Pearl Harbor day is likely the most familiar date people know from World War II. Other memorable dates have mostly been forgotten, and even Pearl Harbor will fade (especially for the next generations in the shadow of 9/11).
While the importance of 9/11 is still unclear (Did it change history? Forever change US policy?), and while the primary focus of the Pearl Harbor rememberance is on the loss of life, the unannounced attack, and the "infamy", there is likely a more significant loss that is mostly forgotten from December 7, 1941.
While it is difficult for anyone today to acknowledge (and, given the passage of time, "remember" doesn't really work), at one point the US was a fairly isolationist country. People legitimately thought that (and ran political campaigns based on) the United States was better off having less interaction (trade, diplomacy, immigration, contact, etc.) with the rest of the world. The "isolationists" started in decline as America grew in power early in the 20th Century, but were still somewhat of a political force as late as the 1930s.
Pearl Harbor changed that. In one stroke, it not only galvanized the country for the Second World War (making possible the massive industrial expansion and army put together for the war effort), but clearly and decisively ended isolationism as a political force for all time. Americans, from this point forward, recognized that they were a part of the world, and couldn't argue with any degree of crediblity that America would be better off ignoring what happens elsewhere. In many senses, December 7, 1941, was the first day of the hegemony of the US, and it's dominance to world politics. Not because the power of the US was large relative to the rest of the world on that day, but because the Japanese attack changed the basic understanding America had of it's place in the rest of the world. Whether or not we wanted to be isolated, the world wouldn't allow it, and (for better or worse; on balance, for better) the US has been the key player in international politics ever since.
Sure, the US was relevant pre-Pearl Harbor (World War I, League of Nations), but it was only after December 7, 1941 that the US became critical in every international event of significance.
And that was 64 years ago today (well, yesterday).
Posted by baltar at December 8, 2005 12:02 PM | TrackBack | Posted to War and History