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America During Wwii

“Yesterday, December 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.”1 This quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt marks the address to congress concerning one of the most impacting events in the history of the United States: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Twentieth century American history was filled with monumental events. From the assassination of William McKinley and subsequent presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, to Black Thursday in 1929, to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; numerous events throughout the last century helped mold the landscape of the United States for decades to come. Yet, it seems apparent that one instance in particular stands out when reflecting upon the 1900s. The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan in late 1941 would set in motion a trigger of profound events that would affect our country more than any other single historical moment. The significance of December 7, 1941 would have a far-reaching effect upon women’s rights, the role of government in the United States, the struggle of African-Americans to gain equality, the decades-long Cold War that followed the peace, and the ending of the most severe economic crisis in American history; to say nothing of the fact that Pearl Harbor undeniably served as the impetus for American involvement in World War II. All of these occurrences either may not have transpired, or at the very least been significantly slower in their arrival without the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the U.S. into World War II.

Though often times in the collective American mind we give credit for the ending of the Great Depression to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, it was in reality the ramping up of American spending in the early forties, and throughout the years of actual U.S. involvement in the war, that brought about...

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