READING


Reading Comprehension - The Attack on Pearl Harbor


Develop your reading skills. Read the following text about "the attack on Pearl Harbor". Then, answer the comprehension questions.


Pearl Harbor Attack

The attack on Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese attack was a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions they planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. The attack started at 7:48 and caused serious casualties and widespread damage in the base.

The undeclared assault came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940, disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom was replaced by an active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

The day after the attack, Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, calling for a formal declaration of war on the Empire of Japan. Congress obliged his request less than an hour later. Roosevelt described the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy". The speech is also commonly referred to as the "Pearl Harbor Speech." The speech was just a little over seven minutes long. Secretary of State Cordell Hull had recommended that the President devote more time to a fuller exposition of Japanese-American relations and the lengthy but unsuccessful effort to find a peaceful solution. However, Roosevelt kept the speech short in the belief that it would have a more dramatic effect.

Comprehension

  1. The attack occurred during World War One.
    a. True
    b. False
  2. Japan declared war against the United States before the attack.
    a. True
    b. False
  3. The United States entered into war only in the Pacific.
    a. True
    b. False
  4. The Infamy Speech was short.
    a. True
    b. False

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