On This Day – 8 December 1941

One day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese military the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the US to declare war on Japan.

The President gave a rousing speech for a mere 6 minutes and 30 seconds before the Senate and the House voted. There was no debate and war was unanimously supported by members of the Senate (82-0) and by all but one member of the House (388-1). The one dissenting vote against the declaration of war in the House belonged to Miss Jeanette Rankin, a Republican of Montana whose vote was greeted with boos and hisses.

The official declaration occurred when President Roosevelt signed the petition declaring war at 4:10 pm on the 8th of December.