The U.S. At War: National Ordeal

The Government and People of the United States declared war on the Japanese Empire at 4:10 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, 1941.

At dawn the day before, the Japanese had attacked savagely all along the whole great U.S. island-bridge which stretches to the Orient.

It was premeditated murder masked by a toothy smile. The Nation had taken a heavy blow. The casualties crept from rumor into uglier-rumor: hundreds on hundreds of Americans had died bomb-quick, or were dying, bed-slow.

But the war came as a great relief, like a reverse earthquake, that in one terrible jerk...