American external policy and internal readiness were badly mismatched. Washington used an oil embargo and other measures that Japan could interpret as warlike coercion, yet Hawaiian commanders continued to organize training, radar, aircraft security, and alerts around peacetime routines. Some American isolationists also advocated severe sanctions while expecting Japan to respect American neutrality. Japan had already been fighting in China for years, while much of Europe had been at war since 1939. A force applying severe pressure needed to anticipate that its opponent might respond in a wartime mode. The same mismatch shaped the practical failures in radar use, fighter dispersal, and command decisions on 7 December.
Notable Point · 1:46:29-1:47:42
Coercive policy without a wartime defensive mindset
The central institutional contradiction was using sanctions and military pressure while organizing Hawaii as though Japan would continue to respect peacetime assumptions.