ABSTRACT
The optimum point of departure for exploring how World War II has shaped American politics is surely Pearl Harbor not simply the Japanese attack itself but the complex historical forces leading up to, surrounding, and following the attack. The Pearl Harbor attack set the US on a path towards an institutionalized military-industrial system without rival, a warfare state that would sink deep roots in the economy, political system, and culture. Hawaii would eventually become the center of US economic, political, and above all, military objectives in Asia-ideally situated in the middle of the Pacific. The US military preserve in the Islands gradually increased, ostensibly to counter Japanese naval supremacy in the Pacific. Military force targeting Asians, begun already with conquest of Hawaii and the Philippines in the 1890s, would continue from the mid-1940s onward, catalyzed by Pearl Harbor and fueled by racist attitudes pitting enlightened whites against primitive yellow hordes.
