The Day Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor

“Seventy-two years ago on December 7th, the United States experienced a traumatic shock that rivaled those of the JFK assassination and 9/11: the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Beginning at 7:48 a.m., 353 Japanese bombers, launched from nearby aircraft carriers, rained down fire from the sky, sinking four battleships and myriad other vessels, destroying 188 planes and killing 2,402 Americans. The entirely unprovoked attack was an attempt by the Japanese to prevent U.S. forces from impeding its efforts to dominate the region, by both annihilating the Pacific Fleet the bulk of which had recently been moved there from San Diego by President Roosevelt precisely because of Tokyo’s aggression and ruining American morale.

As it turned out, the attack did precisely the reverse: The date that would live in infamy, as FDR termed it the next day in a speech before Congress, led to the country’s declaration of war against Japan and America’s official entry into World War II. Since Hitler began to march west over Europe, the United States had been subtly aiding the Allied cause, but isolationist interests kept the country from directly intervening in the conflict. The surprise December 7^th attack changed all that, and within days America was at war with Germany and Italy as well as Japan.

Today, through these videos, DYR remembers the day that changed the course of World War II, and ultimately made the world safe for democracy.

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