A day that will live in infamy
The Wikipedia on the Pearl Harbor attack:
“At 6:00 a.m. on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, level bombers and fighters. The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:53 a.m. They attacked military airfields and at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. Overall, twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific fleet were damaged and the death toll reached 2,403 with 1,178 injured.".
The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress (transcribed from history books with speeches):
“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.” After recounting the event and numerous other acts, the President asked, “that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan,… a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”
In his December 9th radio address to the Nation (one of many of what were known as “Fireside Chats”) President Roosevelt said,
“The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the Pacific provide the climax of a decade of international immorality. Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war upon the whole human race.” “Together with other free peoples, we are fighting to maintain our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom and in common decency without fear of assault…. We are now in this war. We are all in it- all the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. WE MUST SHARE TOGETHER THE BAD NEWS AND THE GOOD NEWS, THE DEFEATS AND THE VICTORIES- THE CHANGING FORTUNES OF WAR.”
On September 11, 2001, America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by powerful and resourceful gangsters in an act that is the climax of several decades of international immorality. After hijacking multiple airplanes, radical Islamic warriors of the Al-Qaeda network used them in kamikaze-like fashion, striking targets with the intention of nothing less than the collapse of the United States’ economy, government, and military. The tally of the day: 265 died on the planes; at least 2,602 people, including 343 firefighters, died at the World Trade Center; and 125 were killed at The Pentagon.
.
We must be ever vigilant. History tells us there will be many "days of infamy".
