Babe Ruth and George Bush
On January 29, 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame elected its first members. Among the five men was Babe Ruth, seen in this photograph taken in 1948, donating the manuscript of his autobiography to Yale.
The young man in uniform is the captain of the Yale baseball team and a future President. George H. W. Bush was an older college student—he had delayed going to college and joined the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers staged a surprise attack on U.S. military and naval forces in Hawaii. In a devastating defeat, the United States suffered 3,435 casualties and loss of or severe damage to 188 planes, 8 battleships, 3 light cruisers, and 4 miscellaneous vessels. Japanese losses were less than 100 personnel, 29 planes, and 5 midget submarines.
These photographs were submitted to the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack as exhibits for the investigation about four years after they were taken.
Photograph of the wreckage of U.S. destroyers Downes and Cassin in Pearl Harbor, 12/07/1941, Records of Joint Committees of Congress (ARC 306533)
Photograph of the wreckage-strewn Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor following the Japanese attack, 12/07/1941, Records of Joint Committees of Congress (ARC 306541)
Photograph of a wing from a Japanese bomber shot down on the grounds of the Naval Hospital, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 12/07/1941, Records of Joint Committees of Congress (ARC 306539)
Folsom Prison Pearl Harbor Petition
The attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 brought an immediate unity of purpose to the nation. Thousands of letters flooded into the White House after the attack, and especially after President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his War Message to Congress (the “date which will live in infamy” speech) on December 8th.
Citizens of all political persuasions and from all parts of the country pledged their support, volunteered their service, and offered to enlist in the military. One of the most interesting examples among the President’s papers is a petition that FDR received signed by prisoners at Folsom State Penitentiary in California.
This is the first page of the bound petition that contains 39 pages and 1,746 signatures.
-from the FDR Library
Source: fdrlibrary.wordpress.com
Draft of FDR’s “Day of Infamy” Speech. December 7, 1941.
A few hours after learning of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dictated a short address to be delivered to a Joint Session of Congress the following day.
His handwritten revisions—visible in this December 7 draft of the speech—made the “Day of Infamy” speech one of the most memorable in American history.
Read more about the drafting of this significant speech.
–from the FDR Library
Source: fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
A photo of the wreckage-strewn Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor following the Japanese attack the morning of December 7, 1941.
More historical Pearl Harbor documents and photos at Franklin D. Roosevelt: Day by Day
-From the FDR Library Photograph Collection, NPx 65-458a
Source: fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Today in 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt met with fellow Allied leaders Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin for the Tehran Conference. From November 28 to December 1, the Big Three, as they were known, discussed strategy against Germany and Japan. This included the decision to launch Operation Overlord, the codename for D-Day.
For a glimpse of history in the making, here are two photos from the Tehran Conference in Iran. The one on the left is a well-known image of the Big Three seated on a porch together. The image on the right shows the action around them, including a crowd of photographers with spent flash bulbs by their feet.
More on the Tehran Conference from the State Department Office of the Historian
Source: fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Armistice Day was officially made a federal holiday by Congress in 1938 as a day to honor the end of World War I. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed HR7786, which established Veterans Day in place of Armistice Day to honor those who served in World War II and the Korean War.
Photo: DDE signing HR7786, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day 1954. 6/1/54.
Source: senate.gov
Things to celebrate this weekend: The Liberation of Paris
On August 25, 1944, the occupying German garrison in Paris surrendered after a six day battle. The French provisional government headed by Charles De Gaulle was given civil administration of Liberated France.
Photo: Soldiers of the 4th U.S. Infantry Division look at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, after the French capital had been liberated on August 25, 1944.
More World War II history from the FDR Library: Day by Day
Happy Friday!
Source: research.archives.gov
Today in history, The Japanese-American Internment Compensation Bill is Signed by President Ronald Reagan.
In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which was used almost exclusively to intern Americans of Japanese descent. By 1943, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans had been forced from their homes and moved to camps.
Forty-six years later, on August 10, 1988, President Reagan signed the Japanese-American Internment Compensation Bill. The bill acknowledged the injustice of the internment, apologized for it, and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was interned.
Pictured above: First-grade children of Japanese ancestry during flag pledge ceremony at a public school in San Francisco prior to internment. 4/20/42
Below: President Reagan signs the Reparations Bill for Japanese-Americans in the Old Executive Office Building. 8/10/88
Source: archives.gov
Late in the night of August 1, 1943, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy’s Patrol Torpedo boat, the PT-109, was attacked by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific.
The destroyer struck PT-109 in the darkness of the moonless night, ripping away the starboard side of the boat. The impact tossed Kennedy around the cockpit. Most of the crew were knocked into the water. The one man below decks, engineer Patrick McMahon, miraculously escaped, although he was badly burned by exploding fuel.
From the wreckage, Kennedy ordered the men with him, to identify the locations of their crewmates in the water.
Kennedy swam out to McMahon and Charles Harris. Kennedy towed the injured McMahon by a life-vest strap, and alternately cajoled and berated the exhausted Harris to get him through the difficult swim. Floating on and around the hulk, the crew took stock.
After a discussion of options, the men abandoned the remains of PT-109 and struck out for an islet three and a half miles away.
Kennedy had been on the swim team at Harvard; even towing McMahon by a belt clamped in his teeth, he was undaunted by the distance. Some of the other men were also good swimmers, but several were not; two, Johnston and Mauer, could not swim at all. These last two were lashed to a plank that the other seven men pulled and pushed as they could. Read more
Source: jfklibrary.org
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