Eighty-four years ago, on December 8, 1941, former US President Franklin D Roosevelt announced war against Japan after it staged a surprise attack on America’s Pacific power: Pearl Harbour.
Franklin said before the Congress, “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. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”
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The United States then officially joined World War II against the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), eventually crushing them in 1945.
In this edition of Firstpost’s ongoing series of History Today, we recall the US entry into World War II and more.
US enters World War II
After more than 2,000 soldiers and sailors lay dead among the burned ruins of Pearl Harbour battleships, planes and airfields, Roosevelt knew that there could be only one befitting response.
He addressed a joint session of Congress with an oratorical display that demanded a declaration of war against Japan.
“The unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire,” Roosevelt said in his famous ‘Day of Infamy’ speech.
At 4:10 pm, FDR signed the declaration donning a black armband to mourn those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbour. Americans were also resolute in the aftermath of the December 7 event.
Three days after Roosevelt’s declaration, Germany and Italy, allied with Japan, declared war on the United States. And then the US was completely drawn into a global war.
With the US now officially entering World War II, the nation was under immense pressure. It needed to raise and train a credible military force, while at the same time it was tracing ways to accord material aid to its hard-pressed allies in Great Britain and the Soviet Union.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADU.S. soldiers of the 347th Infantry Regiment are served food on their way to La Roche, Belgium, January 13, 1945. Reuters
Months after Pearl Harbour, the US slowly mobilised its human and material resources for war. Across the station, young men poured into recruiting stations, eager to enlist and fight against the enemy. Stirring the fire of patriotism, with movies also promoting the war.
The Allied forces began to close in on the Japanese home islands. After Japan refused to surrender, the United States then dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to an instant surrender of Japan in 1945.
World War II was the largest conflict. Considered as the deadliest war in human history, it displaced tens of millions of people and cost over $1 trillion to prosecute. The US financial cost alone was more than $341 billion.
While civilians were deliberately targeted, the human cost of the war can hardly be calculated.
John Lennon shot dead
A former member of the Beatles, a rock group that changed popular music in the 1960s, John Lennon was shot dead by a man in New York City.
The 40-year-old was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when he was shot by Mark David Chapman four times at close range. He was rushed to the hospital but died en route.
Earlier in the day, the obsessed fan received an autograph from the artist and remained at the scene of the shooting until cops arrested him.
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Demonstrations of mourning were held around the world.
His rock group, the Beatles, was the most popular musical group of the 20th century. It sold millions of records and starred in hit movies, including A Hard Day’s Night (1964).
Bipin Rawat, wife and others killed in a Chopper crash
On this day in 2021, the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat died in a Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash. The military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
The parliamentary panel report asserted that, “The reason behind the accident which occurred that day was human error.”
The Indian Air Force revealed in January 2022 that the spatial disorientation of the pilot in bad weather caused the catastrophic crash.
CDS’s defence assistant Brigadier LS Lidder, Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, the pilot of the Mi-17V5, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, the co-pilot, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Havildar Satpal Rai, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik B Sai Teja were killed in the deadly crash.
With Inputs from agencies
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