Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to Pearl Harbor in a famous address to Congress on December 8, 1941, calling December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy” and urging a declaration of war on Japan.

Key line from FDR

  • Roosevelt opened by saying: “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.”
  • He stressed that the United States had been at peace with Japan and was still in diplomatic conversations “looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.”

How he described the attack

  • He called the strike “unprovoked and dastardly,” emphasizing that Japan had “deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.”
  • Roosevelt noted the “severe damage” to U.S. forces and the loss of “very many American lives,” framing the assault as a premeditated invasion and act of treachery.

What he said the U.S. would do

  • As commander in chief, he declared that “all measures” would be taken for American defense , and that the American people “in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”
  • He ended with confidence that “we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God” and asked Congress to recognize that a state of war had existed with Japan since the attack.

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