[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE 54TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY OF INFAMY

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 1995

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, there is no American of my generation who 
does not recall where they were and what they were doing 54 years ago 
today.
  On that day--which President Franklin D. Roosevelt labelled ``a day 
which will live in infamy''--aircraft of the Japanese Empire staged a 
surprise attack on the army and naval forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, 
HI.
  Striking without warning at 7:55 a.m. local time, the Japanese forces 
succeeded in sinking or severely damaging 19 of our naval vessels, 
including three battleships--the West Virginia, the California, and the 
Arizona. A fourth battleship--the Oklahoma--was capsized and a fifth--
the Nevada--sustained heavy damage during a second strike by Japanese 
forces about an hour after the first. This second strike also succeeded 
in reducing three additional destroyers to wrecks.
  Ninety-seven army airplanes and eighty naval aircraft were also 
destroyed by the Japanese in the attack, most of which while still on 
the ground at nearby Hickam and Wheeler fields.
  The unexpected, immoral attack by Japan, which took place at the 
exact minute that peace negotiations were taking place in Washington, 
claimed the lives of over 2,000 men and women in the U.S. Navy, over 
200 Army personnel, and 49 civilians.
  As was the case with the bombardment of Fort Sumter for an earlier 
generation, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy at a 
later time, the attack on Pearl Harbor radically altered the lives of 
millions of Americans and also changed the direction which our Nation 
had been following.
  Prior to Pearl Harbor, the general attitude of millions of Americans 
was that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans formed a great natural defense 
against any and all enemies. Accordingly, it was not only unnecessary 
but also undesirable for the United States to involve itself in 
international affairs under any circumstances. Such highly respected 
Americans as the aviator and national hero Charles A. Lindbergh, former 
U.S. President Herbert Hoover, and newspaper publisher Robert R. 
McCormick had for months publicly denounced any American involvement in 
World War II and received a great deal of support and acclaim from the 
American people for doing so. When the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, all 
support for this point of view virtually evaporated overnight. All 
Americans put their prior political beliefs aside and joined in a 
united front to win the war in a manner of national unity never 
experienced by the American people before or since.
  Although there has been great national debate on many important 
issues throughout the 54 years since the Day of Infamy, including the 
current ongoing debate regarding our involvement in Bosnia, never since 
Pearl Harbor has any American seriously suggested that our Nation 
completely withdraw from the international stage and depend upon the 
vastness of the oceans for our security. Although there have been many 
debates regarding our defense posture, never since Pearl Harbor has 
anyone suggested that our military be dismantled.

  The more than 2,400 military and naval personnel who gave their lives 
the morning of December 7, 1941, were joined by thousands more who made 
the supreme sacrifice in the European and Pacific theaters of World War 
II. Thousands of more courageous veterans risked and gave their lives 
in Korea, in Southeast Asia, and in the Persian Gulf. Thousands more 
are now being put into harm's way in Bosnia. The courage and valor of 
our veterans has never been questioned throughout the 54 years since 
the Day of Infamy.
  Some observers at the time, in numbers which have increased in 
frequency and in shrillness since Pearl Harbor, have contended that 
President Roosevelt was duplicitous in his foreign policy, and in fact 
knew that the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming. These partisan 
revisionists contend that the President wanted the disaster to take 
place at Pearl Harbor to unite the American people into fighting World 
War II.
  These slanderous contentions against President Roosevelt are not only 
totally lacking in any supporting evidence, they also fly in the face 
of the massive historic evidence which is at our disposal. In all of 
his public statements at the time, in his private conferences with 
Winston Churchill and others which were made public after his death, 
and in private correspondence which is only now coming to light, 
President Roosevelt made it clear that his top priority was defeating 
Hitler and the Nazi hordes which had overrun Europe and North Africa. 
The last thing in the world President Roosevelt wanted was a war in the 
Pacific which would divert American attention and energies from 
defeating Nazi Germany.
  In fact, in the days following Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt 
fretted over how he could unite the American people against Hitler when 
all of our rage and energies were concentrated against the Japanese. 
Hitler himself solved this problem for Roosevelt when he declared war 
against the United States within a week. Recently, historians have 
argued that, if Hitler were smart enough to restrain from declaring war 
on us, it is conceivable that our anger against the Japanese would have 
prevented our ever entering the war in Europe.
  In any case, there are none of us who can dispute that Pearl Harbor 
altered our Nation and each of our individual lives in ways that none 
of us could foresee 54 years ago.
  Today, on December 7, it is the responsibility of those of us who 
remember that perfidious attack to remind younger generations of the 
valuable lessons we learned. We learned that we must never again give 
the perception of a weak defense posture. We learned that we cannot 
live isolated from the world. We also learned that, when threatened, 
the American people can act with unity and vigor in a manner unheard of 
in all previous history.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to join in reflecting on 
the meaning of this most significant of all days in our history.

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