Blow up in the Pacific

Name
Tutor’s Name
Course
Date
United States War with Japan
What is going to prompt Harold Ickes to “raise hell?”
Harold Ickes was against the state department considering a commercial relationship with Japan. If the state department had completed the negotiations with Japan, they would have prompted Harold to resign from the cabinet. He would then raise the hell by giving a statement attacking the arrangement (Ickes 654).
How did Togo and Hull view the Hull note differently?
Japan’s foreign minister Togo and the secretary of state Hull viewed the Hull note differently. Togo believed that the United States and the American authorities knew that the negotiations would break down. They, therefore, had made all the necessary preparations and delivered the Hull note anticipating that the Japanese envoy would reject it resulting to war (Ickes 655). He saw the letter as a forced choice between compelling to total surrender or go to war. On the other hand, Hull wrote the note as a way of ensuring continued discussions with Japan. He hoped that the note would convince Japan to continue with talks and still avoid war thus keeping the United States on the right side with its allies.
Opinion on both sides
In their negotiations, Japan and the US acted irrationally. The United States was forcefully making Japan surrender and took advantage of the situation to go to war if Japan did not agree with their demands. They also did not give Japan enough time to respond. Japan also was unreasonable in going to war as this was not the better choice.

Japan should have considered further negotiations regarding the issue.
Opinion on the Hull Note
The state secretary’s ultimatum in the Hull note was also unreasonable. The purpose of the Hull note was to force Japan to withdraw its armed forces from China. The US could have used other means rather than giving strict terms to Japan which included going to war.

Work Cited
Ickes, Harold. The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes. 3rd ed., Simon and Schuster, 1953.