LEADERSHIP: Different Thinking
From his personal and military experiences, Yamamoto developed a different way of thinking, which led him to oppose Japanese expansion, the Tripartite Pact, and the plan to bomb Pearl Harbor based on the possible American entrance into the war.
As predicted, America placed embargoes on Japan. Such embargoes targeted resources that could be used in warfare against America.
" . . . America ceased to export materials, especially gasoline for the airplanes. At this stage, the leaders of the Japanese Navy estimated that Japanese Navy would not be able to carry out its function in two years, and it was as clear as day that Japan would be defeated without fighting" (Shin).
- Naomi Shin, daughter of Zenji Abe
Then on 27 September 1940, the Tripartite Pact went into effect. The pact was a European-style mutual defense treaty between Germany, Italy, and Japan, intended to intimidate the U.S. and other allied countries, refraining them from entering WWII. Yamamoto, along with the Japanese navy, privately opposed Japan’s signing.
("War Comes to America")
“I was sure from the start that the navy would not lightly agree to the signing of a Tripartite Pact . . . However, once Admiral Oikawa became navy minister, the navy soon gave its consent. Feeling the capitulation to the almost too sudden, I summoned Navy Vice-Minister Toyoda and asked him what lay behind it. The navy, he declared, was in fact privately opposed to the Tripartite Pact. Nevertheless, the domestic political situation no longer permitted it to object, and it had been obliged to give its agreement. The navy was acquiescing for political reasons: but from a military viewpoint, it was still not confident of its ability to take on America . . . ” (qtd. in Agawa 245).
- A personal reminiscence by Prince Konoe Fumimaro,
quoted by Japanese Journalist Ogata Taketora
“. . . a war between Japan and the United States would be a major calamity for the world, and for Japan it would mean, after several years of war already, acquiring yet another powerful enemy--an extremely perilous matter for the nation. If, after Japan and America had inflicted serious wounds on each other, the Soviet Union or Germany should step in with an eye to world hegemony, what country would be able to check it? If Germany should prove victorious [in war with Britain] Japan might look to its goodwill as a friendly nation, but if Japan at the time happened to be in a wounded state, its advances would carry no weight; a friendly nation can only look for friendly treatment so long as it has powerful forces of its own. The reason why Japan is respected and its hand frequently sought in alliance is that it has actual power in the shape of its naval and other forces. It is necessary therefore that both Japan and America should seek every means to avoid a direct clash, and Japan should under no circumstances conclude an alliance with Germany” (qtd. in Agawa 96).
- Yamamoto before the Tripartite Pact was signed
In addition, Yamamoto was against the original idea to attack Pearl Harbor. But due to his superiors’ directives and loyalty to Japan, Yamamoto saw his plan as the only way for Japan to win the war. Yet he still had doubts.
“In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectations of success” (qtd. in Hoyt 1).
- Yamamoto in an interview with Shigeru Matsumoto,
a member of the Japanese Cabinet,
1940
"Yamamoto knew the United States and her people very well, and was of the opinion that Japan should never wage war against America" (Shin).
- Naomi Shin, daughter of Zenji Abe