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Narrator: ON DECEMBER 7, 1941,
THE UNITED STATES WAS DRAWN UNWILLINGLY INTO THE CONFLICT
THAT WOULD BECOME KNOWN AS THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
THE JAPANESE LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK
ON THE AMERICAN NAVAL BASE AT PEARL HARBOR
IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
SOON HITLER'S NAZI GERMANY
AND MUSSOLINI'S FASCIST ITALIAN STATE
WOULD JOIN JAPAN AS OUR ADVERSARIES
IN A WAR WHOSE OUTCOME WOULD DETERMINE
WHETHER FREEDOM COULD SURVIVE ON THIS PLANET.
TOWARD THE END OF THE WAR,
WHEN AT LAST IT SEEMED THAT THE TIDE OF BATTLE
WAS TURNING AGAINST THE DICTATORSHIPS,
A MOTION-PICTURE HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT WAS BEGUN.
NO ONE COULD FORESEE THEN THAT GERMANY, ITALY, AND JAPAN
WOULD ONLY A GENERATION LATER BE OUR STAUNCHEST ALLIES.
BUT NOW IN THE MIDST OF THAT DESPERATE BATTLE
FOR OUR SURVIVAL,
THERE WAS STILL GREAT ANGER AND HATRED
FOR WHAT OUR ENEMIES HAD DONE AND WHAT THEY REPRESENTED,
AND THOSE FEELINGS SHOW IN THE DEPICTION
OF THE GERMANS, ITALIANS, AND JAPANESE IN THIS HISTORY.
ONE OF THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FILM WAS TO SHOW AMERICANS
THAT THEIR ENEMIES HAD BEEN COMMITTING THEIR HEINOUS CRIMES
LONG BEFORE PEARL HARBOR AND THE DATE THAT WOULD LIVE IN INFAMY.
President Roosevelt: YESTERDAY, 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.
THE UNITED STATES WAS AT PEACE WITH THAT NATION
AND, AT THE SOLICITATION OF JAPAN,
WAS STILL IN CONVERSATION WITH ITS GOVERNMENT AND ITS EMPEROR,
LOOKING TOWARD THE MAINTENANCE OF PEACE IN THE PACIFIC.
INDEED, ONE HOUR AFTER JAPANESE AIR SQUADRONS
HAD COMMENCED BOMBING IN THE AMERICAN ISLAND OF OAHU,
THE JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES
AND HIS COLLEAGUE
DELIVERED TO OUR SECRETARY OF STATE
A FORMAL REPLY TO A RECENT AMERICAN MESSAGE.
JAPAN HAS, THEREFORE, UNDERTAKEN A SURPRISE OFFENSIVE
EXTENDING THROUGHOUT THE PACIFIC AREA.
THE FACTS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.
WITH CONFIDENCE IN OUR ARMED FORCES,
WITH THE UNBOUNDING DETERMINATION OF OUR PEOPLE,
WE WILL GAIN THE INEVITABLE TRIUMPH,
SO HELP US, GOD.
[ APPLAUSE ]
I ASK THAT THE CONGRESS DECLARE
THAT SINCE THE UNPROVOKED AND DASTARDLY ATTACK BY JAPAN
ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941,
A STATE OF WAR HAS EXISTED
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE JAPANESE EMPIRE.
[ APPLAUSE ]