--- description: President Franklin D. Roosevelt wasn't the only Roosevelt to give a stirring speech in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. title: This Is What Eleanor Roosevelt Said After Pearl Harbor image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd6f2dbcc9b264d/6988aff32dce01ff8e9eb90c/er.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [conflict](/tag/conflict/) ## conflict Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is What Eleanor Roosevelt Said to America's Women on the Day of Pearl Harbor  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:16 PM CUTPublished: Dec 7, 2016 2:00 PM CUT  First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1941 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1941NBC / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Jan 24, 2024 12:16 PM CUTPublished: Dec 7, 2016 2:00 PM CUT The [speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt](http://time.com/3619359/yesterday-live-in-infamy/ "undefined") in the wake of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by the Japanese on [Pearl Harbor](http://time.com/4493090/craig-nelson-pearl-harbor/ "undefined") remains one of American history’s most famous orations: from his observation that the date would “live in infamy” to his request that Congress declare war, his words are—more than 75 years later—still associated with that [moment](http://time.com/4129649/pearl-harbor-news-gathering/ "undefined") in time. But the President was not the only Roosevelt to give a speech of sorts. In fact, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt addressed the American people _before_ her husband did. Her weekly radio program, _Over Our Coffee Cups_, was already scheduled to go out on that Sunday, and she kept up the schedule, adding a few words of commentary on the news to the introduction to the story she had planned. She became, according to the [FDR Library](http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/daybyday/resource/december-7-1941-2/ "undefined"), the first public figure who spoke to the country about what had happened. In her remarks on her [broadcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4unsg4W0JTM "undefined"), transcribed here [courtesy of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project](https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/q-and-a/q21-pearl-harbor-address.cfm "undefined"), she let the nation in on what was going on in Washington at that moment—and spoke specifically to the women of America, who might not have been on their way to battle but were nevertheless deeply affected by the coming of war: --- > “” --- [_Experience Pearl Harbor in virtual reality with LIFE VR_](http://time.com/4583817/remembering-pearl-harbor-virtual-reality/ "undefined") The scheduled program involved, suitably, an interview with a soldier. As Stephen Smith notes in his introduction to the book [_The First Lady of Radio_](https://books.google.com/books?id=2HPoBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=eleanor+roosevelt+pearl+harbor&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwialuDdj8%5FQAhWF4CYKHcw0Bn0Q6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=eleanor%20roosevelt%20pearl%20harbor&f=false "undefined"), it was “an unprecedented moment for a First Lady”—speaking to the people before her husband did, and setting the national tone with her attitude of sympathy and steadfastness. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4584910/eleanor-roosevelt-pearl-harbor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4584910/eleanor-roosevelt-pearl-harbor/"},"headline":"This Is What Eleanor Roosevelt Said to America's Women on the Day of Pearl Harbor","datePublished":"2016-12-07T14:00:55.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T12:16:57.000Z","description":"\"Whatever is asked of us I am sure we can accomplish it\"","url":"https://time.com/4584910/eleanor-roosevelt-pearl-harbor/","keywords":["conflict","radio","Pearl Harbor"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd6f2dbcc9b264d/6988aff32dce01ff8e9eb90c/er.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4dd6f2dbcc9b264d/6988aff32dce01ff8e9eb90c/er.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Eleanor Roosevelt","caption":"NBC Radio - Pan-American Coffee Bureau","creditText":"NBC / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/conflict/","name":"conflict"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4584910/eleanor-roosevelt-pearl-harbor/","name":"This Is What Eleanor Roosevelt Said to America's Women on the Day of Pearl Harbor"}}]}] ```