Blood Is Thicker Than Water -Part 3

There's always the backstory...

Blood Is Thicker Than Water – Part 3

In the Pacific, relations between the United States and Japan continued to deteriorate due to Japan’s expansionist policy. In July 1939 Secretary of State Cordell Hull threatened to take economic sanctions against Japan if she did not pull out of China. It took a while, but finally in the summer of 1940 the U.S. embargoed heavy scrap iron and petroleum bound for Japan.

France caved to the pressures and desires of Japan’s quest for expansion and in September 1940, Japanese troops pushed in to the northern half of Indochina. The U.S. placed an embargo against Japan. There would be no iron or steel sent to her, but Japan remained firm. She announced an economic and military alliance with Italy and Germany—the “Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.” By July 1941, Japan occupied the rest of Indochina; this posed a serious threat to Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. In retaliation, the U.S. froze all Japanese assets in the United States.

By late November 1941, it was obvious that the United States and Japan were moving toward war. The United States believed the Japanese would launch an attack against the Philippines; she did not anticipate it would be Pearl Harbor, and on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked American bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with little warning.

The stunningly successful attack wiped out many American aircraft on the ground and crippled one-half of the United States Pacific fleet.

On December 8, 1941, the U.S. declared war on Japan, as did Britain. The British dominions, the refugee governments of Europe and many Latin American nations soon followed the Americans and British. Four days later, Germany declared war on the United States.

On January 2, 1942, the twenty-six nations that stood against Germany, Italy, and Japan solemnly pledged themselves to uphold the principles of the “Atlantic Charter” and declared themselves united for the duration of the war.

Sources: Griffith Henson, A More Perfect Union Vol. II: Since 1877, Hobbs:1988, pp. 132-134
T. Walbank...[et al.], Civilization Past and Present, New York: 1992, pp. 894, 895