The Diplomatic Road to Pearl Harbor Part 1 with Rich Frank - Episode 512

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall welcome their good friend, the "Grand Poo-Bah" of Pacific war historians, Rich Frank to the show to discuss the actions of Japan and the United States between the years 1938 and early 1941. Incidents such as the sinking of the USS Panay, FDR moving the fleet to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese move into Indochina, as well as, the Japanese siding with Hitler and Germany by signing the Tripartite Pact all equally led down the road to Pearl Harbor. The guys discuss each specific episode deeply and relay how they weigh in on the eventual decision by Japan to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor. The string of events that led to Pearl Harbor are all fascinating and of vital importance to the overall history of the Pacific War. This episode is the first in a series of several episodes where we trace the route from negotiations, through the attack and all the way to its aftermath. This is the beginning of THE ULTIMATE Pearl Harbor history series available anywhere. #wwiihistory #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood #fdr #president #roosevelt #doolittle #doolittleraid #pearlharbor

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hello and welcome to episode 512 of the unauthorized history of the Pacific War podcast.
0:47.5	My name is Seth Bairdon, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
0:51.8	And with me, as always, is my co-host, good friend, esteemed author and historian, John Partial, how are you this June the 12th? How did it get to be June the 12th? Yeah, I'm great. Yeah. Yeah, super duper. Let's rock. Let's rock and roll. And if you're watching, you can tell very plainly that we have a third guest with us today,
1:11.5	and it's our very good, both of our mutual good friend, the Grand Puba of Asia, Pacific War historian.
1:18.0	Rich Frank, Rich, how are you today? I am doing super. The cult leader. Yeah, right? I'm serious.
1:27.2	I'm serious. We are not worthy. I need to get you one of those like big fuzzy hats from the Flintstones. I'm serious.
1:28.2	We are not worthy.
1:44.8	Need to get you one of those big fuzzy hats from the Flintstones, and I'm going to give that to you next time I say. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be awesome. All right. Anyway. Yeah. But it's good stuff, though. All right. We got some really interesting stuff to talk about, so let's get right into it. the road to war between the United States and Japan was a long one. As we've mentioned in recent weeks, with Japan's offensive actions ongoing since
1:49.6	1931, first in Manchuria, and then in 1937 in China proper, U.S.-Japanese diplomatic relations began to
1:56.4	slowly dissolve. An admirer of China from his ancestors' dealings in that very country, American President
2:02.5	Franklin Delano Roosevelt had definite opinions on Japan's aggression in China. In 1937, referring to both
2:09.8	Germany and Japan, who remarked, and I quote, innocent peoples, innocent nations are being cruelly
2:14.6	sacrificed to a greed for power and supremacy, which is devoid of all
2:18.6	sense of justice and humane considerations. It seems to be unfortunately true that the epidemic
2:23.9	of world lawlessness is spreading, unquote. Still, in 1937, FDR's ability to retaliate in any
2:31.4	way against Japan's aggression was virtually nil. As things progressively
2:35.7	got worse, especially after the sinking of the USS Penae, which we're going to talk about,
2:39.7	by the Japanese, and U.S. and Japanese relations began to continually sour. American public opinion
2:45.6	began to shift towards possible intervention, albeit slowly. FDR began to ready his country for the war that he felt
2:51.8	was inexperily heading his way by expanding the army and embarking on a massive shipbuilding
	...

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