Address A Crisis & Prepare A Nation

USS Arizona after Japan's attack

December 7th marked the seventieth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  A brazenly daring air attack that crippled the United States Pacific Fleet in Hawaii and shocked a nation, that, until that moment remained on the sidelines in the global conflict.  The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke the immortal words "a date which will live in infamy" and Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan.  On December 9, 1941, the President, speaking on the radio, reached out to the shaken and uncertain American people in his nineteenth Fireside Chat.  At a time of crisis, citizens look to their leaders for hope, inspiration, and confidence. President Roosevelt's words needed to inform and comfort, but also to focus the emotional toll while guiding the American people into their upcoming missions.
President Roosevelt began his address to the American people by laying out the evil perpetrated by the Japanese military on the United States.  Yet, he weaved their attack on us into the many instances of Germany and Italy's blatant aggression.   Roosevelt declared "We are now in this war.  We are all in it - all the way."  Without sugarcoating any facts, he informed the American people with negative news.  Japan inflicted a heavy blow at Pearl Harbor.  Our bases in the Pacific, though not confirmed, have probably been overrun.  Despite facing this horrific act, the President urged Americans to remain vigilant and to battle the rising propaganda monster.  In simple terms, he asked citizens to not believe the hype.  The government would provide as much information as possible to the American people as long as it did not endanger the American military or tip off the enemy.  Reaching his conclusion, President Roosevelt indicated the hard work and sacrifice required to maintain the war effort.  Americans must be dedicated to our nation's needs.  Our mission did not mirror the goals of Japan or Germany.  Roosevelt states, "We are now in the midst of a war, not for conquest, not for vengeance, but for a world in which this Nation, and all that this Nation represents, will be safe for our children...We are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows."
Here stood a man leading our nation through a decade of economic and financial turmoil.  Here stood a man watching for two years as great powers brutally faced off on the other continents.  Now, here stood a man making a crucial speech to our country uneasy about its situation, confused about its global standing.  Franklin D. Roosevelt needed to address a crisis and prepare the United States.  Though far less quoted and overshadowed by his speech the day prior, the President succeeded in these goals.  He laid out the implications of America's entry into the war: uncertainty, struggle, sacrifice, but success.  It worked better as a realistic description of our nation's plight as opposed to a blood and guts speech with war drums beating in the background.  The country required a level-headed analysis to counteract the deadly and surreal events witnessed two days before at Pearl Harbor.  Our citizens listened to President Roosevelt and met the dire challenges facing them.

Sources:

Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Fireside Chat.," December 9, 1941.  Online by Gerhard Peters & John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16056.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.