A Ticket to Hear One of the Most Famous Speeches in American History: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress Asking for a Declaration of War Against Japan

Taken from the personal scrapbook of Congressman A. Leonard Allen, who was there

The first ticket to this epochal event we have seen, it is now being offered for sale for the first time

On December 7, 1941, just before 8 a.m. Hawaii time, the American naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Japanese aircraft in a surprise military strike, destroying many American ships and aircraft, and killing over 2,400 civilians and military personnel. It was early afternoon in Washington when the news reached the President. Franklin D. Roosevelt was just finishing lunch in his oval study on the second floor of the White House, preparing to work on his stamp album, when his telephone rang. The White House operator announced that Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox was on the line and absolutely insisted on talking with him immediately. Roosevelt took the call. Secretary Knox told the President of the attack. Harry Hopkins, a top aide who was with Roosevelt at the time, could not believe the report. But Roosevelt did. “It was just the kind of unexpected thing the Japanese would do. At the very time they were discussing peace in the Pacific, they were plotting to overthrow it,” he said.

After consulting with his Cabinet, Roosevelt decided to deliver an address before a joint session of the Congress the next day and ask for a declaration of war. For the rest of that afternoon, Roosevelt and his advisers were busy at the White House receiving reports about the damage to U.S. installations, ships, and planes in Hawaii. Across the nation, news of the attack spread by radio and word of mouth, and Americans began thinking about what life in a nation at war was going to be like. In early evening, FDR called in his secretary, Grace Tully. “Sit down, Grace,” he said. “I’m going before Congress tomorrow, and I’d like to dictate my message. It will be short.”

Short it was. But it was to become one of the most famous speeches in American history, giving birth to one of the most famous phrases of the century. “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in world history,” he began as Tully took down the words, “the United States was simultaneously and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” Biographer Nathan Miller recalls: “He inhaled deeply on his cigarette, blew out the smoke, and began dictating in the same calm tone he used to deal with his mail. He enunciated the words incisively and slowly, carefully specifying each punctuation mark and new paragraph. Running little more than five hundred words, the message was dictated without hesitation or second thoughts.” Tully typed up what Roosevelt had dictated, and the President went to work revising this first draft.

Roosevelt quickly changed “a date which will live in world history” to “a date which will live in infamy,” providing the speech its most famous phrase and giving birth to the term, “day of infamy,” which December 7, 1941, is often still called. A few words later, he changed his report that the United States of America was “simultaneously and deliberately attacked” to “suddenly and deliberately attacked.” At the end of the first sentence, he wrote the words, “without warning,” but later crossed them out. Thus that first historic sentence – the one that is usually quoted from the speech – was created: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941— a date which will live in infamy— the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

There were other changes also. At one point, Roosevelt noted that the distance from Japan to Hawaii meant that the attack must have been planned “many days ago.” He changed that to “many days or even weeks ago.” Historians now know that the Japanese had considered a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor for many years.

Samuel Rosenman, Robert Sherwood, and Harry Hopkins were usually involved in drafting major speeches, along with others in the government, depending on the subject. But Rosenman insisted that all the speeches eventually were Roosevelt’s. “The speeches as finally delivered were his-and his alone-no matter who the collaborators were. He had gone over every point, every word, time and again. He had studied, reviewed, and read aloud each draft, and had changed it again and again, either in his own handwriting, by dictating inserts, or making deletions. Because of the many hours he spent in its preparation, by the time he delivered a speech he knew it almost by heart.” But this speech was almost all written by FDR, and Rosenman wrote: “The remarkable thing is that on one of the busiest and most turbulent days of his life, he was able to spend so much time and give so much thought to his speech.”

Roosevelt’s speech amounted to a call to arms for a national audience that would suddenly need to shift to a war footing that meant wage and price controls; shortages of food, fuel, and other strategic materials; and, of course, the induction into the armed forces of their sons, husbands, fathers, and sweethearts.

The next day, at 12:30 P.M., in the House of Representatives, Roosevelt delivered his six-minute address to a joint session of Congress and a nationwide radio audience. He was interrupted several times by applause. The speech had an immediate positive response and long-lasting impact. It is one of the most famous speeches in American history. It was broadcast live by radio and attracted the largest audience in American radio history, with over 81% of people tuning in to hear the speech. Soon after the speech, Congress almost unanimously declared war on Japan.

A. Leonard Allen was a congressman from Louisiana who represented his district from 1937-1953. This is a ticket to hear Roosevelt’s speech and the Declaration of War that was issued to Allen. The front of the ticket reads: “House of Representatives, Admit bearer to the Gallery of the House of Representatives, December 8, 1941”, and contains the printed signature of the Doorkeeper, J.J. Sinnott. The verso shows that Allen or his guest sat in Gallery 10, row A, seat 6. This was a much-coveted front row seat. Gallery 10 is an area of about 75 seats located in the left corner of the chamber, which because of the configuration of the chamber is the closest one to the speaker. The person in this seat had a bird’s eye view of President Roosevelt deliver his famous address.

This is the first time we have seen a ticket to view this momentous event. It comes from Allen’s scrapbook and has never before been offered for sale.