Pearl Harbor

Chapter 1 – War Comes to America

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Campaign Speech, Boston

October 30, 1940

“I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again; your boys are not going to be

sent into any foreign wars.”

In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on the promise to keep the nation out of foreign

entanglements, well aware that the American voter had no taste for war.

But the President and the country had cause for alarm.

With each passing month, the Axis Powers’ tide of aggression spread, threatening to

engulf the world: by the fall of 1941, Adolf Hitler’s blitzkreig had crushed resistance

across Europe leaving a wake of death and destruction; a Nazi invasion of Britain was

stalled, but Hitler vowed to smash the island nation; half-a-world away, in the Pacific,

Japan’s minister of war, Hideki Tojo, forged a brutal reputation with a murderous

invasion of Manchuria and attack on French Indochina.

On December 7th 1941, the foreign war came to America. In the space of two hours a

Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii decimated the U.S. Pacific fleet and killed

nearly 2500 servicemen. Within three days the world was at war; the President braced

the country for the challenges that lay ahead.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

December 9, 1940

“We are now in this war. We’re all in it – all the way. Every man, woman and child is a

partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.”

Just two years earlier the U.S military was weak and the nation ill-prepared for battle.

But as events overseas became increasingly ominous, the country began to rebuild its

armed forces. December 7th shocked the nation into dramatic action.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" became America's battle cry. Eager young men anxious to

fight flocked to armed services recruiting offices. Over five million volunteered for duty.

Ten million more were drafted during the war. After eight weeks of basic training, these

new recruits were battle-trained and ready to fight. New soldiers were given uniforms,

weapons, supplies and standard haircuts; everything they needed was "Government

Issue." It wasn't long before soldiers themselves were being referred to as 'Government

Issue' or, "GIs."