Yesterday December 7 1941 A Date

Roosevelt spoke these words to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941 — the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans. The speech, drafted largely by FDR himself, lasted only seven minutes and secured a declaration of war against Japan in under an hour, with only one dissenting vote. The phrase "a date which will live in infamy" replaced an earlier draft's "a date which will live in world history" — a change FDR made in pencil on his own typescript. The address is among the most listened-to speeches in American history.