Crucible of a Generation by J. Kenneth Brody

Author:J. Kenneth Brody [Brody, J. Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 1412865573
Amazon: B074JBXTNX
Goodreads: 33267230
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

PART III

“Day of Infamy”

Sunday, December 7, 1941

11

A QUIET MORNING IN AMERICA

A World in Flames

In the quiet of his home the attentive reader of his Sunday, December 7, paper

would look for the latest developments in the tremendous drama being played

out across Russia from Leningrad in the north to the Caucasus in the south.

There were, as was so often the case in those days, conf licting reports. The

Russians claimed their troops had driven eleven miles beyond Taganrog, reach-

ing the shores of the Gulf of Taganrog and leaving a large body of Germans

encircled in the pocket. The German command claimed there were no Russian

forces west of Taganrog and that the Red Army drive was at a standstill. Mean-

while, it was reported that Russian armored units and Cossack cavalry were

driving toward Mariupol. Mention of the Cossacks, to whom a special color

attached, always heightened reader interest. Meanwhile, the Germans continued

their attacks on Moscow, conceding the strength of Russian counterattacks. The

reader would have noted, in the ebb and f low of the Libyan campaign, that the

British appeared to have gained the initiative, but only in a series of small actions.

He might also see the Admiralty announcement of the destruction of a German

surface raider in the South Atlantic by HMS Dorsetshire. 1

The Threat of War: Precariously Balanced

But it was the critical situation in the Pacific that dominated the headlines of

the Sunday morning papers of December 7. Reports of heavy Japanese troop

concentrations on the borders of Indo-China had moved President Roosevelt to

send a personal message to Emperor Hirohito. It was a direct appeal to avoid war

in the Pacific as the result of a Japanese attack on Thailand, the strategic gateway

to both the Burma Road and the Malay Peninsula. 2

The President’s message was seen in an Associated Press dispatch 3 as a last resort to avert what it called an “open break” with Japan. It was thought that the

132 “Day of Infamy”: Sunday, December 7, 1941

President would communicate with the Emperor only when virtually all hope

had been abandoned of any kind of agreement through the usual diplomatic

channels. The Denver Post , reporting on the President’s message to the Emperor,

superimposed atop a portrait of the Emperor this headline: “ IS IT TO BE WAR?

HE HOLDS ANSWER .” 4

In The Washington Post , Rear Admiral Clark H. Woodward of the U.S. Navy

was blunt in his assessment:

In consequence, the issue of peace or war in the Pacific is precariously bal-

anced and rapidly approaching the crisis stage. A possible break is immi-

nent as the strain cannot last much longer. 5

This was a widely held opinion. Mark Sullivan, in The Washington Post , told his readers that the nation was “extremely close to war with Japan,” and that in truth,

the United States faced a world war, indeed an indivisible war in which it would

not be possible to separate a war with Japan from a war with Germany. 6

The Houston Chronicle reported that the negotiations between America and

Japan hung in the balance; that Tokyo’s next move would determine whether

there was to be peace or war. 7

And everywhere there were preparations for war.

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