Reading the Washington Post Before Pearl Harbor: A Look at a Day Which Would Live in Infamy

Pearl Harbor 1941

In the hours before Pearl Harbor, Washington Post articles spoke of the failing negotiations between the U.S. and Japan. Read about the articles and President Roosevelt’s dramatic move to prevent war. See his “Date Which Will Live in Infamy” speech and related articles.

Winston Churchill’s Speech in Washington in 1941

Continuing the Anglo-American theme of today, here is a second video of a British Prime Minister in Washington.

Winston Churchill took a steamship through German submarine-infested waters around Christmas in 1941, just after the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the U.S. into World War II.

Here is the most powerful quote from the speech.

Sure I am that this day – now we are the masters of our fate; that the task which has been set us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause and an unconquerable will-power, salvation will not be denied us. In the words of the Psalmist, ‘He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ Not all the tidings will be evil.

His closing is excellent …

Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety and for the good of all walk together side by side in majesty, in justice and in peace.

Here’s the full text of the speech if you’d like to follow along or read it.

Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill