On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, 100 ships of the American Navy were anchored in or around the harbor at Honolulu when 353 Japanese planes attacked. There had been no declaration of war, no warning to the American forces. By the end of the attack, numerous ships had been destroyed and thousands of Americans killed.
Additionally, over 100 airplanes were destroyed at Hickam Field. Only a few fighters made it into the air, but their weapons and those fired from ships and on the ground brought down 29 Japanese fighters.
When word first reached Washington of the sneak attack, not everyone believed it. President Roosevelt did believe it, and as additional details of the disaster followed, he prepared his war message for Congress- now considered one of the most famous ever delivered by an American President.
The message, delivered to a joint session of Congress and broadcast by radio across America on December 8th, took President Roosevelt less than six minutes to read. It began: "Yesterday, December 7,1941 - a date which will live in infamy -- The United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
