United States declaration of war on Japan
On December 8, 1941, at 12:30 PM ET the United States Congress declared war, (Pub. L. 77–328, 55 Stat. 795) on the Empire of Japan in response to its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war the prior day. The Joint Resolution Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following the U.S. declaration, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, bringing the United States fully into World War II. The Japanese government had originally intended to deliver their own declaration of war thirty minutes before the attack, but the Japanese embassy in Washington took too long to decode the 5,000-word document.[1]
Long title
"Joint Resolution Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same."
December 8, 1941
Background[edit]
The attack on Pearl Harbor took place before a declaration of war by Japan had been delivered to the United States. This attack caused more than 3,400 U.S. military casualties.[2] It was originally stipulated that the attack should not commence until thirty minutes after Japan had informed the U.S. that it was withdrawing from further peace negotiations,[3][4] but the attack began before the notice could be delivered. Tokyo transmitted the 5,000-word notification – known as the "14-Part Message[5]" – in two blocks to the Japanese Embassy in Washington. Included in this message was a statement that read, "officers and men of our army and navy will concentrate their strength in engaging in battles, the members of our government will endeavor to carry out their assigned duties, our subjects throughout the empire will employ full strength to perform their respective tasks. Thus uniting one hundred million hearts and discharging the fullest strength of the nation, we expect all our subjects to strive to attain the ultimate objective of this expedition."[6] However, because of the very secret nature of the message, it had to be decoded, translated and typed up by senior embassy officials, who were unable to do these tasks in the available time. Hence, the ambassador did not deliver it until after the attack had begun. Even if it had been, the notification was worded so that it actually neither declared war nor severed diplomatic relations; it was therefore not a proper declaration of war as required by diplomatic traditions.[7] Japan formally declared war on the US and the British Empire on 7 December 1941, this marked the United States entry to the war.[8]
The United Kingdom declared war on Japan nine hours before the U.S. did, partially due to Japanese attacks on the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong; and partially due to Winston Churchill's promise to declare war "within the hour" of a Japanese attack on the United States.[9] Although many of the American people were sympathetic to Britain during the war with Nazi Germany, there was widespread opposition to American intervention in European affairs.[10]