December 7 is “a date which will live in infamy.” Do you recognize this quote? 70 years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that about the day of Japan’s bombing of the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in his speech to Congress on December 8. Congress then passed a declaration of war against Japan, bringing the U.S. into World War II. Italy and Germany declared war on the U.S. on December 11.
Roosevelt’s speech is provided online by the National Archives. You can find additional materials related to the air raid on Pearl Harbor at the Library of Congress American Memory web site, including a link to recorded “man on the street” interviews about the raid. The National Park Service maintains the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument in Oahu, and also provides an online gallery of photos of the attack, and a YouTube channel of videos including Pearl Harbor survivor stories and underwater footage of the USS Arizona (sunk in the attack).
Looking for more? Search HALCAT, Harold Andersen Library’s catalog, for books such as Pearl Harbor and the coming of the Pacific War: A brief history with documents and essays (3rd-floor Main Collection, D742.J3 I76 1999), Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt and the coming of the war (3rd-floor Main Collection, E183.8 .J3 W24 1976), and Remembering Pearl Harbor: Eyewitness accounts by U.S. military men and women (3rd-floor Main Collection, D767.92 .R38 1991).
Search the Library’s article databases to find articles–both historical and modern–in magazines, journals, and newspapers. Articles you could find include “Al Brick: The Forgotten Newsreel Man at Pearl Harbor” (Moving Image, 2010, vol.10:no.2, pp.30-59) and “The Pearl Harbor Attack and the Origins of the Pacific War: Contested Memories in the United States and Japan” (Nanzan Review Of American Studies, vol.32, pp.21-31).
Video about the attack can be found by searching either FedFlix or Films on Demand.
Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials if needed.
UWW’s Andersen Library is a federal depository with many federal and state documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and online. Come check out your government at Andersen Library!
