--- description: It was on Dec. 8, 1941, that the U.S. declared war on Japan title: Pearl Harbor and a Date Which Will Live in Infamy image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef4ac3a176188bb7/69876cf93c16398918450753/fdr.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&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 # How TIME Covered the 'Date Which Will Live in Infamy'  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2014 2:30 PM CUT  President Franklin D. Roosevelt (wearing black armband) signing declaration of war as others look on, following Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor President Franklin D. Roosevelt (wearing black armband) signing declaration of war as others look on, following Japanese bombing of Pearl HarborThomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2014 2:30 PM CUT President Franklin Roosevelt’s words to Congress at what would be the start of the U.S.’s entry into World War II turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy: “”Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy…” On that date, the U.S. had been attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor — and on this date, Dec. 8, the U.S. declared war. The news came, as TIME noted in the next issue of the magazine, “after 22 years and 25 days of peace.” Here’s what TIME had to say about FDR’s speech: --- > “” --- **_Read the full article here, in the TIME Vault:_** [National Ordeal](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-12-15/page/20/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3619359/yesterday-live-in-infamy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3619359/yesterday-live-in-infamy/"},"headline":"How TIME Covered the 'Date Which Will Live in Infamy'","datePublished":"2014-12-08T14:30:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:35:58.723Z","description":"It was on Dec. 8, 1941, that the U.S. declared war on Japan","url":"https://time.com/3619359/yesterday-live-in-infamy/","keywords":["conflict","World War II","Speech","fdr","WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef4ac3a176188bb7/69876cf93c16398918450753/fdr.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/bltef4ac3a176188bb7/69876cf93c16398918450753/fdr.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","caption":"Franklin D. Roosevelt","creditText":"Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty","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/3619359/yesterday-live-in-infamy/","name":"How TIME Covered the 'Date Which Will Live in Infamy'"}}]}] ```