Infamy

On a tour of historic sites in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a diverse group of visitors offer various perspectives on the key events leading up to Japan’s surprise attack on the United States in 1941. The participants of this contemporary Pearl Harbor tour provide adversarial viewpoints interspersed with the historical scenes of cabinet meetings, presidential speeches and political confrontations which all deal with the growing threat of Japan in the Pacific and Hitler’s Germany in Europe. The mix of a fictional tour and actual events from history all contribute to the story of a critical turning point in world history.
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At the Pearl Harbor Visitor’s Center, a small group of tourists convene for a tour of Pearl Harbor’s historical sites, scheduled to conclude at the USS Arizona Memorial. As the tour progresses, Barbara Robinson, a tan, confident, tour guide, in her late 30’s, provides a historical timeline of events leading to the surprise attack by the Japanese Navy some 70 years before.  
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She begins in 1939 when the German military had conquered large portions of Europe and threatened to seize more. At the White House, President Roosevelt, cabinet members and military advisors understood the strength of the German military and their serious threat to American freedom. Roosevelt and his cabinet favored United States military intervention to aid the British and French war effort but faced strong opposition from isolationist senators, congressmen and the vast majority of Americans who were tired of war.
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In telegrams and face to face meeting with Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed Roosevelt for American military help fighting Germany but American laws restricted United States military intervention.  Obstinate lawmakers also thwarted any U.S. military action. To win reelection in 1940, Roosevelt was forced to promise not to involve the United States in another European war.

As Germany continued to pulverize France and England, Roosevelt feared our allies couldn’t hold out long without America’s help.   With so many Americans strongly opposed to American military intervention against Germany, Roosevelt knew that only an attack on the United States would change that sentiment. Meanwhile, American intelligence units cracked all the Japanese secret codes, both military and diplomatic.
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As the Pearl Harbor tour progresses, the tour participants debate each decision faced by President Roosevelt, his cabinet, American military leaders, Japanese leaders and Winston Churchill. Two of the tour participants, Alice Horne and Jason Jones argue over why the large volume of secret, Japanese Naval communications intercepted by the U.S Army and Navy was not forwarded to commanders in Pearl Harbor. Jason, a preppy, by the book, mid-twenties, graduate student in history favors the traditional explanation that the attack was a surprise and American commanders as well as their fleet in Pearl Harbor were caught asleep.  Alice, a natural, sixty-year-old in jeans, tee shirt and flip flops, takes the revisionist position that U.S. military commanders and political leaders in Washington knew some sort of attack was coming but did not communicate that information or warnings to Pearl Harbor.
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In Washington, negotiations broke down over the U.S. embargo of oil Japan needed to fuel their military aggression in the Far East Asia. U.S. Army and Navy decoders deciphered Japanese coded messages which pointed to a Japanese attack on the United States. That attack turned out to be on America’s Naval fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise aerial bombing on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 killed 2,403 Americans, 1104 on one ship alone, the USS Arizona.  The attack shocked and outraged Americans who immediately united to retaliate against Japan. The following day, the United States Congress declared war on Japan and German, an ally of Japan.  
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The tour finishes on the USS Arizona memorial where Alice reveals the reason for her passionate interest in the details of the Pearl Harbor attack. Her father was stationed on the Arizona the morning of the December 7, 1941 but not on the ship at the moment it exploded. He survived but a part of him died with all his buddies that day. He became obsessed with the decisions that led to the attack and his passion rubbed off on his daughter, Alice.  She concludes that her father could never bring himself visit Pearl Harbor again, until this day. She pulls a small jar from her handbag and spreads her father’s ashes into the harbor over the sunken, USS Arizona battleship.