Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we did the Alamo
We will always remember
How they died for liberty
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
And go on to victory

I didn’t have to look up those lyrics. It’s surprising how one can remember something from two-thirds of a century ago but can’t remember where he put the car keys 30 seconds ago.

However, I hazard a guess that a sizeable majority of readers never heard that song composed by Sammy Kaye. Tomorrow is the 68th anniversary of what President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Congress would be “...a day that will live in infamy...” School children were sent home shortly after arriving at school on the morning of Monday, December 8, 1941 to hear their President tell Congress that a state of war existed between the United States and the Empire of Japan, and to ask the members to officially declare war.

Following the speech all the Senators and all but one Representative quickly voted to declare war on Japan. Rep. Jeanette Rankin, R, Calif., voted No. She had also voted no to the WWI declaration but so did 49 other members of Congress then.

The Constitution states that only Congress can declare war. That action on Dec. 8, 1941 was the last time Congress has declared war, though there has been few years since when U.S. Armed Forces have not been in combat somewhere in the world. The closest to an official declaration  was on Sept. 14, 2001 when Congress gave President Bush the authority to use military force to combat terrorism, and Congress has approved of military action in other cases.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Americans heard the Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye orchestra perform “Remember Pearl Harbor.” And the words soon were being sung by school children throughout the land. But it did not remain popular. Other World War II songs replaced it. From Britain came “There’ll be Blue Bird over, the White Cliffs of Dover, just you wait and see.” Vaughn Monroe sang, “When the lights go on again, all over the world.” There was “Praise the Lord and pass the Ammunition,” “Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer,” and the Spike Jones band even did a comic one, “Right in the Fuehrer’s Face.” Considering the noises that came from that band, there was a hidden meaning. And, of course, Kate Smith rescued a song trashed in 1918 that is now a second national anthem and a national prayer.

Why did Americans unite so well in the war that followed Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and not so much for the current war that started with terrorist attacks on New York and Washington? There are a number of reasons, but I think two of them are important. First, though there was the usual political adversity prior to Dec. 7, 1941, the President had the oratorical talent to generate public trust in the government, and that included his political opponents. Winning the war took precedent over wining an election.

Americans were assured the U.S. Armed Forces were going to conduct and fight the war, not the President or Congress. Following FDR’s war message to Congress recruiting stations were over run with enlistees. World War II was fought by all economic levels of Americans. Major League baseball players and other top athletes, top movie stars, even members of Congress donned the uniform and took up arms. As President Roosevelt said later in the war, “The war will be won by Republicans and Democrats, the wealthy and not so wealthy.” The vast majority of Americans were involved and sacrificed to win World War II.

In the current war with the volunteer Armed Forces most of the real sacrifice is by the members of the Armed Forces and their families. With a few exception today’s Armed Forces consist of men and women from families in the middle and lower income levels. I’ll catch the devil for saying this but it’s the truth. Make up a list of pro athletes, top entertainers and business leaders going to Iraq and Afghanistan as fighting personnel. It won’t take long to make it.

Trivia Time

What WWII song was popular with both the German and Allied forces? Answer to last question Alfred Hitchcock’s first movie made for an American studio was Rebecca.

Contact George Frasher at 337-238-3433, or email him at
frasher@cebridge.net.