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A Date Which Will Live In Infamy

The text of the Declaration of War approved December 8, 1941, 4:10 p.m. E.S.T. is as follows: JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same. Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States. ---------- (Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a dedicated lifelong pacifist, cast the sole Congressional vote against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan. Facing certain defeat at the polls, she did not stand for re-election in 1942.)