A Day That Still Lives in Infamy

By Heidi Bamford 2,279 words

On Friday, December 7th at 2pm at the Niagara History Center in Lockport, visitors will be taken back 71 years to that unforgettable day in 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress and the American people who had just experienced the horror and shock of a surprise military air attack from Japan on the U.S. military base in Hawaii. Albert McFadyen will portray Roosevelt in a special presentation, FDR: The Four Freedoms Speech in observance of this historic event that launched the United States into World War II. The speech Roosevelt gave before Congress and known today as the Day of Infamy Speech might have been called something else entirely since infamy was one of several changes Roosevelt made to his original draft before delivering it publicly. Roosevelt was informed of the Japanese attack on the afternoon of December 7th and after hearing the various reports, that same evening he called for his secretary, grace Tully to take down the words he would use to address Congress in asking them for a declaration of war against Japan. After dictating what amounted to a speech of just over 500 words, Roosevelt quickly began to edit the typed copy. The opening line originally read, Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history... He changed the words world history to the more familiar and more ominous day of infamy. Roosevelt made other changes, but one that particularly stands out is also in the first line where he stated the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan without warning. In Roosevelts final version, he omits the final words without warning. The handwritten draft of the Day of Infamy speech is preserved in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. But Americans can see this document and even listen to the original radio broadcast online through the website of the National Archives (below). Both the Library of Congress and the National Archives have custody of several other unique materials that link FDR and World War II to the people of the Western New York region.

The Man on the Street: Buffalo, NY Immediately after the attack at Pearl Harbor, Alan Lomax, working in the Archive of American Folk Song (now the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress) sent telegrams to fieldworkers across the country asking them to conduct interviews with regular citizens to get their reactions to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Man on the Street collection includes twelve hours of over two hundred interviews that took place in cities and towns, including four interviews in Buffalo, New York. The field person responsible for the Buffalo interviews was Charles T. Harrell, a recent college graduate who had just started work in 1940 as Radio Research Project of the Library of Congress as a writer, recorder, and narrator, but then took a position as head of public service programs at WBEN in Buffalo, New York.

Harrell (who later became an influential radio and television director for NBC and ABC, as well as a noted Broadway Director, College Professor and at the end of his life, a minister) interviewed the following individuals: Dorothy Baer, a widow living with her father on Glenwood Avenue in Buffalo, who expressed a dislike for what she knew of the Japanese culture being only familiar with them as domestic servants of her friends- but emphatically against aggression towards the Japanese citizens; Frederick A. Hodge, age 65 and living on Linwood Avenue in Buffalo. Hodge, a retired former chemical engineer and professor commented that he was against punishing the Japanese people, but very much opposed to their government, and wanted to restrict military resources of all countries; William Patterson, a 22-year old recent college graduate from Brown University and living with his family on Summit Avenue in Buffalo also responded he was against retaliation to the Japanese people he referred to hearing reports of Japanese-American citizens on the west coast demonstrating their loyalty to America. Patterson was also considering whether to enlist and when and; Timothy Sullivan, he was a 35-year old machinist for Buffalo Foundry and Machine Company, as well as husband and father of one child. Sullivan, like the other respondents was not in favor of punishing Japanese people or of going after anyone else at this time, including Germany. The Buffalo interviewees were alike in their being resigned to the fact that this might be a long war and in order to prevail, sacrifices would have to be made. Like the Roosevelt speech, both the audio and transcripts of the interviews are available online, through the Library of Congress (Man on the Street Interviews after Pearl Harbor Attack, December 1941 at the Library of
Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/afcpearl:@field%28SUBJ+@od1%28New+York++Buffalo%29%29)

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))

From: the National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=1208

FDR and Western New York Before the Day of Infamy As early as 1936, people of western New York had the opportunity to hear firsthand President Roosevelt talk about the impending world crisis. FDRs I hate war speech originated with an August 14, 1936 address he gave at the Chautauqua Institution. President Roosevelt communicated to the audience the horrible impression that WWI had left on him, and his awareness that new fanaticisms and old hatreds were always present and ready to erupt into armed conflict. His words ring with a disturbing resonance today: I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping, exhausted men come out of linethe survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war

Many causes produce war. There are ancient hatreds, turbulent frontiers, the "legacy of old forgotten, far-off things, and battles long ago." There are new-born fanaticisms, convictions on the part of certain peoples that they have become the unique depositories of ultimate truth and right. A dark old world was devastated by wars between conflicting religions. A dark modern world faces wars between conflicting economic and political fanaticisms in which are intertwined race hatreds Franklin D. Roosevelt address in Chautauqua, New York: 08/14/1936

Two months later, in October 1936, President Roosevelt was in Buffalo to lay the cornerstone for the new federal building, noting that he had been in town not so very long ago for the dedication of the State Office Building. Both structures, as Roosevelt observed were constructed as part of his public works programs, which he described as what we Americans had decided was an American substitute for the dole. The first structure, the New York State Office Building located at 65 Court Street in Buffalo was built in 1932 (renamed the Mahoney State Office Building in 1982 for Walter J. Mahoney, a former and influential state legislator and State Supreme Court Judge). The Federal Building, dedicated by FDR in 1936 is now the Michael J. Dillon Memorial United States Courthouse (a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York) located at 68 Court Street in Buffalo. The building was renamed in 1986 in honor of murdered IRS Revenue Officer Michael J. Dillon.

Address at Buffalo, New York: 10/17/1936

Almost one year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt was again in the region, making stops at various plants, including Curtiss Wright and Bell Aircraft. In his address at Bell, Roosevelt says, I have been very thrilled in what I have just seen. It seems to me that for a five year old child you are all

grown up and doing mens work and womens work too. His inclusion of women as part of the war work effort was a great motivating factor for women everywhere to join the industrial labor forces. Roosevelts speeches in Buffalo emphasize the value of united labor and the urgency of maintaining quality aircraft while stepping up production, essentially to support his Lend Lease policy of supplying Allied forces with much needed equipment in their conflict with Germany. The copies of these several speeches made in the course of one day here in the Buffalo area stress the need to keep Americans united and productive.

Informal Remarks At Curtis-Wright Plant, Buffalo, New York: 11/02/1940 Informal Remarks At Bell Aircraft Plant, Buffalo, New York: 11/02/1940 Informal Remarks At Buffalo, New York: 11/02/1940

Following the Day of Infamy: the Western New York Home Front Women continued to play a vital role in the war effort and in western New York they made astounding contributions to support the United States. Luckily for us, this time of great change was welldocumented by the United States Office of War Information (OWI) whose records are preserved and

many available online at the Library of Congress. One of the photographers on the OWI staff at the time created an incredibly detailed and humane portrayal of American women at work in the war, much of her story coming from women in this region. Marjory Collins began her career

Portrait of Marjory Collins, photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the United States Office of War Information (OWI)

Women took on almost every aspect of labor at every facility in the area, with little or no prior training. Collins included detailed information to go with her photos including the fact that many of the production facilities were not equipped to handle women employees and so the new female workers would often find themselves taking a break to powder their noses in half-finished locker rooms and bathrooms. In several of the major plants, she noted that employees had to bring their own tools to work. This was a bigger challenge for many of the women, just learning the use of tools for the first time. Collins also captured the transition of women coming from the home to the workplace, with images of recently employed women being sworn into the rubber workers union at a Sunday meeting. She notes, Most of them have never worked before and know little about trade unionism. At Symington-Gould, makers of tank, ship and railroad parts, women became skin dryers (After head has been put on mold, it is covered with a delta wash which makes a hard finish. Skin dryers dry off this surface with the flame of an oil torch). Many would start out as sweepers as Collins observed, Most new women employees are given clear-up jobs to start with in order to accustom them to factory life. At Republic Steel, Collins stated that women had entirely replaced men as chainmen or "hookers" in the finishing department. "Hookers" placed slings and chains around material to be hoisted by cranes so that it could be moved to another section of the plant or loaded onto freight trains. Women working at Republic Steel also manned huge machines that cut and sliced imperfections from steel castings for gun barrels in the processing department or, they worked inside open hearth furnace as bricklayers' helpers. Collins reports that, When the end of a chamber is knocked out, there are about 5000 bricks to be lifted and removed. Bricks weigh about eight pounds each.

There were women working as rollers, inserting tubes into condensers for the Navy at the Ross heater plant; they were grinders and axle lathe operators at the New York Car Wheel Company in Buffalo; they worked with acids as chemical operators at the Niacet Chemical Company; when they werent working in the factories, they worked as recruiters of other women workers for the War Manpower Commission.

Images from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=buffalo%2C%20new%20york%20women

In one unique case, Collins gives a glimpse into the personal life of one woman and her family. Probably using a pseudonym, Collins captures images of Mrs. Grimm, a crane operator at Pratt and Letchworth, who was a widow and supporting a family of six children, all under the age of twelve. The children and Mrs. Grimm are seen in the course of their daily lives as they attempt to keep a routine and provide a home life in the absence of a mother who is often at work in the factory. According to Collins, the two youngest children live in a foster home during the week while the others stay at school all day, but on Saturday all are home and do all housework.

Beverly Ann Grimm, eleven, leaving the store after making the family purchases from a list left that morning by her twenty-six year old widowed mother of six children, all under age 12, Mrs. Grimm is a crane operator at Pratt and Letchworth. Here Beverly Ann submits ration coupons to the grocer for what she has purchased

Peter Grimm, age ten, is waiting with his wagon outside Loblaw's grocery store for customers to ask him to deliver their groceries. This was a rainy day with few customers. Sometimes Peter makes as much as three dollars on a Saturday. He pays for all his school supplies and much of his clothing.

Patsy Grimm, age 6, seen drying the breakfast dishes. The two youngest children live in a foster home during the week, while the other four stay at school. On weekends they all do household chores. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=grimm%20buffalo