Presidential Parlance: Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States naval base located at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Over 2,400 Americans died. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress to ask for a declaration of war. He began by referring to December 7th as "a date that will live in infamy." The Pearl Harbor attack brought the United States into World War II and was the most deadly foreign attack on American soil until the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda in 2001.