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

350 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
With confi dence in our armed forces—with the unbounded
determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so
help us God.
Th e president then asked the Congress to declare that “since the
unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December
7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the
Japanese Empire.” 4 With Congress’s December 8 resolution, the
United States was at war with Japan. Not with Germany which,
throughout most of 1941, FDR had considered the prime target.
War!
Japan’s Emperor Hirohito promptly declared war on the
United States and Great Britain. England, Australia, Canada,
the Netherlands East Indies, and Costa Rica all responded by
announcing that a state of war existed between them and Japan. 5
On the morning of December 11 Germany and Italy both
declared war on the United States. FDR notifi ed Congress, which
promptly issued two joint resolutions resolving “that the state of
war between the United States and the Government of Germany
[and the government of Italy] which has thus been thrust upon
the United States is hereby formally declared.” 6
4 Department of State Bulletin, vol. 5, p. 474; Department of State, Peace and
War: United States Foreign Policy, 1931–1941 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government
Printing Offi ce, 1943), pp. 839–40.
5 New York Times, December 8, 1941, p. 1.
6 Department of State, Peace and War, pp. 849–50.