December 7: A date which will live in infamy

Reprint of FDR's speech is below. We often forget that it wasn't just America who was attacked on that day. We also now know that Japan's intention was to declare war on us before the attack, but things literally got lost in translation and we didn't get the message in time. Granted, I doubt it would have helped us because it was vague. At least the carriers were out at sea.

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Great passages from book I'm reading

I'm currently reading The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. I picked it up on a whim -- it was the free book in a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale at Barnes and Noble. The author is Candice Millard and I'm very glad I have discovered this writer. Her writing is so interesting to read, and the subject matter is very interesting. The topic is Roosevelt's South American journey on a then mostly unknown river. It was after he lost the 1912 election and the way he dealt with losses was to do such things, like when he joined the Rough Riders.

Anyway, I really admire the way she writes about both the expedition and the native people and animals of the area, and some of what she writes is funny and scary at the same time:

"These particular dugouts [boats], moreover, were in questionable condition. In fact, Roosevelt's counting of them sounded ominously like a description of the Seven Dwarfs. "One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterloogged, and leaky," he wrote. "The other three were good."

Another passage I noted just is beautifully written. I'm good at writing about facts, but I'm always working on writing more creatively. I just love this:

"As the ex-president stood at the river's edge, surveying the jungle he hoped to master and explore, the forest surrounding him met the dawn by exhaling thin white clouds of condensing moisture that rose over the canopy about him like the breath of a wolf on a winter morning."

My dream job

I went to Eastern State Penitentiary today with our interns from work. Had a great time on the tour and plan to go back on my own to get more detailed information. The tour guides were very knowledgeable.

If I ever won a huge lottery jackpot (guess I should play it once in a while), I would love to do this for a living -- not necessarily at Eastern State, but as a historical guide in the Parks system. I think many of them are volunteers and those who are paid don't get much. I'd love to be a tour guide at Gettysburg or Antietem, or some of the other Civil War battlefields -- Petersburg, Franklin, Chancelorsville, The Wilderness (if stinkin' Wal-Mart doesn't take over The Wilderness batttlefield). Hosting walking tours of Philly or leading tours at Valley Forge could be fun, too. I'd probably enjoy doing the same thing at Fort Ticonderoga. The possibilities are endless.

Of course, I still need to make a living and need to live in this general vicinity due to family connections here and in NY. Heck, I already bore my friends and family with stupid little things that I know about history, or rant about people who think Winston Churchill was a fictional character, so if I had one of these jobs maybe I'd be less irritating to those around me. Then again, it could make me worse. :)

Pearl Harbor Day

I think this is really becoming a problem

When PBS premiered Ken Burns' The War back in the fall, I heard him in interviews say that he made this because a large percentage of high school graduates think we fought WWII with Germany and against the Russians. I think people who didn't live through any of the Cold War think we were always enemies with Russia, so of course we were against them in WWII. However, it's still not a good thing -- not at all.

Today I see that we aren't alone in being ignorant of important events in our own history: 1 in 4 Britons Think Winston Churchill Never Existed. I find it interesting but sad that people think Churchill, Cleopatra and Sir Walter Raleigh, to name a few, were made up for movies and books, but think Sherlock Holmes is real.

Sigh.

Stitching update

Here are my promised pictures. I got quite a bit of stitching done on Garden Verses over the weekend, and she's coming along nicely. I've finished about 1/3 of Skeleton Crew.





Also, I've decided what I'll be watching while stitching on the 4th. I'm pretty sure Tim has to work that day so will be home by myself. I haven't checked with him, but they are open 24/7/365 and he's worked Christmas and Thanksgiving in the past. Anyway, I see the History Channel is playing the entire "The Revolution" series starting at 10AM that morning. It's a good series that I'd like to get on DVD at some point, and I love watching documentaries while stitching.

New York City history

I finally finished this one yesterday. I've been chipping away at it on the way to and from work and finally finished it. It's a very good book, but I'll have to read it again some day to pick up what I missed, as there's sooooo much information. The problem with reading books on the train is that sometimes there are very sad parts and I try not to cry in front of people, who would think I've lost it. The last part of the book talks about how so many people willingly gave up their lives because they were so sure that this war would leave Europe secure and that by fighting this terrible war such a terrible war would never have to be fought again. Of course, we all know that WWI was the setup for WWII, even though they thought at the time that it was "the war to end all wars." Seeing their feelings written down in this way, though, really got to me.

So, now I'm reading a book that's less dense but very interesting nonetheless. It's Downtown: My Manhattan by Pete Hamill. One of the items on my 101 list is to read one of his books, and this recently came out in paperback and I grabbed it. I'm going to have to read some of his other works, as he's a joy to read. This book talks about lower Manhattatn, where he's lived most of his life except for when he was a young child living in Brooklyn. I became interested in him after seeing his interviews on my New York documentary. He just seemed so downt-to-earth and is a son of Irish immigrants, and the way he talks and tells a story is really interesting. His writing is the same -- I feel like he's sitting next to me, telling me about the people he sees while spending some time at The Battery, and talking about what he sees there naturally leads him into talking about the history of that part of the city.

It's very strange, this fascination I have recently acquired regarding NYC's history. NYC is not someplace I actually care to visit, as I can't handle all the crowds. It's a shame, because I really would like to see some of these places, and maybe I'll force myself to take a train ride and stay a night or two once in a while, since it's pretty close to Philly. I went there once for 5 days when I was in college. I was there for a college press conference, and by the time I left I was soooo ready to leave lol. I just can't take all the people in one place; being in the middle of a big crowd when I can't see out makes me very anxious.

Anyway, I grew up hating the city. When I was a kid, I constantly heard my dad bemoaning the fact that a lot of the taxes he paid went to those who lived in NYC. I also remember him seeing the "city people" taking pictures of the beautiful deer eating our crops across the road. It didn't sit well with him. :)

I guess it was after 9/11 and watching this documentary for the first time on tv that I started getting interested in the city. It's interesting to see how so many things that happened there really did set the pace for the rest of the country. The New Deal started in NYC after the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire, which was absolutely horrific. One creepy part of this documentary is that, since it was finished in 2001 before 9/11, there are strange little foreshadowings and ironies in the piece that would have meant nothing before 9/11, but much more after. One of the worst parts about the Triangle fire was that the women were on the 8th and 9th floors and couldn't get out because the exits were closed, presumably so that union reps could not get in. Of course, the women couldn't get out and ended up having to jump out of the building. The reform movement started after this, they say, so that something so horrific would never happen in the city again. I couldn't help but think that it happend almost 100 years later, with people jumping from much higher up to escape a fire. There are quite a few little moments like that, that bring home what happened on 9/11.

I guess that's why I've become interested. On a board I visit we were discussing how that day affected people differently, and for many people in the country it was "business as usual" a few days later. I wasn't sure what she meant by that and asked her, and during our conversation I discovered she meant that in NYC, people still look scared if they hear an overhead plane flying lower than usual, etc. I don't really do that here in Philly, although when I hear a plane flying lower than usual I do think of that day, but I don't get that scared feeling. But, in many ways, my personal life didn't go back to "business as usual." That day changed me, granted not in as profound a way as those who witnessed it firsthand, and I don't want to make it look like I suffered what they did -- there's just no way that's true. However, I have become more weepy since then. I don't cry for no apparent reason, but I tend to tear up more often when something sad happens in a movie, or in a book. Heck, I nearly bawled at the end of Harry Potter 6. The Triangle fire incident really upsets me when I watch a documentary about it, or read about it. So, for me it has never been "business as usual" since that day. While I don't want to EVER negate the feelings of New Yorkers on that day, or those in or near Washington, D.C for that matter, I don't want them to think that it didn't matter to me and that it was no big deal. I've cried my tears for their loss on that day, believe me.

I have very mixed feelings about this new movie coming out, World Trade Center. I won't be seeing it, I can tell you that right now. Maybe I'll be able to watch it in 10 years, I don't know. When I want to memorialize that day, I have the additional DVD that was made after the attacks and added to that NY documentary. It's 3 hours of narrative and interviews about the rise and fall of the towers and is magnificent. I'd much rather watch that, the truth about what happened, than a Hollywood version of that day. That being said, for some people this may be good for them. Perhaps it will help some of the families and friends of victims have some closure? I really don't know, as I'm not in their shoes, but if this movie helps any of them then who am I to say it should be banned? I'm not one to think any movie, book, newspaper, etc. should ever be banned, anyway. If you don't want to see it, don't see it. If you want to protest that it was made, I'm not going to stop you, but neither am I going to join you.