He would revise the initial language, “a date which will live in world history,” into what would ultimately become the speech’s most well-known phrase, “a date which will live in infamy.” Merriam-Webster notes that Roosevelt’s language is frequently misremembered as “day of infamy.” But it also reports a yearly spike in lookups of the word infamy. Roosevelt dictated the first draft of his War Message to Congress. Hours after learning of the attack, President Franklin D. wielded its military might in the service of liberating the world from its oppressors, and when the exercise of violent force brought about a definitive resolution.Īmericans were being taught how to remember the events of December 7, 1941, almost as soon as they happened. These remembrances will be both solemn and sentimental: they will awaken the nostalgia of a confused country for a period of supposed clarity, when good and evil could be readily discerned and disentangled, when the U.S. We will remember Pearl Harbor in unsurprising ways: there will be the customary memorial parade in Hawaii (the theme of which is to be Valor, Sacrifice, and Peace) television networks will run World War II programming newscasters will introduce segments of documentary footage and interviews with some of the dwindling number of World War II veterans. What happens on such anniversaries reveals the double edge of a nation’s memory, which offers a sense of strength and unity even as it tends to foreclose a certain kind of future. It is a ritual remembrance that has much to reveal about Americans’ present-day understanding of themselves and their country’s role in the world, especially at a moment when we are also trying to understand the exit from Afghanistan.

naval base on Oahu, Hawaii, for the eightieth time.

On Tuesday, December 7, 2021, we will remember Pearl Harbor, the 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S.

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