World War II through the Eyes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
CHAPTER ONE A SURPRISE ATTACK December 7 1941 was a quiet Sunday in Washington DC At the White House President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was recovering from a cold He ate lunch with his friend and adviser Harry Hopkins As they finished eating Roosevelt’s phone rang US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox was on the line He had startling news The Japanese had begun a surprise attack on US ships in Pearl Harbor Hawaii J a p a n e s e a i r p l a n e s b o m b P e a r l H a r b o r H a w a i i o n D e c e m b e r 7 1941 5
Knox shared with Roosevelt the telegram he had received from Pearl Harbor It said AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR THIS IS NO DRILL Hopkins thought it was probably incorrect information Roosevelt was not so sure He began to gather his cabinet and military leaders Meanwhile Roosevelt’s secretary Grace Tully was taking calls from the US Navy Officers provided updates on the events at Pearl Harbor Roosevelt was PERSPECTIVES Shot Down Clarence E Dickenson was in the US Navy in 1941 He was flying on a routine mission near Pearl Harbor on December 7 Before he knew it a Japanese fighter shot and damaged his plane Dickenson ejected from the aircraft His parachute brought him down safely near Pearl Harbor There were curious tremors underfoot Those were the bombs It seemed too as if many carpets were being beaten That was machine-gun fire he wrote in The Saturday Evening Post Within minutes Dickenson reunited with others from his squad who had survived 6
angry but remained calm He shook his head sadly as more bad news arrived The worry and anger in the room grew The military had been unprepared for the attack In only one hour and 15 minutes Japanese bombs and torpedoes had destroyed 169 airplanes Nineteen ships had been sunk or damaged More than 2,400 Americans had died The Call to War The next day Roosevelt spoke to the US Congress and the nation He confirmed what many Americans feared 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 Just minutes after Roosevelt’s speech Congress declared war on Japan The United States was about to enter the biggest war of the century one it had spent years trying to avoid 7
