Most of the sailors on board the battleships in Pearl Harbor were still asleep in the early dawn hours when torpedo bombers from four nearby Japanese carriers launched their attacks. Many never woke up. The scope of the devastation could not be overstated: six battleships destroyed or crippled Half of the Hawaiian air force in flames. A major blow was dealt to the United States – so much so that Roosevelt initially chose not to reveal the scope of the damage, in fears of starting a panic. Instead, he put on an air of absolute righteousness to go before the House of Representatives to give one of the most famous speeches in history.

On this day, December 8, in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt, in a radio-broadcast address, asked the House of Representatives to declare war on Japan. His memorable lines began “Yesterday, December Seventh, Nineteen forty one – 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,” Roosevelt declared in his speech, as troop mobilization preparations got underway. Soon the American war machine would be firing on all cylinders. The best prediction (if it was truly said) came from the Japanese admiral Isoruku Yamamoto: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”