double-crossing was gonna be double-dealt with.
And World War II welcomed its newest player.
Questions About Betrayal
- Were Japan and the United States friends, enemies, or frenemies? Why?
- How did Japan justify its conquest and seizure of land?
- Which countries declared war on Japan in December of 1941, and why?
- What sorts of embargoes had the United States placed on Japan, and what were the effects of those embargoes?
Chew on This
Japan's actions—turning around and going against its own word like that, bombing its friend's island and killing all those people—were shameful and unexpected.
No one should have been shocked by Japan's behavior; they had a history of attacking countries all unannounced, and it's not like Japan and the U.S. were really as buddy-buddy as they made out.