LAD #34: F.D.R.'s Declaration of War

Franklin D. Roosevelt, president during the year 1941, was astonished to learn that on December 7, Japanese fighter planes had hailed death from the skies at Pearl Harbor. The planes killed 2,335 military soldiers, but failed to destroy major targets like the U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers. Roosevelt, on the very next day, assembled Congress and gave one of the greatest speeches in American history. Here, he delivered an oration so powerful that it rivaled even Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Martian Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech. He starts of the address with it's famous line, "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." He explains that the United States was at peace with Japan and Japan wanted to maintain peace in the Pacific. Roosevelt stated too that the attack came one hour before the Japanese Ambassador delivered a message that revealed no threat of an attack at all. To Roosevelt it was obvious that this attack was premeditated for many weeks. Ironically, the Japanese government was misleading the United States at this time by making it appear as though they were hoping for a continued peace throughout the Pacific. Many Americans lost their lives at Pearl Harbor, and Japanese forces also attacked many other islands such as Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. Roosevelt proclaims that we the American people must defend this nation no matter how long it takes; he does not hesitate to assert that, regardless of the danger, "we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God." War then was declared on December 8, 1941 on Japan and three days later the United States entered war also with Italy and Germany.