Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis

I think that there are similarities and differences between the events at Pearl Harbor and September 11th. They are similar in that both were surprise attacks and these attacks resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. Both events caused fear and anger for the American public. In both cases the attacks “awoke a sleeping giant”.

The attacks are different in that the victims of Pearl Harbor were mostly military personnel, but the victims on September 11th were civilians. The attackers of Pearl Harbor were trained military men, but the attackers on September 11th were religious zealots who were trained terrorists. The United States was at the brink of war when Pearl Harbor was attacked, but there was no war waging that the United States was about to get involved in when the terrorists attacked on September 11th.

Another big difference between September 11th and Pearl Harbor is the media coverage. It took weeks for the world to hear about Pearl Harbor, and it was mostly newspaper coverage. On September 11th the coverage was instant and live. Many people watched the second plane hit the tower as it happened, because they had already been watching the coverage following the first plane attack. Besides live television reports, the Internet provided instant coverage around the globe.

There was also a difference in how Muslims Americans were treated after the September 11th attack, as compared to the treatment of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pear Harbor. Once Pearl Harbor had been attacked a mistrust of Japanese Americans developed, and that led to the forced relocation to internment camps for these citizens. After September 11th, there was some prejudices and