John Henry
12-07-2001, 04:48 AM
.... Let's Not Forget What Happened 60 Years Ago Today.
Day of Infamy
The Wall Street Journal on Pearl Harbor.
Friday, December 7, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
Sixty years ago today, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and America was at war. This editorial appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 8, 1941:
We Have a Duty
The business and financial discussion which customarily appears on this page in Monday morning's issue of The Wall Street Journal was written Saturday evening and given to the compositors yesterday. As the galley proof reached the editorial room, press association wires carried the flash that the Japanese had attacked Hawaii.
In that moment, the events of last week seemed suddenly to have been removed to some remote era of antiquity. The things that business and finance discussed last week seem now to have no relation to tomorrow nor to the many days to come after tomorrow.
There is a stark, horrible reality that American territory has been attacked. Japan has declared a state of war exists between her and the United States
Every citizen has and knows his duty. It will be heavy for all. The sacrifices will be particularly heavy for the business and financial community of America.
We say that the sacrifices will be made. The duty will be performed.
These editorials appeared in the Journal on Dec. 9:
The End Shall Be Ours
At a half hour after noon yesterday, President Roosevelt went before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan.
Hardly had the echoes of the President's address died away before the Senate passed a war resolution. The House acted less quickly only because of the greater length of time required to call the roll.
We are at war with Japan by the practically unanimous will of the country. It now follows:
1--That every citizen puts his contribution to the nation's war effort ahead of every consideration of personal interest or prejudice or preference.
2--That our government must employ its forces on land and sea and in the air with the primary object of protecting the territory, citizens and vital national interests of the United States.
3--That the United States shall cooperate with its allies, the nations of the British Commonwealth, China, Russia and the Dutch East Indies--this cooperation being always subordinate to the safety of the United States.
4--That the press and the individual citizen retain the right to criticize the actions of the government according to personal conviction, but that the standard of judging between right and wrong courses is now their appropriateness for victory for the United States over Japan with the least possible loss of American lives.
We have implicit confidence in the power of the United States and the allies to win a war with Japan. But it is imperative that our government be guided in its "grand strategy" by army and navy counsel and not by any chance be led into dangerous attempts to protect all the people all over the world which may be or may come under attack of enemy powers, without a cautious regard for the scope of our military and naval resources available at the time for what we undertake to do.
This does not mean a half-hearted war effort. On the contrary, it means a coldly realistic measurement of our war purposes against our immediately available power to achieve them. Our war-making resources are growing every day and will now increase more rapidly than ever, but those who control our course in the war cannot forget that we are no longer only the arsenal of democracy. The United States is now a belligerent in the Pacific theatre of war. As such, it must serve its own requirements first and those of its associated belligerents only after its own are adequately secured.
Our whole future as a nation depends on the earliest possible realization of an abundance of combat equipment. The sooner we can bring it about, the smaller the number of lives we shall have to sacrifice to keep America free.
There is no division among us in regard to that one purpose for which we accept the war that has been forced upon us. Japan has begun this war; we shall finish it.
Day of Infamy
The Wall Street Journal on Pearl Harbor.
Friday, December 7, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
Sixty years ago today, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and America was at war. This editorial appeared on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 8, 1941:
We Have a Duty
The business and financial discussion which customarily appears on this page in Monday morning's issue of The Wall Street Journal was written Saturday evening and given to the compositors yesterday. As the galley proof reached the editorial room, press association wires carried the flash that the Japanese had attacked Hawaii.
In that moment, the events of last week seemed suddenly to have been removed to some remote era of antiquity. The things that business and finance discussed last week seem now to have no relation to tomorrow nor to the many days to come after tomorrow.
There is a stark, horrible reality that American territory has been attacked. Japan has declared a state of war exists between her and the United States
Every citizen has and knows his duty. It will be heavy for all. The sacrifices will be particularly heavy for the business and financial community of America.
We say that the sacrifices will be made. The duty will be performed.
These editorials appeared in the Journal on Dec. 9:
The End Shall Be Ours
At a half hour after noon yesterday, President Roosevelt went before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan.
Hardly had the echoes of the President's address died away before the Senate passed a war resolution. The House acted less quickly only because of the greater length of time required to call the roll.
We are at war with Japan by the practically unanimous will of the country. It now follows:
1--That every citizen puts his contribution to the nation's war effort ahead of every consideration of personal interest or prejudice or preference.
2--That our government must employ its forces on land and sea and in the air with the primary object of protecting the territory, citizens and vital national interests of the United States.
3--That the United States shall cooperate with its allies, the nations of the British Commonwealth, China, Russia and the Dutch East Indies--this cooperation being always subordinate to the safety of the United States.
4--That the press and the individual citizen retain the right to criticize the actions of the government according to personal conviction, but that the standard of judging between right and wrong courses is now their appropriateness for victory for the United States over Japan with the least possible loss of American lives.
We have implicit confidence in the power of the United States and the allies to win a war with Japan. But it is imperative that our government be guided in its "grand strategy" by army and navy counsel and not by any chance be led into dangerous attempts to protect all the people all over the world which may be or may come under attack of enemy powers, without a cautious regard for the scope of our military and naval resources available at the time for what we undertake to do.
This does not mean a half-hearted war effort. On the contrary, it means a coldly realistic measurement of our war purposes against our immediately available power to achieve them. Our war-making resources are growing every day and will now increase more rapidly than ever, but those who control our course in the war cannot forget that we are no longer only the arsenal of democracy. The United States is now a belligerent in the Pacific theatre of war. As such, it must serve its own requirements first and those of its associated belligerents only after its own are adequately secured.
Our whole future as a nation depends on the earliest possible realization of an abundance of combat equipment. The sooner we can bring it about, the smaller the number of lives we shall have to sacrifice to keep America free.
There is no division among us in regard to that one purpose for which we accept the war that has been forced upon us. Japan has begun this war; we shall finish it.