View Header   Office of the Press Secretary  For Immediate
Release December 5, 1997     December 7, 1941, marked a turning
point in the history of our Nation, a defining moment that would
alter the lives of millions of Americans and change forever
America's destiny. On that quiet Sunday morning, the forces of
Imperial Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii, killing or injuring more than 3,000 Americans, crippling
our Pacific Fleet, and critically damaging our airpower. In that
moment of supreme crisis, the essential greatness at the core of
the American spirit was revealed. Our response was not despair,
but determination. Inspired by the leadership of President
Franklin Roosevelt and buoyed by his faith that we ultimately
would prevail, America went to war.  Looking back across the
years, we rightly are still awed by what the American people
accomplished during World War II. United in spirit and purpose
after the attack on Pearl Harbor, millions of men and women
joined the Armed Forces;