On December 8th, 1941, the USS Arizona remained engulfed in flames at Pearl Harbor— a funeral pyre for the 1,177 men whose bodies would soon be entombed by the waters upon which their ship once floated. At this same moment, President Roosevelt, now yoked with the grief of a nation, addressed Congress for the first time since the Japanese attacks. He spoke for a crisp six and a half minutes, delivering what we now know as the “Day of Infamy Speech.” But what the speech lacked in length, it made up for in determination and resolve, with President Roosevelt asking a receptive Congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese Empire.
In his address, President Roosevelt did not speak of vengeance but of the righteousness of the American cause. It was later reported that the chief architect of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, wrote in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.” While the attribution is perhaps apocryphal, the words ring true. The great giant of the American people answered President Roosevelt's call and changed the course of history.
It is this spirit that still defines American leadership today. As leaders of the free world, our oceans no longer serve as adequate protection from tyrants desirous for our downfall. Yet as President Roosevelt concluded his speech, it is:
“With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941
It is in this we trust, not the siren call of withdrawal. It is this that we owe to the Americans who died on that Day of Infamy.
