LibGuides: Primary Sources: America in World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor - December 7th 1941

On December 7th, 1941, the peaceful morning at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was shattered by a surprise attack launched by the Imperial Japanese Navy. In a meticulously coordinated assault, Japanese aircraft descended upon the American naval base, catching the sleeping Pacific Fleet by surprise.

The attack began at 7:48 a.m. local time and lasted nearly two hours. Waves of Japanese fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes targeted battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft stationed at Pearl Harbor. The devastation was immense, with the USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and USS Utah among the ships suffering catastrophic damage. In total, over 2,400 Americans were killed, and more than 1,100 were wounded. The attack also inflicted significant damage to the American naval fleet, destroying or damaging numerous vessels and aircraft.

The assault on Pearl Harbor shocked the nation and propelled the United States into World War II. The following day, December 8th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous "Day of Infamy" speech before Congress, urging them to declare war on Japan. The speech galvanized public support for military action and marked the beginning of America's active involvement in the global conflict.

The attack on Pearl Harbor remains a defining moment in American history, symbolizing the country's transition from neutrality to active participation in World War II. It led to a wave of patriotism and unity as the nation rallied behind the war effort, determined to defend democracy and seek justice for the lives lost in the surprise attack.

Online Sources: Attack on Pearl Harbor - December 7th 1941

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor (Library of Congress) After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States. On December 8, 1941 (the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), Alan Lomax, then "assistant in charge" of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the American Folklife Center archive), sent a telegram to fieldworkers in ten different localities across the United States, asking them to collect "man-on-the-street" reactions of ordinary Americans to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war by the United States. A second series of interviews, called "Dear Mr. President," was recorded in January and February 1942. Both collections are included in this presentation. They feature a wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes. The result is a portrait of everyday life in America as the United States entered World War II.
Audio Recording of President FDR's Speech Following the Pearl Harbor Attack (FDR Presidential Library and Museum) The USS Arizona seen burning after the attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the morning of December 7, 1941. It was 1 p.m. in Washington. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, NLR-PHOCO-A-8150(29))
Dorie Miller, War Hero - Pearl Harbor (National Archives) The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience. In honor of African American History Month this February, we pay tribute to the struggles and achievements of the people and events that have shaped our nation. Today, we share the story of Doris (“Dorie”) Miller, a U.S. Navy sailor in service on board the USS West Virginia during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
FDR's Fireside Chat After the Declaration of War on Japan 12/9/1941 - DocsTeach DocsTeach also includes audio, like this recording of FDR’s Fireside Chat After the Declaration of War on Japan.
FDR’s “Day of Infamy” Speech (National Archives) Documents and Records regarding FDR's Infamy Speech.
Ford Islander (University of Hawaii) The newspaper of the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor. Includes issues from v.1 (June 2, 1943) - v.6 (June 11, 1948), but some issues are missing.
The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945) (DocsTeach) This collection comes from the National Archives and combines photos and documents.
Hawaii War Records Depository Photos (University of Hawaii) he Hawaii War Records Depository (HWRD), which was established at the University of Hawaii Library in 1943, is an extensive collection of materials that document life in Hawaii during World War II. The HWRD includes 880 photographs taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S. Navy during World War II. These photographs, taken between 1941 and 1946, document the impact of World War II in Hawaii. They depict Army and Navy activities in Hawaii and illustrate the military's relationship with Hawaii's civilian population. The Hawai'i War Records Depository (HWRD) holds approximately 1,000 newspaper photographs clearly identified as being from the Honolulu Star Bulletin and 330 photographs clearly identified as being from the Honolulu Advertiser, representing primary material from the two English-language Honolulu newspapers. Because the newspapers have lost most of their old photographs, these prints frequently are the only copies extant from the World War II era.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook Pearl Harbour Attack Documents, 1941 (Fordham University) Some Files Relevant To The Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. (Collected, formatted, and edited by Larry W. Jewell jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu)
Japan declares war, 1941 - A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History) Declaration of War against the United States and Britain [in Japanese], December 8, 1941. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Martial Law in Hawaii: The Papers of Major General Thomas H. Green, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army (Library of Congress) On December 7, 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Green was Staff Judge Advocate, Hawaiian Department. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he became executive to the military governor and was responsible for countless daily operations of the American military government in the Territory of Hawaii. His personal papers—spanning his entire career from 1917 through his retirement in 1949—include notes, speeches and newspaper clippings, as well as correspondence with such historic figures as the secretaries of War, Navy, and Interior, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Generals Walter Short and Delos Emmons, and Admirals William D. Leahy and Chester Nimitz. The papers from this collection will be made accessible in full text PDF versions and will be added to this page over the coming months, beginning with Major General Green's complete, unpublished manuscript: Martial Law in Hawaii: December 7, 1941 – April 4, 1943. These papers are among the rich collections of primary source materials in the field of military law at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School Library in Charlottesville, VA External Link. For related materials also available on this Web site, see the series Enactments and Approved Papers of the Control Council and Coordinating Committee (Allied Control Authority, Germany, 1945-1948) and The Case of General Yamashita: A Memorandum.
Overview of the Pearl Harbor Attack 7 December 1941 (Naval History and Heritage Command) The road to war between Japan and the United States began in the 1930s when differences over China drove the two nations apart. In 1931 Japan conquered Manchuria, which until then had been part of China. In 1937 Japan began a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to conquer the rest of China. In 1940, the Japanese government allied their country with Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance, and, in the following year, occupied all of Indochina. The United States, which had important political and economic interests in East Asia, was alarmed by these Japanese moves. The U.S. increased military and financial aid to China, embarked on a program of strengthening its military power in the Pacific, and cut off the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan. Because Japan was poor in natural resources, its government viewed these steps, especially the embargo on oil as a threat to the nation's survival. Japan's leaders responded by resolving to seize the resource-rich territories of Southeast Asia, even though that move would certainly result in war with the United States. The problem with the plan was the danger posed by the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet, devised a plan to immobilize the U.S. fleet at the outset of the war with a surprise attack. The key elements in Yamamoto's plans were meticulous preparation, the achievement of surprise, and the use of aircraft carriers and naval aviation on an unprecedented scale. In the spring of 1941, Japanese carrier pilots began training in the special tactics called for by the Pearl Harbor attack plan. In October 1941 the naval general staff gave final approval to Yamamoto's plan, which called for the formation of an attack force commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. It centered around six heavy aircraft carriers accompanied by 24 supporting vessels. A separate group of submarines was to sink any American warships which escaped the Japanese carrier force.
Pearl Harbor - DocsTeach On DocsTeach, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives, you can find primary sources like maps and speeches – even images taken by the Japanese military during the attack that were later captured.
Pearl Harbor: 70th Anniversary (Library of Congress) From: Stories from the Veterans History Project "Serving Our Voices" -- 70 years after the first bombs fell, the events of December 7th, 1941 remain etched in the collective memory of Americans. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii altered the course of history, marking the entrance of the United States into its second world war. While many lives were changed that day, none were more affected than those service men and women living and working in Pearl Harbor. For them, December 7th is more than just a page in the history books—it was the start of their combat career, a day when they lost friends and comrades, and the instant when war became a reality. In their own words, these Pearl Harbor survivors present what they experienced on “the date which will live in infamy.”
Pearl Harbor Attack - Congressional Hearings Collected here are documents from the 23 volume, 40 part, 25,000 page report of "Hearings before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Congress of the United States" which was released July 20, 1946.
Pearl Harbor Combat Maps Japanese Approach Routes over Oahu This map shows the main approach routes for the flights of torpedo bombers, dive bombers and high level bombers which attacked installations across Oahu Island on the day of the attack. The fighters which escorted the main flights dispersed across the island from north to south, often flying far ahead of the main flights. Hence their early arrival, especially along the east side of the island, where they strafed Kaneohe Naval Air Station several minutes before Pearl Harbor was attacked. Click to see Pearl Harbor Attack mapAttack Flights over Pearl Harbor This Flash animated combat map gives a basic overview of events which occurred at the center of the Pearl Harbor attack. The harbor areas attacked were not limited to those shown. Other combat zones outside the central harbor included major air bases at Hickam Field, Wheeler Field and Kaneohe Naval Air Station to name a few. The time compression of our animation has necessarily been varied in order to depict the passage of vessels through the harbor.
Pearl Harbor Photographs and Overview (Naval History and Heritage Command) The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant. Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable. By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan's diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well. The U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya. These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan's far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accommodation might have been considered. However, the memory of the "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan's striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.
Remembering Pearl Harbor (National Archives) Each year, we acknowledge the work done and sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. On this date, our country remembers and reflects on the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The National Archives and Records Administration is proud to serve veterans and their families, especially through our work at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. In addition to veterans’ records, our holdings include historical materials, such as photographs, video footage, and military records, which chronicle the military’s history and battles.
Revisions of President FDR's Pearl Harbor Speech Before Delivery (National Archives) FDR’s “Day of Infamy” Speech Crafting a Call to Arms
Selected Documents on the Pearl Harbor Attack, December 6, 1941 – December 8, 1941 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum This artificial collection is composed of photocopies of original documents identified from the holdings of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library pertaining to Pearl Harbor, specifically the events of three days: December 6, 7, and 8, 1941. The items are a collection of documents gathered from other collections found at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. The criterion for selecting the historical content is solely based on the date range—December 6, 1941 to December 8, 1941. Selected materials include: documents, diaries, telegrams, letters, memoranda, and photographs.
Today in History - December 7 - Air Raid on Pearl Harbor (Library of Congress) Today's Stories: Air Raid On Pearl Harbor
USS Arizona - "That Terrible Day" (Arizona University) The battleship Arizona served with pride and distinction in the US Navy from 1916 until 1941. The map above highlights the events surrounding the USS Arizona as well as the duties the ship carried out over her lifetime. Among the many duties the ship performed was service with the British Grand Fleet at the end of World War I, taking President Hoover on a cruise of the Caribbean in 1931, providing aid after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and serving as a location for the filming of the movie Here Comes the Navy. Tragically, the ship is familiar to most people because on December 7th, 1941, the USS Arizona was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with the loss of over eleven hundred crew members. The purpose of this web exhibit is to present the papers, photographs, and memorabilia of the USS Arizona held by the University of Arizona library's Special Collections. Many of these items are on exhibit at the USS Arizona memorial in the University of Arizona Student Union. We wish to give emphasis to those materials that are located at the University of Arizona and are not widely available via other sources.
Video Footage (Various), From Pearl Harbor to D-Day (National Archives and Records Administration) U.S. National Archives YouTube Channel with Videos on Pearl Harbor.

Book Sources: Attack on Pearl Harbor - December 7th 1941

Click the title for location and availability information.

Radioman : an eyewitness account of Pearl Harbor and World War II in the Pacific by Carol Edgemon Hipperson
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D767 .D37 2008
ISBN: 9780312386948
Publication Date: 2008-10-28
Attack on Pearl Harbor : a pictorial history by Stan Cohen
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D767.92 .C63 2006
ISBN: 9781575100876
Publication Date: 2001-05-27
Washington, D.C. : Dept. of Defense, 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee by United States. Department of Defense. 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee
Call Number: View Online HathiTrust & Government Documents D 1.2:P 32/2
Publication Date: 1992
Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Report. by United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack.
Call Number: View Online - Gov Docs
Publication Date: 1946
Infamous day : Marines at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 by Cressman, Robert, author.; Wenger, J. Michael, author.; United States. Marine Corps. History and Museums Division, publisher.
Call Number: View Online - Gov Docs
Publication Date: 1992
Toward Pearl Harbor : the diplomatic exchange between Japan and the United States, 1899-1941 by Ralph E. Schaffer (Introduction by)
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection E183.8.J3 T67 1991
ISBN: 9781558760462
Publication Date: 1996-12-01
Pearl Harbor extra : a newspaper account of the United States' entry into World War II by Eric Caren
Call Number: Jupiter General Collection D767.92 .P4 2001
ISBN: 0785813411
Publication Date: 2001-05-01
Pearl Harbor revisited : United States Navy communications intelligence, 1924-1941 by Parker, Frederick D., author.; United States. National Security Agency/Central Security Service. Center for Cryptologic History, issuing body.
Call Number: View Online - Gov Docs
Publication Date: 2013

Videos on Attack on Pearl Harbor - December 7th 1941

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American History in Video This link opens in a new window
American History in Video provides the largest and richest collection of video available online for the study of American history. The collection allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and the presentation of historical events over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.

Under Attack - Pearl Harbor - Academic Video Online - Database Six episode series devoted to the history of the Pacific Theater of World War II. Starting with the tensions in the Pacific that led to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor through the epic battle of Midway and the Atomic Bombing of Japan.
Japanese Planes Bomb Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Explodes & Sinks - Academic Video Online: Premium Database GV-Pan P.H. shipping, an explosion in water, US planes dive over. GV USS Nevada leaves the harbor. GV AA flak, cruiser damaged and on fire. LS Japanese plane amid flak. GV-Pan Various ships burning.
Pearl Harbor - Academic Video Online Database This program examines the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor through the eyes of veterans from both sides.
Attack at Pearl Harbor (simulated action), Japanese view point and reaction - Academic Video Online Database LS Torpedo launched (at dawn) from sub; hits USS Arizona (BB-39) (model). MS Sub comes to surface; burning battleships and naval installations in background (simulated). MS Young Japanese officer looking at blazing battleship through binoculars (good). ML USS Arizona buckling amidship from torpedo explosion (simulated; good). LS PAN Night scene at Pearl Harbor after Japanese attack (poor model). MS Interior of sub: Officer sending Morse code signal (reporting battle result) (good shot). MS Communication room aboard Japanese ship number of radiomen in view; Captain comes in and asks if any report has been received. CU Telegram reading: 'We have succeeded in the attack.' MS High-ranking Japanese officer in wardroom receiving reports of battle (long). MS Members of the family listen to the radio, which is broadcasting news of their son's honorable death. MS Another family of son's friends listening to radio; also his school teacher. MS Girl in kimono goes into the art room, kneels near the picture of a flaming ship, and prays for the dead. ML Front view of the shrine; high torii (gate) in the scene (poor).
Eyewitness: Road To War - Pearl Harbor - Academic Video Online Database Even though Japan had fought on the Allied side in World War, its economic troubles during the 1920s allowed its military to gain almost complete control over the government, leading to its eventual joining with the Axis powers in 1940. Over sixty years after the events, eyewitnesses and experts have come together to give accounts of events leading up to the devastating attack at Pearl Harbor. With interviews woven into new archive accounts of what really happened, history is re-examined by those who were involved.
Eyewitness: Day Of Infamy - Pearl Harbor - Academic Video Online Database On December 7 1941 the Japanese bombed the U.S. naval base of Pearl Harbor, situated on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Over sixty years after the event, eyewitnesses and experts have come together to commemorate this occasion and to provide eyewitness accounts of the bombing and the events following on from this devastating attack. With interviews woven into new archive accounts of what really happened, history is reexamined by those who were involved.