STUDENT RESEARCH GUIDE
REIMAGINING
PEARL
HARBOR
THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR WAS A TURNING POINT IN AMERICAN HISTORY. The scale and surprise of the
attack stunned the American public and led the U.S. to enter World War II. Below are three topics related to the events that took place
leading up to, during, and as a result of Pearl Harbor. Each is connected to a video clip from the History channel. Use the videos and
the other resources provided to research one of these topics. While doing so, remember what you learned about historical truth. Draw
conclusions about the topics based on evidence supported across multiple sources.
EVALUATING RESOURCES
For each resource given, evaluate the materials’ reliability
and accuracy by answering the following questions:
AUTHOR: Who created this resource? Is his or her point of
view reliable?
PLACE AND TIME: When was this resource produced?
How might that affect its meaning?
RESEARCH TOPIC 2
Seeking U.S. security in the events following the attack on Pearl
Harbor, the government responded by interning more than
120,000 Japanese Americans in relocation camps. What was the
national narrative surrounding this action? How did the American
public justify this decision? What steps has the U.S. government
taken to remedy this injustice decades later?
RESOURCES
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: What historical information would
• Read Executive Order 9066, which authorized the relocation
AUDIENCE: Who was the original audience for this
resource? Who is its audience today?
•
of Japanese Americans: https://www.archives.gov
/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=219
View photographs of the lives of Japanese Americans forced to
live in internment camps: calisphere.org/exhibitions/t11/jarda
Read a news article about reparations made in 1988 to former
Japanese American internees: http://articles.chicagotribune
.com/1988-08-05/news/8801200690_1_japanese-americans-in
ternment-japanese-american-citzens-league-internment-camps
Read interviews following the attack on Pearl Harbor recorded
in the days and months following the bombing: https://
memory.loc.gov/ammem/afcphhtml/afcphhome.html
Watch video footage and interviews on this topic:
History.com/PearlHarbor
help you understand this resource?
REASON: Why was this resource produced?
•
THE MAIN IDEA: What point is the resource trying to
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2016 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Photo: © US Navy.
make?
SIGNIFICANCE: How does this resource relate to the
•
research topic?
•
RESEARCH TOPIC 1
What was the state of America’s involvement in WWII before
and after the attack on Pearl Harbor? How did President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Day of Infamy speech ultimately
change the outcome of America’s participation in WWII
following the attack? What language and specific tactics
did FDR use to elicit a strong emotional response from
Americans, and how did this affect Congress’s decision to
declare war?
RESOURCES
• Listen to a recording of FDR’s Day of Infamy speech:
https://archive.org/details/FranklinDelanoRooseveltDayOf
InfamySpeech
• View drafts of the president’s speech to see how the wording
he chose helped make his speech a powerful call to action:
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/winter
/crafting-day-of-infamy-speech.html
• Read an account of FDR’s reaction to the Pearl Harbor
•
bombing: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl3.htm
Watch video footage and interviews on this topic:
History.com/PearlHarbor
PEARL HARBOR: 75 YEARS LATER
SAT DEC 3 AT 9/8C
RESEARCH TOPIC 3
How did the emotional response of Americans to the attack on
Pearl Harbor influence conspiracy theories about the event?
Compare and contrast a conspiracy theory related to Pearl
Harbor with a conspiracy theory resulting from a historical event,
for example the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center,
that has happened in your lifetime in 2001.
RESOURCES
• Read an article debunking the conspiracy theory that FDR
knew beforehand about the attack on Pearl Harbor: https://
www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/fall/butow.html
Read an article discussing conspiracy theories surrounding
Pearl Harbor in the wake of 9/11: http://www.nytimes
.com/2004/04/18/weekinreview/the-world-early-warnings
-what-did-he-know-and-when.html
Read an in-depth investigation into 9/11 conspiracy theories:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a6384/debunking
-911-myths-world-trade-center/
Watch video footage and interviews on this topic:
History.com/PearlHarbor
•
•
•
PEARL HARBOR: THE TRUTH
SUN DEC 4 AT 10/9C