Pearl Harbor

Summary

World War II with Tom Hanks – Episode 4: Pearl Harbor

Host: The HISTORY Channel | Back Pocket Studios | Audacy
Aired: June 2, 2026
Topic: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the road to America’s entry into World War II

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Episode Overview

This episode of "World War II with Tom Hanks" explores the events and motivations leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Guided by historians, analysts, and Tom Hanks himself, the narrative intertwines the Japanese imperial ambitions, U.S. strategic responses, and the fateful December 7, 1941 raid that propelled the United States into World War II. The episode vividly portrays the clash of empires, the misunderstandings and underestimations, and the staggering human consequences of "a date which will live in infamy."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Japanese Aggression and Expansion in Asia

• The 1930s: Global rise of aggressive empires—Italy invades Ethiopia, Germany expands into Europe, Japan pushes into Manchuria and China.

  "Italy attacks Ethiopia. Dreaming of a modern Roman Empire, Hitler's Thousand Year Reich calls for his seizure of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Japanese Empire expands with the invasion of Manchuria and China." (02:09)

• The Rape of Nanking (1937):

  • Japanese troops commit mass atrocities in Nanking—rape, murder, and pillaging on an unprecedented scale.

  "Hundreds of thousands of people raped and murdered by the Japanese. It was called the Rape of Nanking." (05:30)

  • Japanese press glorifies brutality:

  "Japanese officers had a competition to see who could be the first to kill 100 civilians with a sword. This was printed in Japanese newspaper..." (04:44)

• Motivation for Expansion:

  • Japan seeks raw materials (iron, oil, rice) and manpower lacking in its home islands.

  "Their steel industry is based on US scrap iron. They need the raw materials and almost limitless manpower of China." (06:26)

2. Japan’s Ideology & Domestic Balances of Power

• The Emperor and the Military:

  • Emperor Hirohito is revered as a living god but functions more as a symbolic and spiritual figurehead. The military holds real power.

  "Emperor Hirohito is not really a policymaker in Japan...He's a guarantor and a protector of Japanese tradition." (07:36)

• Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere:

  • Japan’s vision to liberate Asia from Western colonizers, but in practice, "Asia for Japan."

  "Asia for the Asians means actually Asia for Japan." (09:19)

• Bushido and Military Culture:

  • The Japanese army draws on samurai codes, believing in the spiritual superiority and fighting spirit of their soldiers as an “equalizer.”

  "They don't have the heavier tanks and artillery. There needs to be an equalizer...in the superior fighting spirit of the Japanese soldier." (10:37)

3. Western Response—America’s Move and Escalating Tensions

• The U.S. Naval Shift:

  • President Roosevelt moves the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor—both as a deterrence and statement of American presence in the Pacific.

  "Roosevelt is sending a clear signal he hopes will deter Japan. The Pacific is America's sphere of influence." (11:52)

  • Pearl Harbor’s strategic and defensive geography is noted, but also its vulnerabilities—especially concerns about sabotage that ironically left planes exposed.

  "General Short is much more afraid of sabotage than air attack. So he takes the fighter planes out of their protective bunkers...presented a line of sitting ducks." (13:49)

• Axis Alliances and Global Maneuvering:

  • Tripartite Pact (Japan, Germany, Italy)—an alliance of convenience rather than ideology.

  "The Tripartite Pact is a marriage of convenience to try and put the Americans off from entering any kind of conflict with Japan." (17:14)

• Oil Embargo and the Final Provocation:

  • The U.S. cuts off oil and other vital resources—a blow to Japan’s economy and war machine.

  "FDR imposes an embargo on the Japanese...America essentially turns off the tap." (20:17, 20:28)

  • This move sets an implicit deadline for Japan to act—leading to the conclusion:

  "The moment Roosevelt turns off the tap, the clock is ticking." (21:07)

4. Decisions for War—Japanese Plans and American Blind Spots

• Internal Debate in Japan:

  • Prime Minister Funemaru Kanoue works for diplomacy; War Minister Hideki Tojo presses for war. The Emperor is painted as passive—“He never really said yes, but...he never said no.” (24:39)
  • Tojo becomes PM; the military is firmly in charge.

• The Role of Espionage:

  • Takeo Yoshikawa’s spying in Hawaii: he gathers crucial intelligence under the guise of tourism, eventually deducing Sunday morning as the best time for a surprise attack.

  "Yoshikawa is the one who comes up with the insight that Sunday morning really is the best time to launch an attack against the Americans." (25:28)

• Japanese Naval Innovation:

  • Admiral Yamamoto orchestrates a carrier-based air attack—a naval operation of unprecedented scale and secrecy.

  "We're going to take all of our carriers...to deliver these enormous pulses of firepower over the battlefield, which has never been seen before in naval warfare." (28:34)

  • The fleet refuels at sea, remaining radio silent and invisible until just before the strike.

  "Refueling at sea literally allowed the Japanese fleet to vanish like a ghost." (29:34)

5. The Attack – December 7, 1941

• Missed American Signals:

  • Sighting and sinking of a Japanese midget sub; huge radar contact is dismissed as friendly B-17s.

  "Even though the Ward has successfully fired the first shot in this war, her report is completely ignored." (31:23)
  "He tells those two radar operators, don't worry about it." (31:59)

• Assault on Pearl Harbor:

  • At 7:55 AM, bombs begin to fall.

  Memorable account:
  "When you hear the airplanes overhead, you're like, oh boy, they sure are doing training early today. And then when all of a sudden things start to explode, you're like, oh man, somebody's really going to get in trouble. Because training events way out of hand." – Military Historian (32:52)

  • Battleship Row devastated: USS Oklahoma capsizes, USS Arizona exploded—over 1,100 killed instantly.

    "The explosion on the USS Arizona kills 1,117 men." (35:07)

  • Overall, 2,403 died, 1,178 wounded, 188 aircraft destroyed, but U.S. carriers out at sea survive.

    "2,403 are dead. But the United States Navy's aircraft carriers are at sea and escape the devastation..." (36:03)

• The Turning Point:

  "If we want to talk about the grand inflection point in World War II, it's December 7, 1941. At 7:55, it's the world as we've always known it. Fifteen minutes later at 8:10, the world is different. We are now at war." – Military Historian (36:39)

6. Aftermath and Declaration of War

• Shockwaves Across the Pacific:

  • Japan strikes elsewhere in Asia—Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines nearly simultaneously.

• FDR Addresses Congress:

  "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..." – Franklin D. Roosevelt (41:07)

  • Behind the phrase:

    "The initial formulation was yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history. And at some point...he writes in a wonderful handwriting of his ‘date which will live in infamy’...that created an indelible phrase." – Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert (41:32)

  • The U.S. declares war on Japan—Germany then declares war four days later, opening hostilities on both the European and Pacific fronts.

    "Look very carefully at what Franklin Roosevelt said...We are declaring war against the Empire of Japan. He does not mention Germany. ...Not until the 11th, when Hitler decides to declare war on the United States, did the United States then in turn declare war on Germany." (42:46)

• America’s Resolve:

  "We are now in this war. We're all in it, all the way. Every single man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war. We are going to win the war, and we are going to win the peace that follows." – Franklin D. Roosevelt (43:58)

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On the Rape of Nanking:

  "Hundreds of thousands of people raped and murdered by the Japanese. It was called the Rape of Nanking." — Historian/Expert Commentator (05:30)

• Japan’s Expansionist Propaganda:

  "Asia for the Asians means actually Asia for Japan." — Japanese Military Historian (09:19)

• On the Oil Embargo:

  "FDR imposes an embargo on the Japanese...America essentially turns off the tap." — Narrator (20:17, 20:28)

• On the Critical Missed Warning:

  "They send a sighting report upstairs...Her report is completely ignored." — Military Strategist/Analyst (31:23)

• On the Attack’s Turning Point:

  "At 7:55, it's the world as we've always known it. Fifteen minutes later at 8:10, the world is different. We are now at war." — Military Historian (36:39)

• FDR’s Famous Address:

  "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..." — Franklin D. Roosevelt (41:07)
  "He writes in a wonderful handwriting of his date which will live in infamy. So it was his edit...that created an indelible phrase." — FDR Expert (41:32)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:09 – 1930s global aggressions and Japan’s ambitions begin
• 03:01 – Japanese atrocities in China and the Rape of Nanking
• 06:26 – Why Japan needs Chinese resources
• 11:52 – Roosevelt’s strategic move to Pearl Harbor
• 17:14 – Tripartite Pact explained
• 20:17 – The U.S. embargo on Japan (especially oil)
• 25:18 – Japanese espionage on Oahu
• 27:16 – Admiral Yamamoto’s plan for a surprise attack
• 32:16 – First wave of attack at Pearl Harbor
• 35:07 – The destruction of the USS Arizona
• 36:39 – The turning point: America at war
• 41:07 – Roosevelt’s “Infamy” speech to Congress
• 43:58 – FDR rallies the nation for a long, arduous global war

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Conclusion

The Pearl Harbor episode in "World War II with Tom Hanks" brings the seismic impact of December 7, 1941 into sharp relief, from the geopolitical calculations and failures of diplomacy to the vivid terror of the surprise attack. Through expert voices and Tom Hanks’ narration, listeners understand not only the timeline and military maneuvers, but the deep ideological currents and human costs that defined this inflection point in 20th-century history. The attack changed the world in moments—ushering in American total war and shaping the modern order that would emerge from the Second World War’s crucible.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

The History Channel Original Podcast.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The 1930s is a decade of aggression. Italy attacks Ethiopia. Dreaming of a modern Roman Empire, Hitler's Thousand Year Reich calls for his seizure of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Japanese Empire expands with the invasion invasion of Manchuria and China, but intends to dominate all of Asia. To accomplish that, the military and Japan know they must first eliminate the United States as a seaborne power. They act accordingly.

[Tom Hanks]

This is world war ii with tom hanks. Episode 4 pearl harbor.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In late 1937, the Japanese escalate their military campaign in China. They already occupy Manchuria. After three months of fighting, they take Shanghai. And move to the ancient Chinese capital of Nanking. The Japanese Brutality that follows will shock the world.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

They enter the city and instead of just occupying it, they let the Japanese troops off the leash. They rape, they pillage, they burn, they steal.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese commanders ordered their soldiers not to take any prisoners, which meant executions.

[Japanese Military Historian]

This was Japanese soldiers looking down on the Chinese as an inferior people and as being non humans. Japanese soldier who committed atrocities himself, he described it as killing pigs.

[Narrator]

Japanese officers had a competition to see who could be the first to kill 100 civilians with a sword.

[Japanese Military Historian]

This was printed in Japanese newspaper

[Japanese History Expert]

to

[Political Analyst]

show pictures of swordsmen decapitating bound prisoners. In the 20th century made the people doing the killing seem almost like they were barbarians from another era. And it struck Americans and people in the Western world in a different way than had they shown people being lined up against a wall and shot.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Hundreds of thousands of people raped and murdered by the Japanese. It was called the Rape of Nanking.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In just six weeks, the Japanese army killed 200,000 Chinese in Nanking. Most are civilians.

[Military Historian]

The Japanese invasion does identify the Japanese is as an aggressive power in the Pacific, that they are brutal in the way that they've treated the population. And this starts to change people's perceptions with regards to the Japanese.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

By the end of 1939, Japan controls vast areas of north and central China, as well as the southern port cities. The Japanese are driven by the desire for raw materials.

[Narrator]

The luck of the historical draw has put the Japanese people on a series of beautiful islands which are unfortunately resource poor. Take iron ore. The Japanese have almost no indigenous sources of iron ore. Their steel industry is based on US scrap iron. They need the raw materials and almost limitless manpower of China.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Japan is a modern and complex nation. At the pinnacle of society is the emperor Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan. The constitution made the Emperor of Japan a divine figure, literally a living God.

[Japanese History Expert]

Taken literally, he's a God on earth or a mystical figure who people aren't really supposed to have much direct contact with.

[Narrator]

Emperor Hirohito is not really a policymaker in Japan. He's not the wartime planner. He doesn't go through details of tax policy in the way you would think a president or a prime minister does. He's a guarantor and a protector of Japanese tradition.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Emperor Hirohito approves government policy, but real power lies with the Japanese army and navy and its political allies. They want Imperial Japan to control Asia.

[Japanese History Expert]

For the last couple of decades, it has been a major industrial power, powerful economy. Its armed forces have been built up. It's in a really strong position.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese resent the Western colonial empires that dominate Southeast Asia and control resour. The British rule over Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya and Singapore. There's French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. Even the United States has territories called protectorates in Guam and the Philippines. Japan intends to create what they term the Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere under their leadership.

[Japanese History Expert]

By this point, Japan is Asia's preeminent power by a long way. And I think because of that, the Japanese have a sense that they are destined to bring the rest of Asia with them.

[Japanese Military Historian]

Japan had an interest in becoming the supreme power of not only continental China, but also Asia. Asia for the Asians was one of the propaganda slogans, one of the key slogans of the Japanese Empire. Asia for the Asians was understood by some Japanese politicians at the time as an honest interest in liberating Asia from the Western colonizers. But there were some voices in the Japanese military who had a different understanding of this phrase, Asia for the Asians. Saying, okay, Asia for the Asians means actually Asia for Japan.

[Political Analyst]

You get people in the Japanese government who are militarists who have a very constrained view of the world. Their attitudes are somewhat disdainful of Western comfort and softness and all these sorts of things.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese believe their soldiers are the toughest in the world. They combine modern weapons with the traditional training and values of the samurai warrior, known as the code of Bushido.

[Narrator]

Bushido was an older tradition that had now been inculcated into the manpower of the Japanese army. The Japanese didn't choose this aspect of their history randomly. They don't have the aircraft to compete with the West. They don't have the heavier tanks and artillery. There needs to be an equalizer, and they believe they found that equalizer in the superior fighting spirit of the Japanese soldier.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

By 1940, Japan controls most of China. In Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is alarmed and fears further Japanese aggression could threaten the entire Asian Pacific region.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

Japan is an authoritarian power, organized and driven by a theory of racial superiority and a march of aggressive conquest. That was what Japan was doing.

[Narrator]

Now the only problem there is that the United States has traditionally seen the Pacific as its own area of operations.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Roosevelt is determined to dislodge Japan from China, and the Japanese are determined to stay. To counter continued Japanese aggression in China, Roosevelt orders the US Fleet to move from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, a naval base on Hawaii 2,000 miles closer to the Japanese mainland. This is a land that is an extension of the United States. It is the United States. Roosevelt is sending a clear signal he hopes will deter Japan. The Pacific is America's sphere of influence.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

He wants the fleet to be positioned far enough forward that the Japanese will take it seriously, but at the same time, not to be overtly provocative by moving it to a place like the Philippines or maybe Singapore.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Pearl harbor is now the frontline of American naval power in the Pacific.

[Local Hawaiian Resident/Commentator]

The Pearl Harbor Naval base is perfect because it's got a narrow channel into a wide harbor with an island right in the middle, so it looks like a fortress.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Outside the naval base is the thriving city of Honolulu.

[Local Hawaiian Resident/Commentator]

The Hawaiian Islands to America looks like a paradise. Beautiful beaches, relaxed culture, amazing weather.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

But there are security concerns among top naval and army commanders because now they are surrounded by a population that is

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

disproportionately Asian and a population that also

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

includes a very large percentage of Japanese Americans. 30% of the population of the Hawaiian islands has Japanese heritage.

[Local Hawaiian Resident/Commentator]

One of the major fears is sabotage from local Japanese Americans. General Short, who is in charge of the army at Hawaii, is much more afraid of sabotage than air attack. So he takes the fighter planes out of their protective bunkers, lines up on the airfield where he thinks his soldiers can protect them from sabotage. Unfortunately, he's presented a line of sitting ducks.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The US expands its profile in the Pacific at the same time as Germany's forces sweep through Europe and conquer nation after nation.

[Narrator]

Hitler doesn't realize what he's done, but in toppling France, he set in motion a kind of ripple effect of aggression that is going to move far and wide.

[Japanese History Expert]

Going back to the First World War. There's a sense in Japan that when things happen in Europe, there's an opportunity for Japan in Asia. If they can get their hands on something while the big powers are busy in Europe, then they will. That's exactly what happens in June 1940.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Germany's conquests present Japan with an opportunity. Germany now occupies the Netherlands, colonial ruler of the oil rich Dutch East Indies. Great Britain, still at war with Germany, controls the resources of Malaya, Singapore, Burma and Hong Kong. And the French, who rule Indochina have surrendered to the Nazis.

[Narrator]

The Japanese now realize that an opportunity is beckoning. The Dutch can't defend the Dutch East Indies any longer. The British are going to have a heck of a time trying to defend Singapore. And on and on. The French in Indochina, the resources await. And it seems to the Japanese that a once in a century opportunity has arisen to seize those colonies. Who's going to defend them?

[Japanese History Expert]

So the French are overrun by the Nazis. You have a Vichy regime being set up. The Japanese really have Their eyes on Indochina because of the resources there, the sense that actually it won't put up much of a fight given that the French are busy elsewhere.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Japan's first target is French Indochina in September 1940. It pressures the French Vichy government to cede to them the northern region. That same month, Japan's leaders sign a formal alliance with Germany and Italy called the Tripartite Pact. The three nations become known as the Axis powers.

[Narrator]

One of the characteristics of the Axis, of course, is that they were three hyper aggressive, militant powers eager for war.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

They're strange bedfellows. There seems to be no overlap between German interests, which are focused on Eurasia, Italian interests focused on the Mediterranean and North and East Africa. Japanese interested are in East Asia. And so there's no obvious overlap between the three. They come together because they're all kind of outcasts.

[Japanese History Expert]

The Tripartite Pact is a marriage of convenience to try and put the Americans off from entering any kind of conflict with Japan. There isn't a great deal of ideology there. It's simply a case of how do we keep the Americans at bay for now so that we can do what we need to do in Asia.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In the summer of 1941, the American Japanese relationship reaches crisis level when Japan takes control over all of French Indochina.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The French yield and the Japanese come down and they start helping themselves to the resources they need to keep the war going. And then eventually they just outright take it over.

[Japanese History Expert]

It's a great source of resources. It's also a great staging post for whatever else you might want to do in Southeast Asia.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Japan now has access to even more raw materials.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The thinking in Tokyo is we need to get tin and bauxite from Malaya, we need to get oil from the Dutch East Indies, we need to get rice from the Philippines, and everything you need is there. It's a no brainer.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The United States has one major weapon to force Japan out of China and Southeast Asia. And President Roosevelt is about to use it.

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[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In the summer of 1941, the United States takes it strongest stand yet against Japan's territorial ambitions.

[Narrator]

The United States has been concerned about Japanese expansion and aggression in Asia for some time. Roosevelt has stopped short of a military response, but there's been a series of embargoes. Embargo on weapons, an embargo on scrap iron.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Japan is almost entirely dependent on oil imported from the us so FDR imposes an embargo on the Japanese.

[Narrator]

In the summer of 1941, America essentially turns off the tap.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The embargo becomes a disaster for the Japanese economy and military.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

By installing an oil embargo. We have basically said we are going to control your future.

[Political Analyst]

The Japanese have to find a way out and there's oil nearby. The Dutch, for example, control huge amounts of oil in that region. So it becomes almost a temptation. Why wouldn't you take it? Especially when you feel like the United States had no right to cut you off from oil in the first place. I mean, would a European power stand for that?

[Narrator]

The moment Roosevelt turns off the tap, the clock is ticking.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In Tokyo, the Japanese make plans to strike back.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Japan thinks about how do we get out of this straight jacket? Well, we have to replace those things by seizing the raw materials of Southeast Asia. And the first step will be to knock out the American Pacific Fleet.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese finalize plans to attack American interests in the Pacific.

[Japanese History Expert]

There's a sense amongst the Japanese that the Americans are merchants rather than warriors and that if you do give them a really bloody nose, they'll think, actually this isn't for us. So if you really show them some proper steel, then they might back away.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

But not everyone in Japan is committed to conflict with the United States. Prime Minister Funemaru Kanoe wants to find a peaceful solution.

[Japanese History Expert]

Very much of a noble background, he is an internationalist. He has great relationships with diplomats in the West. His big concern, I think, is how you reach some kind of a settlement with the United States and manage to bring the Japanese military along with you.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

But War Minister Hideki Tojo is determined to go to war against America.

[Japanese History Expert]

Hideki Tojo does have a very aggressive sense of what Japan is going to have to do. The destiny of Japan is to be the preeminent power in Asia is to push the Americans out, to push the British out, to push the Dutch out. Look at what's happening in Europe. Look at the success of the Nazis. That is the way a great power is going to run itself in the future.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Emperor Hirohito is caught between the war and peace factions in Tokyo. He gathers his political and military leaders for an imperial conference where he recites a poem written by his grandfather, the Emperor Meiji. Across the four seas all men are brothers. In such a world, why do the waves rage, the winds roar? The Japanese try to interpret Hirohito's feelings about the war from the poem, but he never states his views explicitly. Prime Minister Kanoue still wants to find a diplomatic solution.

[Narrator]

There's no harm done in keeping open channels of communication. Their ambassador and a special envoy in Washington talking to the U.S. state Department.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

But the Americans still demand that Japan withdraw from China.

[Narrator]

I don't think they see any possibility that they. This problem can be negotiated away. I think the Japanese have made a pretty firm decision to go to war.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

In mid October 1941, a frustrated Prime Minister Kanoe resigns. He tells his government secretary, his Imperial Majesty is a pacifist. I told him that war was a mistake. He agreed. But the next time I met him, he leaned more. I felt the Emperor was absorbing more and more the view of the army and Navy high commands.

[Narrator]

Hirohito heard plans being discussed in detail constantly. He never really said yes, but the crucial factor is that he never said no.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

War Minister Tojo becomes the new prime minister. Japan's destiny is now in the hands of the military. In Honolulu, there's a new employee at the Japanese Consulate, Takeo Yoshikawa.

[Japanese Military Historian]

Takeo Yoshikawa was a member of the Japanese Navy and was sent to Hawaii as a spy.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Yoshikawa is hoping that he's gonna find some sympathizers within the Japanese population that'll give him additional information. But what he quickly discovers is that the vast majority of the Japanese Americans on Oahu are loyal to the United States. So he's renting planes to take sightseeing tours around the Harbo. He's driving around town, he's taking pictures. I'm a tourist. He's renting boats to go around and actually measure the depth of the harbor and so forth. So he gathers a lot of intelligence about the daily activities of the Pacific Fleet. Yoshikawa is the one who comes up with the insight that Sunday morning really is the best time to launch an attack against the Americans.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Although meant to deter Japan, FDR's order to move the Pacific Fleet base from California to Pearl harbor means it's now within striking distance.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Roosevelt doesn't really understand that by moving the fleet this far forward, it now becomes a potential target for the Japanese because the Americans in general don't understand the sophistication and level of capability that the Japanese now have.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

On a cold Wednesday morning, the fleet of the Japanese Imperial Navy heads out into the Pacific. In overall command is Grand Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. It was his plan to launch a surprise attack against the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Yamamoto is a race, a really good appreciation for just how powerful the United States is. He's lived in the us he was a naval attache, he speaks some English, and so he understands that any war with the United States is going to have to be a very fast affair, that they've got to get this thing over as rapidly as possible, hit them hard at the outset, and try to go after American morale. The way he thinks he can do that is by sinking as many of our battleships as possible. Maybe then the Americans will come to the bargaining table and we can get this war over with in six months or something like that.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Key to the operation is grouping six modern aircraft carriers together for the attack.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Yamamoto is an air power advocate. He has been consistently pushing to beef up Japan's aircraft carriers, and they create this organization, Kido Butai, the mobile force.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Aircraft carriers are usually deployed one at a time, and their aircraft are tasked with defending heavy battleships.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

The Japanese are like, we're going to take all of our carriers. We're going to put them into a carrier fleet of six big flight decks that can now bring 350 aircraft across ocean. That is going to allow the Japanese to deliver these enormous pulses of firepower over the battlefield, which has never been seen before in naval warfare.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese have another challenge. How do you get this enormous armada across three and a half thousand miles of ocean without being detected? First, they shut down all radio communications and travel in silence. Then eight oil tankers sail alongside the fleet.

[Local Hawaiian Resident/Commentator]

The ability to refuel at sea is one of the masterstrokes of Pearl harbor because your fleet didn't have to stop at any bases. This is how the Japanese fleet could stay radio silent. Refueling at sea literally allowed the Japanese fleet to vanish like a ghost.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

As the Japanese fleet steams towards Hawaii. In Washington, D.C. the Japanese and the Americans continued to negotiate. On December 6, President Roosevelt writes to Emperor Hirohito. It is clear that a continuance of such a situation is unthinkable. We have a sacred duty to restore traditional amity and prevent further death and destruction in the world.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Roosevelt's saying, look, war would be a horror, this war that none of us won. But at this point, Hirohito has embarked on war.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The Japanese fleet has reached the point of no return. December 7, 1941. Just before 4:00am A patrol ship, the USS Ward, receives a message. A small submarine has been spotted in the area near Pearl Harbor. At 6:40am the ward drops depth charges on the submarine.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

They send a sighting report upstairs. The people at Pearl harbor look at and they're like, this is a brand new captain. He's only been on duty for a day at the point. He probably doesn't know what he's doing. Eh, don't worry about it. Even though the Ward has successfully fired the first shot in this war, her report is completely ignored.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Twenty minutes later, two young radar operators spot a huge formation of planes approaching the area. They report it to their senior officer.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

He, he knows that there's a group of American B17s that are due in this morning that should be coming from roughly that direction. And the result is that he tells those two radar operators, don't worry about it.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

183 Japanese planes descend on Pearl harbor in the first wave of the attack. Their target the airfields.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

The result is gonna be this concentrated bombing attack to try to put as much many American planes out of business. At the outset of the attack.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

At 7:55am. The first bombs hit.

[Military Historian]

When you hear the airplanes overhead, you're like, oh boy, they sure are doing training early today. And then when all of a sudden things start to explode, you're like, oh man, somebody's really going to get in trouble. Because training events way out of hand.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

At 8am on Honolulu, the Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa tunes his radio into a Japanese weather forecast. The announcer uses the phrase higashi no kazeame. East wind rain its code. The attack on America is underway. Another formation of Japanese aircraft dive on the ships anchored along battleship row.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Torpedo planes at low level and overhead bombers.

[Local Hawaiian Resident/Commentator]

It's not until ships actually start exploding, bullets start ripping through the decks that they realize, oh my God, this is really real.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

Torpedo attacks are very, very successful. The Oklahoma and the West Virginia were very heavily hit. Oklahoma ends up capsizing, trapping hundreds of men in this overturned ship.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Over 400 sailors and Marines die on the USS Oklahoma.

[Military Strategist/Analyst]

At the same time, the level bombers are coming in overhead and dropping their bombs. And one of them lands a devastating hit on the battleship Arizona. And destroys her in just the blink of an eye.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The explosion on the USS Arizona kills 1,117 men.

[Military Historian]

So if you think about every, you know, soldier, sailor, marine, they cannot connect the idea of what is happening. There are bombs exploding, there are ships sinking, there are men on fire, there are body parts flying around. And you can imagine just trying to wrap your mind around all that.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

After two waves of attack, the Japanese withdraw. 188 US aircraft are destroyed. 1,178 servicemen and civilians are wounded.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt]

Wounded.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

2,403 are dead. But the United States Navy's aircraft carriers are at sea and escape the devastation we have witness this morning.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt]

Severe bombing out south powered by Henry Plans. It is no joke.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

It is a real war.

[Military Historian]

If we want to talk about the grand inflection point In World War II, it's December 7, 1941. At 7:55, it's the world as we've always known it. Fifteen minutes later at 8:10, the world is different. We are now at war.

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[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

The America that wakes up on December 8, 1941, is a different country.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

The country's being tested. Are we up to this? Can we meet this challenge? We are being put in the balance and would we be found wanting or not?

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

Prime Minister Tojo tells the Japanese people about the victory of its navy at Pearl Harbor. He also tells them that Japan has attacked Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya, Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines.

[Political Analyst]

While American attention is focused on the surprise attack, the Japanese are bombing and launching invasions all around. They're bombing Malaya, they're bombing the Philippines.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

At 12:30pm Congress assembles.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt]

Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

He dictated a good part of the speech to his secretary, Grace Tully, and the initial formulation was yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history. And at some point before he gets to Capitol Hill, he writes in a wonderful handwriting of his date which will live in infamy. So it was his edit of his own dictation that that created an indelible phrase.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt]

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan ON Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

Look very carefully at what Franklin Roosevelt said on 8 December. We are declaring war against the Empire of Japan. He does not mention Germany. The 8th goes by. The 9th goes by. The 10th goes by. And not until the 11th, when Hitler decides to declare war on the United States, did the United States then in turn declare war on Germany.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

America now faces a global war on two fronts.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Expert]

We were dragged into this. Let's be very clear. The United States of America did not wake up in the middle of the 20th century and decide it was going to defeat tyranny. Tyranny had to force us into a struggle that we now recognize to be the great existential struggle, arguably, of the last millennia. But it was not a quick or easy date with destiny.

[Franklin D. Roosevelt]

We are now in this war. We're all in it, all the way. Every single man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war. We are going to win the war, and we are going to win the peace that follows.

[Historian/Documentary Narrator]

America is now at war, the most devastating in world history. Germany reigns from the Atlantic to the outskirts of Moscow. Imperial Japan has swept across the Pacific, forcing America into an armed struggle. It is not yet ready to fight. Not on land, not in the air, not at sea.

[Tom Hanks]

World War 2 with Tom Hanks is produced by Netopia Ltd. AE Factual Studios, play Tone Productions and Back Pocket Studios in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd. Additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Reagan from the History Channel. Our executive producers are Eli Lehrer and Liv Fiddler for Playtone. Executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Getzman for Back Pocket Studios. Our executive producer is Ben Dickstein.