Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

Air Raid, Pearl Harbor! This is No Drill! 335
FDR opened by saying that “this was the most serious meeting
of the Cabinet that had taken place since 1861.” 76 He began
in a low voice, looking down at the dispatches before him as he
talked. “You all know what’s happened. Th e attack began at 1:00
[actually 1:25 p.m. Washington time]. We don’t know very much
yet.” 77
Someone, probably Attorney General Francis Biddle, spoke
up. “Mr. President, several of us have just arrived by plane. We
don’t know anything except a scare headline, ‘Japs Attack Pearl
Harbor.’ Could you tell us?” Th e president asked Knox to tell the
story, which he did, with interpolations by Stimson, Hull, and
Roosevelt. 78
Dispatches were being brought in every few minutes during
the meeting, and FDR enumerated the blows that had befallen
us at Hawaii. He “had hastily drawn a draft of a message” he
was planning to present to Congress, and “he then read [it] to us
slowly.” It was very brief. 79
Th e Cabinet meeting lasted for at least three-quarters of
an hour. Th en the congressional leaders, who had been waiting
below, were called in. Among those who appeared were:
Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman Tom Connally, Senator Warren R. Austin,
Senator Hiram W. Johnson, Senator Alben Barkley, and Senator
Charles L. McNary. And Representatives: Speaker Sam Rayburn,
Foreign Aff airs Chairman Sol Bloom, Charles A. Eaton of New
76Ibid. 77Perkins, Th e Roosevelt I Knew, p. 379.
78Ibid. 79Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 11, p. 5439, excerpt from Stimson
diary entry, December 7, 1941.