Franklin D. Roosevelt's Attack On Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, it would be a “date that will live in infamy” as said by Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was a sad day for Americans as they watched and heard about the attack at Pearl Harbor. They soon realized that attacking them was Japan. Thousands of men would be killed trying to protect their families and our country. The surprise attack began taking place at 7:53 A.M when the first plane hit its target and the second was at 8:55. By 1:00 the carriers that were used to launch the planes were already off the coast of Oahu and were heading back to Japan. The Japanese plan was simply to destroy the Pacific fleet because they did not want the Americans to fight back while they were going to spread across the South Pacific. The Japanese destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. Battleship Row was a group of eight U.S battleships in port at Pearl Harbor. These were the ships that took the worst of the Japanese assault. Most of the battleships were badly damaged or destroyed. The five ships that were able to survive the attack were West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, Tennessee, and Maryland. The USS Arizona,

8, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech to encourage Congress to declare war on Japan and also to bring Americans to support the war. “With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God,” was said by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his Pearl Harbor speech. Within an hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and officially brought the U.S. into World War II. A few days later, Germany and Italy who are Japanese allies declared war against the United States. More than two years after the beginning of the conflict, the United Stated had finally joined World War