Japan was at war with China since the mid-1937. They desperately needed oil and other raw materials. It became harder and harder for them to get these products. Everyone seemed to be cutting off the supply. President Franklin D. Roosevelt transferred the American fleet to Pearl Harbor to deter the Japanese. In 1941 the western nation stopped the trade with Japan. On November 20, 1941 Nomura and Kurusu present a proposal to Hull that Japan will withdrawl from Indochina if the oil trade is restored. …
