On This Day: “December 7, 1941 – A Date Which Will Live In Infamy.”

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The chilling telegram from the morning of December 7, 1941:

Here is a cool fact about my home state, little Rhode Island:

There are only a handful of newspapers in the United States that come out on Sunday afternoon/evening, (as opposed to Sunday morning) and one of them is the local paper for Westerly, (a small town in Rhode Island), called The Westerly Sun.

Because The Westerly Sun comes out at the odd time of 3 pm on Sunday, it hadn’t gone to press when word of the attack came, and so it was the only newspaper in the entire country to report the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the actual day of the attack, Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.

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I am picturing that tiny clapboard newspaper office in Westerly, off route 1 … a newspaper with a miniscule circulation. It is a Sunday morning and the staff of the newspaper, who normally report on school committee meetings and the local police beat are all there, on the forefront of a national catastrophe, putting the front page together on that historic day.

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made what one of his most famous speeches. The speech originally read “a date which will live in world history”, but Roosevelt crossed that out and put in “infamy” instead. Similar to the editing of the opening phrases in the Declaration of Independence (where “life, liberty and property” turned into “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, much much better), “infamy” put a moral condemnation into the language. Roosevelt’s notes and edits are preserved in the National Archives:

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The speech, as it was read:

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.

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. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

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. 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.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounded determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

30 minutes after Roosevelt finished his speech, Congress declared war on Japan.

On the day before the 2016 presidential election, I took a tour of Pearl Harbor (both the U.S.S. Arizona memorial and the U.S.S. Missouri). It was a somber and patriotic day, and I am glad I did it when I did it. It was surreal, though. I have always wanted to visit Pearl Harbor. I am not a “tropical island” kind of person. Even though Hawaii is beautiful I’m not sure I ever would have chosen it as a spot for a holiday. But while I was in Hawaii for the Film Festival, it was not even a question: I had to go to Pearl Harbor and pay my respects. It was the only tourist-y thing I did. Well, I visited Ernie Pyle’s grave, too. I did the full WWII tour: Pearl Harbor, and then onto the military base afterwards to tour the impressive U.S.S. Missouri, where the surrender was signed on the deck (now known as the “surrender deck”) in Tokyo Bay.

The U.S.S. Arizona memorial, by the way, was funded by a concert Elvis gave in Hawaii in 1961. He donated all of the proceeds of the concert to the planned memorial, and to this day Elvis fan clubs from around the world send donations for the upkeep of the memorial.

During the course of the war, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt kept a scrap of paper with a poem on it in her purse:

Dear Lord
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me to remember somehow out there
A man died for me today
As long as there be war I then must
Ask and answer:
Am I worth dying for?

My visit to Pearl Harbor

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At the back of the USS Arizona memorial: The names.

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The submerged USS Arizona. Oil still leaks from the ship. You can smell it in the air.

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The submarine USS Bowfin

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The entrance to the USS Arizona Memorial.

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The USS Arizona memorial. The mood was quiet. People whispered.

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My tour bus arrived at Pearl Harbor at 6:45 a.m. Sunrise over Pearl Harbor.

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The USS Oklahoma memorial. Every marble pole has a name on it. This memorial is on the military base, right near where the USS Missouri is docked. No fanfare: it’s at the side of the road.

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The oil slick in the water around the sunken USS Arizona. A mass grave. Veterans of the attack are still interred there, once they die, with ceremonies attended only by the families. No press. Their ashes are placed below. They join their fallen shipmates.

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You take a boat out to the USS Arizona memorial.

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One of the missiles standing in the yard at the Pearl Harbor visitors’ center

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Looking up through the open roof of the USS Arizona memorial

From Melvin Tolson’s “Rendezvous with America”:

I have a rendezvous with America
This Seventh of December.
The maiden freshness of Pearl Harbor’s dawn,
The peace of seas that thieve the breath,
I shall remember.
Then
Out of yonder Sunrise Land of Death
The fascist spawn
Strikes like the talons of the mad harpoon,
Strikes like the moccasin in the black lagoon,
Strikes like the fury of the raw typhoon.
The traitor’s ruse
And the traitor’s lie,
Pearl Harbor’s ruins
Of sea and sky,
Shall live with me
Till the day I die.
Here,
Now,
At Pearl Harbor, I remember
I have a rendezvous at Plymouth Rock and Valley Forge
This Seventh of December.

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10 Responses to On This Day: “December 7, 1941 – A Date Which Will Live In Infamy.”

  1. Kent says:

    FDR – not only providing true leadership, but great writing! Almost chilling to see it in his own hand. Thank you, Sheila!

  2. Wow, I just heard this on the radio coming back from the grocery store on a dark night…Chilling indeed. And I guess you could say FDR was definitely one politician who knew the difference between the lightning and the lighting bug!

  3. MBerg says:

    My dad – a speech and writing teacher – used to talk about Roosevelt’s editing, to show how important a single word could be in getting the right impression across.

    Here in Saint Paul, the story every year is of the first shots fired at Pearl Harbor. It was a gun crew of Navy Reserve guys from Saint Paul on the USS Ward, shooting at a midget submarine. I think two guys from that gun crew are still alive and talking.

    Anyway – great as always.

  4. Bill Wolfe says:

    “There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.” I love that sentence. So forthright and resolute. I also love his use of the word “dastardly.” Perfect.

    In a biography I read of FDR last year, it said that in the midst of managing everything that was happening during the length of December 7, FDR took about a half-hour and wrote this speech, with only a few minor contributions from others. The ability to do that is difficult to imagine, much less to understand.

    My local PBS station has been re-showing Ken Burns’ multi-part documentary about the Roosevelts. Watching the episodes devoted to FDR’s handling of the Depression and World War II in the two weeks leading up to the Presidential election was one of the main things that kept up my morale.

    My wife and I visited the Arizona during our trip to Hawaii about ten years ago. We took the first boat out to the ship in the morning, which meant there weren’t very many people on board. That helped create a quiet, even hushed and respectful atmosphere. When we returned to land, we stopped and listened to a high school band that was playing “Taps” and, completely unexpectedly, I started crying. I was born in 1959, so I have no first-hand memories of the war. But there’s something about what we were responding to, and why and how we responded, that’s terribly moving to anyone who loves America, both because of and despite its history.

    • sheila says:

      Bill – wow, that story about hearing “Taps” is beautiful.

      When I was there, it was quite crowded – but there was a very respectful atmosphere. Everyone was whispering. You’re standing over a mass grave – so it was appropriate.

      I’m so glad I went. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go to Hawaii again – so it was fortuitous I was there for that gig. It was such strange timing. The first night I arrived – the Cubs won the World Series – all hell broke loose in my hotel from Cubs fans gathered in the lobby – lol – and the last night I was there – 45 was elected. It was an eerie moment, for sure. Weird historical bookends.

      I haven’t seen that Ken Burns doc – will have to check it out!

  5. Shawn says:

    I live in Fairfield CA, was visiting the Point Bonita Lighthouse near the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge, and was told that the first notice of the attack on Pearl Harbor to reach the mainland, came from a ship in the pacific, to the Point Bonita lighthouse. The lighthouse worker then relayed that message to Travis Air Force Base which is 3 miles from my house. It’s often forgotten by me how limited communication channels were back then. The lighthouse is tiny, not your usual image of a lighthouse, with one or two staff at any one time.

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