Pearl Harbor and some Popular Front

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Pearl Harbor(and some Popular Front)
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Pearl Harbor gt Events leading up to the attack

• 1922 Benito Mussolini comes to power in Italy
• September 1931 Japan occupies Manchuria
• March 1933 Adolf Hitler seizes power
• May 1933 Japan quits League of Nations
• 1936 Spanish Civil War against Franco
• August 1937 Japan invades China
• October 1937 FDR calls for international
  cooperation against aggression
• March 1938 Germany annexes Austria
• September 1938 Munich agreement lets Germany
  annex Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
• November 1938 Kristallnacht, Nazis attack Jews
  and destroy Jewish property
• March 1939 Germany annexes remainder of
  Czechoslovaka
• August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union sign
  nonagression pact
• September 1939 Germany invades Poland World War
  II begins
• April-June 1940 Bliztkrieg (Germany conquers much
  of Western Europe)
• September 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan (the
  Axis powers) conclude a military alliance
• September 1940 First peacetime draft in American
  history
• November 1940 FDR elected for a third term
• March 1941 Lend-Lease Act extends aid to Great
  Britain
• May 1941 Germans secure the Balkans

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Democracy gt Washington Post cartoon, 1938
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Democracy gt Orr C. Fisher, The Corn Parade, oil
on canvas 1941
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Democracy gt Photograph of Diego Riveras mural
destroyed by Nelson Rockefeller, 1933
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Democracy gt Diego Rivera, Man at the Crossroads,
fresco, 1934
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Democracy gt It Cant Happen Here, Federal Theater
Project, Detroit, 1938
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Democracy gt Ernst Lubitsch, To Be or Not to Be,
1942
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Labor gt Memorial Day Massacre, May 29, 1937
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Labor gt Antiwar labor pamphlet
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Labor gt North American Aviation advertisement,
Colliers, 1942
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Racism gt Marion Anderson singing at Lincoln
Memorial
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Racism gt Omaha high school students fascist
sticker, 1938
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Racism gt Trust and Rely Japanese poster, 1937
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Pearl Harbor gt US Ships during Pearl Harbor
attack, 1941
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Pearl Harbor gt Live KTU broadcast from Hawaii
during the attack
Reporter Hello, NBC. Hello, NBC. This is KTU in
Honolulu, Hawaii. I am speaking from the roof of
the Advertiser Publishing Company Building. We
have witnessed this morning the distant view a
brief full battle of Pearl Harbor and the severe
bombing of Pearl Harbor by enemy planes,
undoubtedly Japanese. The city of Honolulu has
also been attacked and considerable damage done.
This battle has been going on for nearly three
hours. One of the bombs dropped within fifty feet
of KTU tower. It is no joke. It is a real war.
The public of Honolulu has been advised to keep
in their homes and away from the Army and Navy.
There has been serious fighting going on in the
air and in the sea. The heavy shooting seems to
be . . . a little interruption. We cannot
estimate just how much damage has been done, but
it has been a very severe attack. The Navy and
Army appear now to have the air and the sea under
control. Operator Ah, just a minute. . . . This
is the telephone company. This is the
operator. Reporter Yes. Operator We have
quite a big call, an emergency call. Reporter
Were talking to New York now.
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Pearl Harbor gt Interview with serviceman Orville
Quick
On the morning of December 7th, we had just come
from the, eating breakfast in the mess hall,
walked out in the street, and looked up, and here
comes a Jap plane flying and shooting down
through the area, and we stood there watching it,
wondering what in the world was going on. We
thought maybe it was probably the air corps
putting on a little show, cause they did that
every once in a while. Theyd fly around and drop
little sacks of flour for bombing practice, I
guess. And we didnt know what it was. And we
could look down south towards Pearl Harbor and
Honolulu and we could see a big smoke rising and
the boom-booms. Finally, the bugler blew the
call to arms, and none of us had ever heard that
bugle call before. We didnt know what in the
world it was until somebody said that the Japs
were attacking Pearl Harbor and for us to go to
the supply office and get our ammunition and then
go up to the barracks and draw our rifles. So we
went down to the supply office to get our
ammunition, and the supply office didnt have any
ammunition belts to put the ammunition in. So a
lot of us carried eighty rounds, and that was ten
clips of eight rounds apiece. We carried those in
our pants pocket for days and days and days
before the supply finally got in some ammunition
belts to carry the ammunition in. Then we got our
rifles. Nobody knew how to put a clip of shells
in the rifle, but we did have a few men in the
company that had had some training before on
those rifles, so those guys showed us how to get
that clip into that M-1 rifle and get our thumb
out of the way so we didnt get our thumb
smashed. Then the first night, the night of
December the 7th, of course, that was blackout.
Everything was blacked out. There was not a speck
of light. The windows in the mess hall had been
painted black, the doorways had been doubled up,
painted, and tarps were hung over the doors.
There wasnt a light of any kind even in the mess
hall. Sometime during the evening, after dark,
some airplanes flew over, evidently some of ours.
Nobody knew whose they were or what they were. We
were down in a little coolie below our barracks.
And some idiot took his 45 and shot a couple
times in the air. Why, nobody seems to know. But
it was confusion, unprepared, total confusion
until they figured out what in the world was
going on.
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Pearl Harbor gt Immigrant interviewed on the
street after Pearl Harbor
Interviewer So would you say a word? Whats your
name? Jay Noreski Yes sir. My name is Noreski.
Jay Noreski. Im a World War veteran. 1917 and
18. The last time I went to fought for democracy.
They told me to fight for democracy. And I went
over. I volunteered. But next time, Im going to
fight. Theres hate in my heart. Whats in me,
whats in my veins. Im gonna kill, slaughter
those Nazi ones if I come across a wounded one,
wouldnt interest me. Id kill my own father if
he dared fight against this country. Im an
American, not by birth, but by choice. And Im
mighty damn proud of it. What are you going to do
in this county to chase every damn skunkGerman,
Russian, Japanese, where theycome fromand never
bring them back in this country. If I hadI wish
I was the President for about one year, I
wouldthered be not a goddamn skunk left here in
this country. And Im gonna tell you something
elseUnited States never lost a war yet and never
gonna lose it because five guys, we might
inaudible about our presidents, about our
Congressmen, about ourwhat do you call it? in
charge of a state? Interviewer Secretary of
State? Noreski No no no. Interviewer
Governors? Noreski Governors. But when they come
to fight, dammit well fight to the last breath.
And Im mighty damn proud Im American. Only one
thing hurts me, my heart is American, my thoughts
are American, but my damn tongue, I never
naturalized that. Laughter
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Pearl Harbor gt African American interviewed in a
pool hall after Pearl Harbor
Andrew Smith My names Andrew Smith. And I tell
you, what I feel about the war, theyve been
talking war long enough. And theyve been talking
long time that we should have been in it. Way I
feel about itif itd been up to me wed a been
fighting a year ago. When Hitler first started
theyd been fighting, see, they would have
stopped him before he got as far as they are.
Theyd have stopped him, in fact, thats what I
think this ones gonna come up to be to stop him.
And thats the good thing that this really
started, I think. As far as Japans concerned,
why its just like he just said, its a stab in
the back. They started something that nobody
else, nobody gonna start, you know, and the man
was supposed to be here, supposed tove been
talking peace to our President, and they starting
war over there. Well, I dont think it was
justice. No justice there. Negro people would do
their very best if they had a chance to do what
they can, that they would do their very best to
do what they can. See? But, if they have a chance
to do it. All they want is a chance. Because if
they dont get a chance, thats the only reason
they dont do it because they really dont get a
chance. See? But if they get a chance, why I
really think they would do their very best,
especially if they all feel like I feel.