Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address – ‘The Infamy Speech’

Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Pearl Harbor address to the nation after Japan launched a surprise attack against the naval base in Hawaii.

The Presidential Address to Congress on December 8, 1941. Known as the Infamy Speech, it was delivered at 12:30 p.m. that day to a Joint Session of Congress by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. Roosevelt famously describes the previous day as “a date which will live in infamy.” Within an hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and officially brought the U.S. into World War II. The address is regarded as one of the most famous American political speeches of the 20th century.