Infamy Speech
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[[Image:FDR in 1933.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].]]
The '''Infamy Speech''' was delivered on [[December 8]], [[1941]], by [[United States]] [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], one day after the [[Empire of Japan]]'s [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack]] on [[Pearl Harbor]].
The address is regarded as one of the most famous American [[Politics of the United States|political]] [[List of speeches|speeches]] of the 20th century.<ref>"[http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/winter/crafting-day-of-infamy-speech.html FDR's "Day of Infamy" Speech: Crafting a Call to Arms]", ''Prologue'' magazine, US National Archives, Winter 2001, Vol. 33, No. 4.</ref>
== Text of the speech ==
[[Image:USSArizona PearlHarbor 2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The wreckage of the ''[[USS Arizona (BB-39)|USS Arizona]]'' ablaze after the attack.]]
{{cquote|Mr. [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Henry A. Wallace]]], Mr. [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker]] <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Sam Rayburn]]], members of the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]: yesterday, [[December 7]], [[1941]]—'''''a date which will live in infamy'''''—the [[United States|United States of America]] was [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|suddenly and deliberately attacked]] by [[Imperial Japanese Navy|naval]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service|air forces]] of the [[Empire of Japan]].
The United States was at [[peace]] with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its [[Emperor of Japan|Emperor]] <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Hirohito]]] looking toward the maintenance of peace in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]]. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of [[Oahu]], the Japanese Ambassador <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Kichisaburo Nomura]]] to the United States and his colleague <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Saburo Kurusu]]] delivered to our [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Cordell Hull]]] a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of [[Hawaii]] from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] and [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]].
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an [[Battle of Malaya|attack]] against [[British Malaya|Malaya]].
Last night Japanese forces [[Battle of Hong Kong|attacked]] [[Hong Kong]].
Last night Japanese forces [[Battle of Guam (1941)|attacked]] [[Guam]].
Last night Japanese forces [[Battle of the Philippines (1941-42)|attacked]] the [[Philippines|Philippine Islands]].
Last night the Japanese [[Battle of Wake Island|attacked]] [[Wake Island]].
And this morning the Japanese attacked [[Midway Atoll|Midway Island]].
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As [[Commander-in-chief|Commander-in-Chief]] of the [[United States Army|Army]] and [[United States Navy|Navy]], I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the [[The American people|American people]] in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us [[God]].
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.}}
== Commentary on the speech ==
[[Image:Fdr delivers speech.jpg|right|thumb|200px|President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress on December 8, 1941. Behind him are Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] (left) and Speaker of the House [[Sam Rayburn]]. To the right, in uniform in front of Rayburn, is Roosevelt's son [[James Roosevelt|James]], who escorted his father to the Capitol.]]
The Infamy Speech was brief, running to just six and a half minutes. Roosevelt's Secretary of State, [[Cordell Hull]], had recommended that the president devote more time to a fuller exposition of Japanese-American relations and the lengthy but unsuccessful effort to find a peaceful solution. However, Roosevelt kept the speech short in the belief that it would have a more dramatic effect.<ref name="brown">Robert J. Brown, ''Manipulating the Ether: The Power of Broadcast Radio in Thirties America'', pp. 117–120. McFarland & Company, 1998. ISBN 0786420669.</ref>
The wording of Roosevelt's speech was intended to have a strong emotional impact, appealing to the outrage felt by Americans at the nature of the Japanese attack. Roosevelt purposefully framed the speech around the perceived low moral character of the Japanese government. He drew a sharp contrast between the "righteous might" of the American people and the aggressive and deceitful nature of the Japanese regime. He deliberately avoided the [[Winston Churchill|Churchillian]] approach of an appeal to history. Indeed, the most famous line of the speech originally read "a date which will live in ''world history''"; Roosevelt crossed out "world history" and replaced it with "infamy".<ref name="rosenberg">Emily S Rosenberg, ''A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory''. Duke University Press, 2003. ISBN 082233206X.</ref> His revised statement was all the stronger for its emphatic insistence that posterity would forever endorse the American view of the attack. It was intended not merely as a personal response by the president, but as a statement on behalf of the entire American people in the face of a great collective trauma. In proclaiming the indelibility of the attack and expressing outrage at its "dastardly" nature, the speech worked to crystallize and channel the response of the nation into a collective response and resolve.<ref>[[Neil J. Smelser]], in ''Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity'', p. 48. University of California Press, 2004. ISBN ISBN 0520235959.</ref>
The first paragraph of the speech was carefully worded to reinforce Roosevelt's portrayal of the United States as the innocent victim of unprovoked Japanese aggression. The wording was deliberately passive. Rather than taking the more usual active voice—i.e. "Japan attacked the United States"—Roosevelt chose to put in the foreground the object being acted upon, namely the United States, to emphasize America's status as a victim.<ref>James Jasinski, ''Sourcebook on Rhetoric: key concepts in contemporary rhetorical studies''. Sage Publications Inc, 2001. ISBN 0761905049.</ref> The theme of "innocence violated" was further reinforced by Roosevelt's recounting of the ongoing diplomatic negotiations with Japan, which the president characterized as having been pursued cynically and dishonestly by the Japanese government while it was secretly preparing for war against the United States.<ref>Hermann G. Steltner, "War Message: December 8, 1941 — An Approach to Language", in ''Landmark Essays on Rhetorical Criticism'' ed. Thomas W. Benson. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1993. ISBN 1880393085.</ref>
Roosevelt consciously sought to avoid making the sort of more abstract appeal that had been issued by President [[Woodrow Wilson]] in his own speech to Congress[http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Wilson%27s_War_Message_to_Congress] in April 1917, when the United States entered [[World War I]]. Wilson had laid out the strategic threat posed by Germany and stressed the idealistic goals behind America's participation in the war. During the 1930s, however, American public opinion had turned strongly against such themes and was wary of—if not actively hostile to—idealistic visions of remaking the world through a "just war". Roosevelt therefore chose to make an appeal aimed much more at the gut level—in effect, an appeal to patriotism rather than to idealism. Nonetheless, he took pains to draw a symbolic link with the April 1917 declaration of war; when he went to Congress on [[December 8]], [[1941]] he was accompanied by [[Edith Bolling Wilson]], the widow of the late president.<ref name="rosenberg" />
The "infamy framework" adopted by Roosevelt was given additional resonance by the fact that it followed the pattern of earlier narratives of great American defeats. The [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in 1876 and the sinking of the [[USS Maine (ACR-1)|USS ''Maine'']] in 1898 had both been the source of intense national outrage and a determination to take the fight to the enemy. Defeats and setbacks were on each occasion portrayed as being merely a springboard towards an eventual and inevitable victory. As Professor Sandra Silberstein observes, Roosevelt's speech followed a well-established tradition of how "through rhetorical conventions, presidents assume extraordinary powers as the commander in chief, dissent is minimized, enemies are vilified, and lives are lost in the defense of a nation once again united under God."<ref name="Silberstein">Sandra Silberstein, ''War of Words: Language, Politics, and 9/11'', p. 15. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415290473.</ref>
The overall tone of the speech was one of determined realism. Roosevelt made no attempt to paper over the great damage that had been caused to the American armed forces, noting (without giving figures, as casualty reports were still being compiled) that "very many American lives have been lost" in the attack. However, he emphasized his confidence in the strength of the American people to face up to the challenge posed by Japan, citing the "unbounded determination of our people". He sought to reassure the public that steps were being taken to ensure their safety, noting his own role as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" (the [[United States Air Force]] was at this time part of the US Army) and declaring that he had already "directed that all measures be taken for our defense".
[[Image:Noentanglements.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Protest march against American involvement in World War II. After the Infamy Speech, the American isolationist movement collapsed.]]
Roosevelt also made a point of emphasizing that "our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger" and highlighted reports of Japanese attacks in the Pacific between Hawaii and [[San Francisco]]. In so doing, he sought to silence the [[United States non-interventionism|isolationist]] movement which had campaigned so strongly against American involvement in the war in Europe. If the territory and waters of the continental United States—not just outlying possessions such as the Philippines—was seen as being under direct threat, isolationism would become an unsustainable course of action. Roosevelt's speech had the desired effect, with only one Congressman voting against the declaration of war he sought; the wider isolationist movement collapsed almost immediately.
The speech's "infamy" line is often misquoted as "a ''day'' that will live in infamy". However, Roosevelt quite deliberately chose to emphasize the ''date''—[[December 7]], [[1941]]—rather than the ''day'' of the attack, a Sunday, which he mentioned only in the last line when he said, "...Sunday, December 7th, 1941,...". He sought to emphasize the historic nature of the events at Pearl Harbor, implicitly urging the American people never to forget the attack and memorialize its date. Ironically, the misquoted term "day of infamy" has become widely used by the media to refer to any moment of supreme disgrace or evil.<ref>"Day of infamy", ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions'', ed. Elizabeth Webber, Mike Feinsilber. Merriam-Webster, 1999. ISBN 0877796289.</ref>
== Impact of the Infamy Speech ==
[[Image:Franklin Roosevelt signing declaration of war against Japan.jpg|thumb|200px|President Franklin Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against Japan, December 8, 1941.]]
Roosevelt's speech had an immediate and long-lasting impact on American politics. Thirty-three minutes after he finished speaking, Congress declared war on Japan, with only one Representative, [[Jeannette Rankin]], voting against the declaration. The speech was broadcast live by radio and attracted the largest audience in US radio history, with over 81 percent of American homes tuning in to hear the President.<ref name="brown" /> The response was overwhelmingly positive, both within Congress and without. Judge [[Samuel Irving Rosenman]], who served as an adviser to Roosevelt, described the scene:
{{cquote|It was a most dramatic spectacle there in the chamber of the House of Representatives. On most of the President's personal appearances before Congress, we found applause coming largely from one side—the Democratic side. But this day was different. The applause, the spirit of cooperation, came equally from both sides. ... The new feeling of unity which suddenly welled up in the chamber on December 8, the common purpose behind the leadership of the President, the joint determination to see things through, were typical of what was taking place throughout the country.<ref>Samuel Irving Rosenman, quoted in Brown, ''ibid'', p. 119.</ref>}}
The White House was inundated with telegrams praising the president's stance ("On that Sunday we were dismayed and frightened, but your unbounded courage pulled us together."<ref>Quoted in Brown, ''ibid'', p. 119.</ref>). Recruiting stations were jammed with a surge of volunteers and had to go on 24-hour duty to deal with the crowds seeking to sign up, in numbers reported to be twice as high as after Woodrow Wilson's declaration of war in 1917. The anti-war and isolationist movement collapsed in the wake of the speech, with even the president's fiercest critics falling into line. [[Charles Lindbergh]], who had been a leading isolationist, declared:
{{cquote|Now [war] has come and we must meet it as united Americans regardless of our attitude in the past toward the policy our Government has followed. ... Our country has been attacked by force of arms, and by force of arms we must retaliate. We must now turn every effort to building the greatest and most efficient Army, Navy and air force in the world.<ref>Quoted in Brown, ''ibid'', p. 120.</ref>}}
[[Image:Avenge december 7.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Propaganda poster issued by the [[United States Office of War Information]], 1942.]]
Roosevelt's framing of the Pearl Harbor attack became, in effect, the standard American narrative of the events of December 7, 1941. Hollywood enthusiastically adopted the narrative in a number of war films. ''[[Wake Island (1942 film)|Wake Island]]'', the [[Academy Award]]-winning ''[[Air Force (film)|Air Force]]'' and the 1943 films ''[[Man from Frisco (film)|Man from Frisco]]'' and ''[[Betrayal from the East (film)|Betrayal from the East]]'' all included actual radio reports of the pre-December 7 negotiations with the Japanese, reinforcing the message of enemy duplicity. ''[[Across the Pacific (film)|Across the Pacific]]'', ''[[Salute the Marines (film)|Salute the Marines]]'' and ''[[Spy Ship (film)|Spy Ship]]'' used a similar device, relating the progress of US–Japanese relations through newspaper headlines. The theme of American innocence betrayed was also frequently depicted on screen, the [[melodrama]]tic aspects of the narrative lending themselves naturally to the movies.<ref name="Barta">Tony Barta, ''Screening the Past: Film and the Representation of History'', pp. 85–87. Praeger/Greenwood, 1998. ISBN 0275954021.</ref>
The president's description of December 7 as "a date which will live in infamy" was borne out; the date very quickly became shorthand for the Pearl Harbor attack in much the same way that September 11 became inextricably associated with the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|2001 terrorist attacks]]. The slogans "Remember December 7th" and "Avenge December 7" were adopted as a rallying cry and were widely displayed on posters and lapel pins.<ref>Robert J. Sickels, ''The 1940s'', p. 6. Greenwood Press, 2004. ISBN 0313312990.</ref> ''[[Prelude to War]]'', the first of [[Frank Capra]]'s ''[[Why We Fight]]'' film series, urged Americans to remember the date of the Japanese invasion of [[Manchuria]], [[September 18]], [[1931]], "as well as we remember December 7th 1941, for on that date in 1931 the war we are now fighting began." <ref>Quoted by Benjamin L. Alpers, "This Is The Army", in ''The World War II Reader'', ed. Gordon Martel, p. 167. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0415224020.</ref> The symbolism of the date was highlighted in a scene in the 1943 film ''[[Bombardier (film)|Bombardier]]'', in which the leader of a group of airmen walks up to a calendar on the wall, points to the date ("December 7, 1941") and tells his men: "Gentlemen, there's a date we will always remember—and they'll never forget!" <ref>Quoted in Barta, ''ibid'', p. 87.</ref>
60 years later, the continuing resonance of the Infamy Speech was demonstrated following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], which many commentators compared with Pearl Harbor in terms of its impact and deadliness.<ref>See for instance CNN, "Day of Terror — a 21st century 'day of infamy'", September 2001.</ref> In the days following the attacks, Dr. [[Richard Jackson (academic)|Richard Jackson]] notes that "there [was] a deliberate and sustained effort" on the part of the [[George W. Bush]] administration to "discursively link September 11, 2001 to the attack on Pearl Harbor itself",<ref name="jackson">Richard Jackson, ''Writing the War on Terrorism: language, politics and counter-terrorism'', p. 33. Manchester University Press, 2005.</ref> both by directly invoking Roosevelt's Infamy Speech <ref>See e.g. [[Paul Wolfowitz]], "[http://www.defenselink.mil/Speeches/Speech.aspx?SpeechID=292 Standup of US Northern Command]", speech of October 1, 2002: "Although September 11th has taken its place alongside December 7th as a date that will live in infamy ..."</ref> and by re-using the themes employed by Roosevelt in his speech. In Bush's speech to the nation on [[September 11, 2001]], he contrasted the "evil, despicable acts of terror" with the "brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity" that America represented in his view.<ref>George W. Bush, [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html Address to the Nation of September 11, 2001].</ref> [[Sandra Silberstein]] draws direct parallels between the language used by Roosevelt and Bush, highlighting a number of similarities between the Infamy Speech and Bush's presidential address of September 11.<ref name="Silberstein" /> Similarly, Emily S. Rosenberg notes rhetorical efforts to link the conflicts of 1941 and 2001 by re-utilizing Second World War terminology of the sort used by Roosevelt, such as using the term "axis" to refer to America's enemies (as in "[[Axis of Evil]]").<ref name="rosenberg" />
==Media==
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==See also==
* [[Japanese declaration of war on the United States and Britain]]
==References ==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
{{Wikisource|Pearl Harbor speech|The Infamy Speech}}
* [http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/infamy.html Transcript] (contains some errors and truncations)
* [http://www.radiochemistry.org/history/video/fdr_infamy.html Recording of the speech]
* "[http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/winter/crafting-day-of-infamy-speech.html FDR's "Day of Infamy" Speech: Crafting a Call to Arms]" – article from the US National Archives on the speech, with images of Roosevelt's original draft of the text
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[[Category:Attack on Pearl Harbor]]
[[Category:World War II speeches]]
[[Category:Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:1941 in politics]]
[[Category:1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:1941 works]]
[[Category:History of the United States Congress]]
[[Category:Political neologisms]]
[[Category:United States presidential speeches]]
[[Category:American political slogans]]
[[ro:Discursul preşedintelui Franklin D. Roosevelt de pe 8 decembrie 1941]]