Newscast: Pearl Harborsocialstudieswithmrp.weebly.com › uploads › 2 › 0 › 9 › 4 › ... · Newscast: Pearl Harbor Role Play For the first two years of World War II, the

Newscast: Pearl Harbor Role Play

For the first two years of World War II, the United States claimed neutrality, although the U.S. government provided aid to the Allies and attempted to slow Japanese expansion by freezing Japanese assets. It was this effort to reign in Japan that led to the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor. The attack on December 7, 1941, killed more than 2,000 U.S. service members and destroyed airplanes and warships. On December 8, the United States declared war against Japan.

In this activity, you will play the role of a radio news reporter on December 8, 1941. You will use firsthand accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack to create a radio newscast about the event. The newscast should describe the attack and explain that the United States has now entered World War II.

Pearl Harbor Bombed! Annotated Typescript, December 7, 1941

The image below is of an annotated script of a December 7, 1941, news report on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On top is NBC’s “program analysis” index card, which is an outline of the network’s news broadcasts for that day. It includes mention of NBC’s interruption of scheduled program to announce the attack.

NBC Program Book. 1938. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress. Web.

Discovery Education Techbook © Discovery Communications, LLC 1


I. Analyzing the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Study the selected research materials that follow to learn more about what life was like for people who experienced the Pearl Harbor attack firsthand. As you watch and read, use the chart to collect ideas for your newscast.

Notes for the Newscast

Details of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Who:

What:

When:

Where:

Why:

How:



Aftermath of the Attack

Reaction of the U.S. government:

Reaction of the American public:

List three key points that are important for people to understand about the attack.

1.

2.

3.

List three key points that are important for people to understand about the U.S. government’s response to the attack.

1.

2.

3.



Research Materials:

Naval Dispatch from the Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) Announcing the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

Naval Dispatch from the Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) Announcing the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. 1941. Words and Deeds in American History, Library of Congress. Web.

“Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941” from Video Yearbook Collection: World War II: Before Pearl Harbor: 1931–1941

This video segment was made shortly after the United States entered World War II to identify the crimes that Germany, Italy, and Japan had committed.

“The Attack of Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941” from the American Chronicles: The Darkest Hour: 1939–1941

This video segment discusses the attack on Pearl Harbor and its effects.



Excerpt from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech, December 8, 1941

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. Day of Infamy. December 8, 1941. U.S. Congress. Web.



Women Volunteers Sign Up, SF Red Cross Office, December 8, 1941

Women Volunteers Sign Up, SF Red Cross Office. IRC, 2005. Discovery Education. Web.



Excerpt from Oral History of The Pearl Harbor Attack, Lieutenant Ruth Erickson, 1941

Two or three of us were sitting in the dining room Sunday morning having a late breakfast and talking over coffee. Suddenly we heard planes roaring overhead and we said, “The ‘fly boys’ are really busy at Ford Island this morning.” The island was directly across the channel from the hospital. We didn’t think too much about it since the reserves were often there for weekend training. We no sooner got those words out when we started to hear noises that were foreign to us.

I leaped out of my chair and dashed to the nearest window in the corridor. Right then there was a plane flying directly over the top of our quarters, a one-story structure. The rising sun under the wing of the plane denoted the enemy. Had I known the pilot, one could almost see his features around his goggles. He was obviously saving his ammunition for the ships. Just down the row, all the ships were sitting there—the [battleships] California (BB-44), the Arizona (BB-39), the Oklahoma (BB-37), and others.

My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude Arnest, was saying, “Girls, get into your uniforms at once. This is the real thing!”

Oral History of The Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941, Lieutenant Ruth Erickson, NC, USN. Naval History and Heritage Command. Web.



Excerpt from Experiencing War: Memoirs December 7th, Donald Patrick Finn, 1941

I was seated on the edge of my bunk trying to make my mind whether I should shave before going to Mass or wait until afternoon chow and shave just before I catch the one o’clock liberty boat when the high-pitched whine of an airplane engine pulling its freight out of a dive forced itself upon my consciousness.

Then there was an explosion as of a charge of dynamite being set off. The two sounds seemed to have some connection. Everyone crowded to the windows opening on the handball court and looked out. There was a cloud of black smoke and flying dirt seen between the barracks and the hangers and ramps, followed by another explosion and the sight of a low wing monoplane pulling out of a dive and standing almost on its tail. It was awfully close to the groud

Certainly looked sad to see Pearl Harbor from the air. Mr. Moore said into the phone to Ensign Mosley, “It’s a terrible thing.” The Arizona was completely ravished, a burned out blasted hulk, masts warped and twisted.

Farther out from beach, the Oklahoma turned her side up to the sky.

The California was canted at a near capsizing angle.

The Nevada, the one that got underway,sat precariously on a mud bank across from the Pearl City channel.

Experiencing War: Memoirs December 7th - Donald Patrick Finn. 1941. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Web.



Excerpts from World War II and Hawaii’s Civilian Community, 1941

Agnes Eun Soon Rho Chun

All I remember was I was in bed when we heard planes flying over and then the radio was on. I heard some commotion outside, and I got up. When I went out, they said “Oh, the war. There’s a war.” There’s planes flying around and when I looked up we saw a plane flying, and it was with the round circle. So we ran inside and as we were listening to the radio, about 9:00, 9:30 [A.M.], we heard this thud-like sound. We all rushed out, and there was this little store in the front, and there was a lane next to it and then our cottages, six of them were in that vicinity. Right next to the lane there was this duplex. And lo and behold, right under the veranda, there was a huge hole. We all ran and were looking at the hole. While we were standing over there, some kind of uniformed people came running. They told us to [temporarily] evacuate. So the whole neighborhood had to evacuate. . . .

Richard Chun

There was damage to the house. One [bullet] hit the roof, one hit the sidewalk, one hit my brother’s car. And the rest of the yard was just full of machine-gun bullet holes from the planes.

World War II and Hawaii’s Civilian Community. August 8, 1994. National Park Service. Web.



Excerpts from “Man-on-the-Street” interviews following Pearl Harbor

On December 8, 1941, Alan Lomax of the Archive of American Folk Song asked field workers to collect reactions of ordinary Americans to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war on Japan.

Madison, Wisconsin, December 9, 1941

Announcer: The director of a private business school speaks. Business School Director: This country, like every strong individual in it, will strike back when a sneak hits us as Japan has done. Our return blows will have the full strength of all our great power. For our spirit hotly resents any sneaking act. A clear understanding of what caused Japan to attack us will show why we will never stop striking Japan until all danger of such attacks is ended.

The American way of life is at issue between this country and Japan. We believe in tolerance, equality, and freedom for all. We believe these ideals should be followed in national and international relations. So, for over a hundred and fifty years we have acted closer to these ideals than any other nation with similar military and naval power. Japan and Germany do not believe in our way. Both of these nations are now exerting all their power to conquer other peoples so that they can suppress, exploit, and enslave the conquered peoples. Japanese and German ideals of domination are being resisted by our ideals of tolerance, equality, and freedom. . . . The battles of the next few years will be a turning point in our history . . . wherein we will fight for tolerance, equality, freedom for all mankind as well as for ourselves.

Announcer: A student at the University of Wisconsin, twenty years old, Student: It amazed me the way the highly publicized invulnerable base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was so easily attacked. I wonder where our alert navy was. . . . Certainly, the United States has no other course than immediate and complete retaliation to the upmost [sic] of our resources. I fear, perhaps because of the eve of the Pearl Harbor affair, that the United States will find it a long, hard job. But I have no doubt as to who will be victorious. I hope to God that hemispheric isolation and other such . . . ideas have now been relegated to the ash heap of scrap treaties.



Dallas, Texas, December 9, 1941

Mrs. Lena Jameson: My first thought was what a great pity that . . . another nation should be added to those aggressors who strove to limit our freedom. I find myself at the age of eighty, an old woman, hanging on to the tail of the world, trying to keep up. I do not want the driver’s seat. But the eternal verities—there are certain things that I wish to express. One thing that I am very sure of is that hatred is death, but love is life. I want to contribute to the civilization of the world, but I remember that the measure, the burdens of our sympathies is the measure of our civilization. And when I look at the holocaust that is going on in the world today, I’m almost ready to let go. . . .

The general impression of the Japanese that I have seen and come in contact with is very different from what my impression would be if I had been in touch with the military division of the Japanese. . . My impression is modified by what I read and hear of those. My impression of the Japanese as I have seen is that they are a law-abiding and desirable citizen. . . .

“Man on the Street Interviews” Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor. December 1941. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Web.


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II. Writing Your Newscast

1. Now put yourself in the place of a radio newscaster on December 9, 1941. Your assignment is to report on the attack at Pearl Harbor and the aftermath. Use the information you have gathered in the Notes for the Newscast organizer.

• Describe the attack for listeners who have not yet heard the details. • Describe the experiences of individuals who witnessed the attack. • Describe the reaction of President Roosevelt and Congress. • Describe the reaction of everyday Americans.



2. Share your newscast with a partner. After sharing your newscast, complete a Quick Write activity in which you answer the following questions:

• How did life change for Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor? • What impact did the attack have on the Allied and Axis Powers?


Documents

Newscast: Pearl Harborsocialstudieswithmrp.weebly.com › uploads › 2 › 0 › 9 › 4 › ... · Newscast: Pearl Harbor Role Play For the first two years of World War II, the