MUNCIE, Ind. - The upcoming 60th observance of the attack on Pearl Harbor has special significance this year after the recent terrorist attacks, says a Ball State University history professor.

Yet few Americans understand the dramatic differences between the two events, said Phyllis Zimmerman, who teaches military history.

"Of course people are trying to link the two together because thousands died," Zimmerman said. "That is because Americans don't comprehend their history lessons very well at all.

"In 1941 we had plenty of warning about the attacks and today historians believe there were many examples of provocations that led the Japanese into a desperate act," she said. "Sixty years later we had no idea terrorists would hijack three jet aircraft and then slam them into buildings."

Pearl Harbor also played a key role in immediately bringing the U.S. into a war in Europe and Asia, and completely reshaping the world within a few years. The current war on terrorism is being fought by a relatively few countries - mostly by America - in Afghanistan where the terrorist leaders are holed up, Zimmerman said.

Another distinct difference between the two events includes American desire to be isolated from problems of pre-World War II Europe and Asia compared with today's U.S. policy to become involved around the globe.

Zimmerman said even the fate of the World Trade Center, which collapsed after being hit by two passenger jets, and Pearl Harbor will be different.

The former World Trade Center site is valued at billions of dollars while the area where the U.S.S. Arizona and other vessels sank was made into a memorial after World War II.

The financial aspects preclude building a major monument on the site, she said.

By Marc Ransford, Media Relations Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Zimmerman at pzimmerm@bsu.edu  or (765) 285-8739.)