Wednesday, May 21, 2008
This Day in the History of Dangerous Times
On this day in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed "an unlimited state of national emergency," regarding Germany's submarine activities in the Atlantic as well as the expected reaction of Japan to the following diplomatic pressures with which we tried to stop Japan's war of conquest in China:
July 25, 1940: The US prohibited the export of oil to countries outside the Americas and Great Britain. This decision was confirmed on August 1, 1941 when it was modified to include aviation fuel and allow exports to all countries of the British Empire as well. (We had supplied Japan with approximately 65% of the oil it used).
September 26, 1940: An embargo on scrap iron and steel exports to Japan was initiated. [and the future action]
July 26, 1941: The US (and Britain)froze Japanese assets. The Dutch East Indies followed-up two days later and cancelled its oil contracts as well. These moves resulted in the loss to Japan of 75% of its foreign trade and 90% of its oil supplies.
The wonder is that Japan waited until December to act out.
Labels: WWII pre history; Pacific theater
Saturday, May 17, 2008
This Day in the History of the Right Move Far Too Late
On this day in 1938, Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy, about 3 years before we would need all the naval vessels we could build. The reason the Japanese expanded so rapidly in the Winter of 1941-42 is that we were horribly under-prepared for war and luck (and the Enterprise) kept us in it until we could spool up our truly amazing industrial might and absolutely crush both the Germans and the Japanese. For example, before the war, it took both us and the Japanese about 36 months to build an aircraft carrier; by the end of the war, we could build one in about 15 months while it still took the Japanese about 36 months.
We're down to under 300 ships in the Navy now, about 200 too few.
The photo is the USS Carl Vinson, CVN 70, named after the clear eyed Georgia Democrat who served 50 years in the House. It is difficult to imagine what might have happened if Rep. Vinson had not given us the 1938 head start to having a proper sized Navy.
Labels: WWII pre history; Pacific theater
Monday, May 21, 2007
This Day in American History
On this day in 1941, seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt proclaimed "an unlimited state of national emergency." We weren't totally unaware, but we were blind to the particulars. Of course, only an idiot would have expected the Japanese to do nothing in response to our oil embargo of Japan, which was a response to their
atrocities in China, by which we hoped to reign them in. That was a silly wanhope.
Labels: WWII pre history; Pacific theater
