Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

4.
U.S. Military Plans
and Preparations
U.S. Relations with Japan
Relations with Japan had been strained for some time. Th e
Roosevelt administration was fully aware of Japan’s dependence
on imports. Yet, as we have seen, it had terminated
America’s long-standing commercial treaty with her. After
January 1940 Japan had to ask permission on a case by case basis
whenever she wanted to import from the United States. In July
1940 the administration had further prohibited exports to Japan
by requiring her to get a license to purchase aircraft engines and
strategic materials. (When sale of aviation gas, defi ned by the U.S.
as 86 octane or higher, was embargoed on July 1, 1940, she had
contrived a way to use 76 octane in her planes. 1 ) Th e administration
was tightening an economic noose around Japan’s neck bit by
1 Interview by author of Captain Albert E. Hindmarsh, January 9, 1964 (typescript
in author’s fi les). According to Hindmarsh, Japanese language expert
with the Offi ce of Naval Intelligence before the attack, the July 1941 embargo
of gasoline below 86 octane really hurt Japan.
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