“What President could have simply ordered Pearl Harbor shut down.”
FDR. Before May 1940 the Pacific Fleet’s Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Crusiers and destroyers, plus support ships were based at San Pedro and San Diego CA. He ordered them to Pearl, he could order them back to CA. Had he done so, the Japanese would have bombed & torpedoed oil barges, garbage scows and a tug boat or two.
In addition to the property values of that base, Pearl Harbor is strategically important. It's our way station in the middle of the Pacific.