The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, before a Joint Session of Congress, President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan. President Roosevelt’s message conveyed the national outrage over the attack by pronouncing December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy.”

Congress quickly adopted the war resolution. As you can see on the tally sheet below, the House had only one dissenting vote. The only no came from Representative Jeannette Rankin (R-MT), a well-known pacifist. The reading clerk taking the roll call later recalled that members were pleading with Rankin to vote present rather than no. Nevertheless, the resolution passed 388-1.

Tally Sheet of the House of Representatives for Declaration of War Against Japan, 12/08/1941

Day of Infamy Speech, 12/8/1941, Records of the U.S. Senate (ARC 595426)

Roll Call Tally Sheet, 12/8/1941, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 2600932)

34 Notes/ Hide

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    To stay up to date, I’m going to post another document today. This one is FDR’s famous “Day of Infamy” speech given on...
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    :-(
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    One of the best speeches of all time.
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