Current Event:

Veterans and their families gathered at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet by Japanese military forces in 1941. About 120 of the few remaining survivors of the attack attended the ceremonies. The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese bombers was a key event in U.S. history, as it led to the United States declaring war on Japan and formally entering World War II (1939-1945).

Objective:

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a defining moment in U.S. History. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles will help explain why and the ramifications of the United States’ entry into World War II.

Names To Know:

• Asia
• Europe
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Hawaii
• Japan
• Pearl Harbor
• United States
• U.S.S. Arizona
• World War II

Vocabulary Terms:

• anniversary
• attack
• bombers
• fleet
• infamy
• memorial
• war

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to watch World Book’s video Attack on Pearl Harbor. This surprise attack–or sneak attack, as it was widely called–occurred while diplomats from the United States and Japan met in Washington, D.C., trying to work out differences between the two countries. Ask your students what they think about attacking without declaring war first.

2. The day after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Congress declared war on Japan, which was part of the Axis Powers. This brought the United States into World War II on the side of the Allies. Present the following list of countries to your students, and ask them to identify which belonged to the alliance known as the Allies and which were belonged to the alliance known as the Axis during World War II.

• Australia (Allies)
• Bulgaria (Axis)
• Canada (Allies)
• China (Allies)
• France (Allies)
• Germany (Axis)
• Greece (Allies)
• Haiti (Allies)
• Hungary (Axis)
• Italy (Axis)
• Japan (Axis)
• Liberia (Allies)
• Mexico (Allies)
• Romania (Axis)
• Soviet Union (Allies)
• Iraq (Allies)
• Iran (Allies)
• United Kingdom (Allies)
• United States (Allies)

3. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “a day which will live in infamy.” Tell your students to listen to his speech, then ask them what the word “infamy” means to them and whether they think “infamy” was an appropriate word. What other days in history would they categorize as days that would live in infamy?

4. Use World Book’s timeline feature to make a timeline of the day of the attack or of the entire war. You can start World Book’s prebuilt timeline titled “World War II: Asia and the Pacific.”