Pearl Harbor 77th Anniversary Underground Archives

On the 77th anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor we go into the archives to experience the first 48 hours.
We begin with interruption of a normal Sunday's radio program by an emergency news bulletin advising citizens to remain calm, to avoid all unnecessary confusion, to avoid hysteria!
Two hours into the attack we hear a KGU reporter make the only known live report of the battle by telephone to NBC in New York. While the ferocity of the raid can be heard in the background, the live news report is cut off just after two minutes.
Next you will hear more Sunday afternoon emergency news bulletins with additional details. The newsmen describe how there has been a second attack on US forces in Manila. With a matter of fact tone, he states that we are "naturally" going to counter attack and "naturally" will declare war.

We all know Franklin D Roosevelt's "A day that will live in infamy" speech he gave the day after the attacks. However, it was the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who spoke to the citizens of the United States first. Eleanor had a regular Sunday evening radio program. She never considered cancelling, instead she delivered a calm and inspiring message to the men and later to the woman that were on the precipice of World War.
Listen now to both speeches in the order the American people heard them.
We conclude with reactions from some citizens of Washington DC stopped randomly in the streets on December 8th, the day after the Japanese assault.