07 December 2005

Pearl Harbor Day Trivia

In the United States, today is Pearl Harbor Day, the 64th anniversary of the surprise attack by the Empire of Japan which precipitated America's entry into the Second World War. December 7, 1941 was immortalized the next day in a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "a date which will live in infamy".

What is not well-known, however, is that this memorable phrase was not the President's initial choice. In an earlier draft of his speech, he referred to the day as "our generation's 9/11", but this did not play well with confused test audiences. The phrase was changed and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's true . . . I read it in Wikipedia.

[Update]
[Second Update]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

But when did he call the war a quagmire?

Anonymous said...

He still has not taken full accountability for his disasterous lack of an exit strategy at Wake Island.

He then made the situation worse by saying it would be better next year and throwing more troops into the war.