It was 66 years ago today, on a peaceful Sunday morning, that a surprise Japanese airstrike decimated the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, killing over 2,400 Americans. It was this act that brought America into the raging battles of World War II. You can read more about that fateful day here.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, limousine liberal though he was, was a true American patriot and a strong leader when we needed it most. Here is the full text one of his most famous speeches, given the day after the attack, asking Congress to declare war on Japan:
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: yesterday, December 7th, 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 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. 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.
