Monday, December 7, 2009

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, on a Sunday morning, aircraft from the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the U.S. Army and Naval forces stationed in Hawaii. Most notably the attack centered on the naval ships at Pearl Harbor. Over two thousand soldiers and sailors were killed in the surprise attack and several warships were sunk or damaged.
Speaking to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, President Franklin Roosevelt on December 8 called for a declaration of war upon Japan and famously referred to December 7 as "a date that will live in infamy". With the declaration of war by Nazi Germany on December 11 the United States was finally, reluctantly drawn into a world war.

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