8/10/2019 The MAKING of a NATION - 1941- Attack on Pearl Harbor
Ends American Effort to Avoid War
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the
Voice of America.
(MUSIC)
History usually is a process of slow change. Customs and
traditions flow slowly from day to
day. However, certain single events also can change the course
of history. Napoleon's
defeat at Waterloo was such an event. So was the first airplane
flight by the American
inventors, the Wright Brothers. Or the meeting between the
Spanish explorer Cortez and
the Aztec king, Montezuma.
All these events were single moments that changed history. And
so it was, too, with the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen
forty-one.
The surprise attack on America's large naval base in Hawaii was
a great military success
for the government in Tokyo. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor
had more than a military
meaning. It also represented the passing of a period in American
history.
The attack would force Americans to fight in World War Two. More
important, it would make
them recognize their position as one of the leading and powerful
nations of the world.
VOICE TWO:
In future weeks, we will discuss the military and political
events of World War Two. But let
us take a moment today to look back at the years before the
battle.
We already have seen how the attack ended the historic American
tradition of avoiding
world conflict. However, Pearl Harbor also marked the end of a
shorter period in the nation's
history. This period began with the end of World War One and
ended with Pearl Harbor. It
lasted only twenty-three years, from nineteen eighteen to
nineteen forty-one. But it was
filled with important changes in American politics, culture, and
traditions.
VOICE ONE:
Let us start our review of these years with politics.
8/10/2019 The MAKING of a NATION - 1941- Attack on Pearl Harbor
Ends American Effort to Avoid War
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at large lost faith in the economy. Soon, the economy was in
ruins, and businesses were
closing their doors.
VOICE TWO:
President Hoover tried to solve the crisis. But he was not
willing to take the strong actions
that were needed to end it. As time passed, many Americans began
to blame Hoover for
the terrible economic depression.
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt was elected mainly because he
promised to try new solutions
to end the Great Depression. Soon after he was elected,
Roosevelt launched a number of
imaginative economic policies to solve the crisis.
Roosevelt's policies helped to reduce the amount of human
suffering. But the GreatDepression finally ended only with
America's entry into World War Two.
VOICE ONE:
Roosevelt's victory in nineteen thirty-two also helped change
the balance of power in
American politics. Roosevelt brought new kinds of Americans to
positions of power: labor
union leaders. Roman Catholics. Jews. Blacks. Americans from
families that had come from
such nations as Italy, Ireland, or Russia.
These Americans repaid Roosevelt by giving the Democratic Party
their votes.
VOICE TWO:
The nineteen twenties and thirties also brought basic changes in
how Americans dealt with
many of their social and economic problems.
The nineteen twenties generally were a period of economic growth
with little government
intervention in the day-to-day lives of the people. But the
terrible conditions of the GreatDepression during the nineteen
thirties forced Roosevelt and the federal government to
experiment with new policies.
The government began to take an active role in offering relief
to the poor. It started
programs to give food and money to poor people. And it created
jobs for workers.
