He took us through a depression, he took us through a major war and laid the basis for peacetime reconstruction of the world. But beyond that, it was a very fine speech. NJ: Did you have a sense at the time that Roosevelt’s words would live on in the way that they have?ĭingell: It was a momentous occasion, but it was also a time that was impacting the United States in an unbelievable way. NJ: Describe the atmosphere in the Capitol on Dec. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and sank almost the entire Pacific Fleet. Somebody went walking by, and they said, “The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.” So I went in and listened to the radio, and of course the story was there. My folks lived in an apartment house not far from the Capitol, which was convenient to dad, who was not in the best health. NJ: Talk about how you heard the news on Dec. The war went on when the United States got in for about three and a half more years. Seventeen million Americans went into the Army and Navy and Air Force. It was certainly an event that you almost could call world-stopping. NJ: Did you realize at the time just how momentous that event was?ĭingell: I don’t think anybody realized how momentous it was. I did, which I should not have done but which I did, because I thought it was important. Now you’ll remember this was before TV, before broadcasting was allowed in the chamber except under special circumstances. I was not supposed to allow Lewis to record. You will still hear from time to time the remarks of President Roosevelt, and on very rare occasions you will hear the debate which took place, which was a rather raucous debate. He asked for a declaration of war against Japan, because Germany at that time had done nothing to the United States. They finally allowed her to speak on Wednesday, because as you’ll remember, Roosevelt did not ask for a declaration of war against Germany.
And Rayburn, who was presiding, would not permit it. In any event, there was one woman member from Montana, and she had voted against World War I and World War II. Kind of interesting to observe how it worked. So you had all these folks jumping the fence. Because all of the right-wing conservatives who had been isolationists, and who had been strongly opposing any involvement of the United States in the war, all of a sudden decided they were going to become visibly patriotic Americans. And in the debate which followed, it was kind of interesting. It was a rather interesting debate, and it followed an extraordinary speech by the president which he had written himself. So he continued to record it, and the result was that the debate of the House on the declaration of war was recorded. I left him to continue with that because I thought it was quite an important event.
I was supposed to see to it that he shut off the recording device after the president spoke. So the House and the Senate met in joint session to hear him. Because you remember the president came up to ask for a declaration of war. John Dingell: I was given the responsibility of seeing to it that was able to record the president’s speech. 8, 1941, watching President Roosevelt deliver that speech to Congress. National Journal: Talk about your experiences on Dec. The Dean of the House spoke with National Journal about what he witnessed during those days. record Franklin Roosevelt’s now-iconic “date which will live in infamy” speech. The following day, Dingell, then a 15-year-old senior House page, was assigned to the House gallery to help radio broadcaster Fulton Lewis, Jr. John Dingell, D-Mich., heard the news of the Pearl Harbor bombing on a Washington, D.C. Note: This story was originally published to Hotline On Call on Dec.
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