The two-volume compilation by Jonson Michael offers a varied collection of voices from the country’s past. Documents 25-1 and 25-3 provide important information regarding the position of the US in the Second World War. The articles accentuate significant issues as regards to social, political, and economic themes of the US during the Second World War.
In article 25-1, Johnson claims that the US was forced to join the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Consequently, Germany declared war on the US after four days. The Japanese officials had been taking American officials on a ride by claiming that there was no need of diplomatic relations between the two states. After analysis, it was discovered that the Japanese had planned the attack even before tricking Americans to believe that they were not willing to attack American residents.
The head of state, Roosevelt, expressed his disappointments by claiming that the attack would always remain in the American faces. Document 25-3 summarizes some of the tribulations that the Jews experienced under Hitler. The Nazi anti-Semitism was felt in the American public. The Nazi regime had persecuted many Jews since 1930s according to Varian Fry.
The articles present a clear understanding of what was happening at the time America was attacked by the Japanese. According to article 25-1, the attack on the Pearl Harbor was one of the reasons that forced the US to join the war. The American constitution stipulates that the congress should approve the budget to provide the government with funds to respond to external aggression.
The head of state has powers to declare war as per the prerogative powers granted to him or her by the law. This is according to the John Locke’s theory of emergency powers. Roosevelt had to declare war in order to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of the American people.
Japan could have utilized the chance to interfere with American activities in case the president decided to keep quiet. Furthermore, the US could have lost its position in the international system if it had not responded militarily. The articles explain the interests of any sovereign state in the international system. In the international system, states exist according to the Hobbestian state of nature. In the state of nature, human beings are brutal and nasty.
There is no Leviathan in the international system that is charged with the responsibility of ensuring peace. Germany under Hitler advocated for atrocities in order to achieve state interests. Japan decided to attack the US to achieve its national interests that is, greatness. The US on the other hand could not sit back and watch Japan intimidate its citizens. It had to act immediately to restore its glory. The articles can therefore be applied to understand the position of the US during the Second World War.
Conversely, article 25-1 suggests that the US attacked Japan mainly because of the Pearl Harbor attack. This is not true since there were other underlying issues that encouraged the US to assault Japan. The main issue was related to ideological difference. Article 25-1 claims that Germany declared war on the US as one way of showing solidarity to its allies. The truth is that Germany was not happy with the way the US related with Britain and France.
The US had granted $14,281 to European powers, including Britain and France. Furthermore, President Roosevelt had declared that the US had to attack German ship seen in the eastern Atlantic. Technically, the US had already entered the Atlantic War. As regards to article 25-1, the US could have attacked Japan or any other communist state as one way of showing military and technological strength. The US was against communist ideologies propagated by Japan and its allies.