More moderate leaders such as Prime Minister Konoye urged one more effort to reach an agreement with the United States. But the Japanese army and navy believed that the time had come to go to war to end American and European power in East Asia forever.
Negotiations between Japan and the United States continued through the final months of nineteen forty-one. But the two nations were on the edge of war. They were as close to hostilities as Washington was with the Nazi government in Berlin.
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American military officials captured secret messages from Japan during this time. They learned that Tokyo was planning an attack of some kind unless the United States suddenly changed its policies. However, the American officials could not discover exactly where or how the attack would be made.
Almost everyone in Washington expected that the Japanese would attack south of Japan. They were wrong. The military leaders in Tokyo were planning a surprise attack on America's main Pacific military base, at Pearl Harbor. That will be our story next week.
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Our program was written by David Jarmul. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
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