Tag: FDR

They spent their childhood in the roaring 20’s.  As teenagers they weathered the Great Depression of the 30’s.  Reaching adulthood in the 40’s looked bright until that fateful Sunday afternoon in early December.  Every one from the Greatest Generation remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news, much like those who followed now can tell you where they were and what they were doing when they heard of the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. 

Many people had no idea where Pearl Harbor was or that our Naval Fleet was berthed there.  Yet upon hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most Americans were filled with rage and a sense of betrayal because of the sneak attack.  The Greatest Generation would have their lives unalterably changed forever. 

On December 8, 1941 they listened to their president, Franklin Roosevelt, make the following address to Congress: 

To the Congress of the United States of America

Yesterday, Dec. 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 the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Click for full text.

Video of some of FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address to Congress:

 

Over  3,000 lives, both civilian and non-civilian  were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor.   America had a decimated navy.  The politics of war had kept FDR’s hand off the trigger and had kept us out of the war raging in Europe.  All but one member of Congress voted to declare war on Japan and within a week war had been declared on Germany and Italy.  The United States was fully at war, from the youngest child to the oldest citizen.

Every American went to war in some capacity.  Children helped tend victory gardens, saved their pennies for Vicotry stamps and gathered scrap metal.  Old ladies wrapped bandages for the Red Cross.  Community volunteers, usually pretty young women,  met trains carrying troops with coffee. cigarettes and snacks.  Civilians watched planes. Women went into the work force by the millions, taking up jobs formerly held by men who had gone to war.  Civilians were deprived of basic foods and staples like butter, sugar, beef, and were issued ration books.  Gasoline was rationed.   Silk used for stockings  soon went to the troops, for parachutes.  People were asked to donate their iron fences to the war effort.  Most people bought war bonds to help finance the cause.  Americans had air drill drills and practiced black outs at night. 

There has been no war since WWII where Americans have been totally immersed in the war effort.  We have not been asked to sacrifice in our every day lives like those of the WWII generation, unless  one is a military family of course.  In fact, we could go along quite easily and really never be bothered with our wars.  We have had very little personal inconvenience.  We have suffered no shortages,our  gasoline flows, and often our school children don’t even know we are at war.  Our wars are financed and paid for by the subsequent generations.  There are no great drives for war bonds or to finance our causes. 

Perhaps that is why the Greatest Generation, the term penned by Tom Brokow, was indeed the greatest.  They gave their all with every ounce of their being.  They were throw into a horrific war on December 7.  Over 13 million Americans served.  Approximately 500,000 lost their lives.  Many suffered life-altering wounds.   Many children grew up without a father. Many lie buried on foreign soil.  Some came home with emotional battle scars that have crippled them.  Others came home, went to college on the G.I. Bill and threw themselves back into normalcy.  So many of the Greatest Generation would deny they were.  Most felt they were just doing what was expected of them as Americans.

What made the Greatest Generation the GREATEST?  Or was it the greatest?  What sets that generation apart from others and especially those who followed?

Photographs of the Pearl Harbor Attack

Link to other WWII Memorial Pictures

 

World War II Memorial in Washington DC