![]() ![]() Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Yesterday, December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. ![]() Speaker, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives: that same afternoon, President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war. The Senate responded with a unanimous vote in support of war only Montana pacifist Jeanette Rankin dissented in the House. ![]() On December 8, at 12:30 p.m., Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and, via radio, the nation. He made the most significant change in the critical first line, which originally read, "a date which will live in world history." Grace Tully then prepared the final reading copy, which Roosevelt subsequently altered in three more places. President Roosevelt then revised the typed draft-marking it up, updating military information, and selecting alternative wordings that strengthened the tone of the speech. He had composed the speech in his head after deciding on a brief, uncomplicated appeal to the people of the United States rather than a thorough recitation of Japanese treachery, as Secretary of State Cordell Hull had urged. At about 5 p.m., following meetings with his military advisers, the President calmly and decisively dictated to his secretary, Grace Tully, a request to Congress for a declaration of war. ![]() Roosevelt and his chief foreign policy aide, Harry Hopkins, were interrupted by a telephone call from Secretary of War Henry Stimson and told that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. Instantly, the incident united the American people in a massive mobilization for war and strengthened American resolve to guard against any future lapse of military alertness.Įarly in the afternoon of December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Though diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan were deteriorating, they had not yet broken off at the time of the attack. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into World War II. Pacific Fleet was devastated, and more than 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded. naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, was subject to an attack that was one of the greatest military surprises in the history of warfare. ![]()
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