More Advance Praise for Pearl Harbor
âSteve Gillon begins his dramatic tale after the final bombs exploded on December 7, 1941. As President Roosevelt gathered information, he began preparing for his greatest moment, when with one speech he would have to unify the Americans and take them into war. We know what happened. But as Gillon demonstrates, we donât know the whole story. In a book that reads like the best fictional political thriller, he takes the reader on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour hell of a ride.â
âRandy Roberts, author of A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game that Rallied a Nation
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âIn this compelling account of the day that will live in infamy, Steven Gillon brilliantly evokes the peaceable White House and unprepared nation that were thrown into chaos and confusion on 7 December 1941. Gillon highlights the âdeadly calmâ with which Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to one of the most significant events of the twentieth century and set the United States on course to be a military and economic superpower.â
âTony Badger, Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Cambridge University
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âIn this fascinating account of the first 24 hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Steven Gillon manages to capture not only the essence of perhaps the most critical day in twentieth century American history; but also the essence of the man who stood at the center of it allâFranklin D. Roosevelt. A brilliant piece of investigative history, Pearl Harbor tells us a great deal about the character of the President who, though unable to walk unaided, brought the United States safely through the two great crises of the modern era, the Great Depression and World War Two. This is a must read for anyone who wishes to gain a complete understanding of FDR and the nation he led.â
âDavid B. Woolner, Senior Fellow and Hyde Park Resident Historian, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, and Associate Professor of History, Marist College
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âIn Pearl Harbor Steve Gillon combines impeccable research and historical authority with a narrative so gripping that the book reads like a thriller. This blow-by-blow account of the first 24 hours after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor presents not only a new and detailed version of the reaction to the event but also a new and up-close vision of FDRâs leadership.â
âNeal Gabler, Senior Fellow, Lear Center, USC
ALSO BY STEVEN M. GILLON
The Kennedy Assassinationâ24 Hours After
The Pact
10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America
Boomer Nation
The American Paradox
Thatâs Not What We Meant to Do
The Democratsâ Dilemma
Politics and Vision
This book is dedicated to Abbe Raven
PREFACE
President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at 1:47 p.m. on December 7, 1941. By that time the following day, FDR had finished delivering his war message to a joint session of Congress. It is hard to think of any other twenty-four-hour period that so radically transformed America and its role in the world. Japanâs assault on a quiet Sunday morning transformed a precarious peace into a total war. In this incredibly short frame of time, one era ended and a new one began. Pearl Harbor was the defining event of the twentieth centuryâit changed the global balance of power, set the stage for the Cold War, and allowed the United States to emerge as a global superpower.
There is no shortage of books about Pearl Harbor or about Franklin Roosevelt, but there is surprisingly little written about how FDR responded in the hours immediately after the attack. The standard accounts of Pearl Harbor focus on the broad diplomatic, military, and political forces that conspired to produce the worst military failure in American history. They explain why the attack took place, trace the failure of American intelligence, and depict the nature of the carnage in Hawaii. But
âSteve Gillon begins his dramatic tale after the final bombs exploded on December 7, 1941. As President Roosevelt gathered information, he began preparing for his greatest moment, when with one speech he would have to unify the Americans and take them into war. We know what happened. But as Gillon demonstrates, we donât know the whole story. In a book that reads like the best fictional political thriller, he takes the reader on a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour hell of a ride.â
âRandy Roberts, author of A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game that Rallied a Nation
Â
âIn this compelling account of the day that will live in infamy, Steven Gillon brilliantly evokes the peaceable White House and unprepared nation that were thrown into chaos and confusion on 7 December 1941. Gillon highlights the âdeadly calmâ with which Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to one of the most significant events of the twentieth century and set the United States on course to be a military and economic superpower.â
âTony Badger, Paul Mellon Professor of American History, Cambridge University
Â
âIn this fascinating account of the first 24 hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Steven Gillon manages to capture not only the essence of perhaps the most critical day in twentieth century American history; but also the essence of the man who stood at the center of it allâFranklin D. Roosevelt. A brilliant piece of investigative history, Pearl Harbor tells us a great deal about the character of the President who, though unable to walk unaided, brought the United States safely through the two great crises of the modern era, the Great Depression and World War Two. This is a must read for anyone who wishes to gain a complete understanding of FDR and the nation he led.â
âDavid B. Woolner, Senior Fellow and Hyde Park Resident Historian, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, and Associate Professor of History, Marist College
Â
âIn Pearl Harbor Steve Gillon combines impeccable research and historical authority with a narrative so gripping that the book reads like a thriller. This blow-by-blow account of the first 24 hours after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor presents not only a new and detailed version of the reaction to the event but also a new and up-close vision of FDRâs leadership.â
âNeal Gabler, Senior Fellow, Lear Center, USC
ALSO BY STEVEN M. GILLON
The Kennedy Assassinationâ24 Hours After
The Pact
10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America
Boomer Nation
The American Paradox
Thatâs Not What We Meant to Do
The Democratsâ Dilemma
Politics and Vision
This book is dedicated to Abbe Raven
PREFACE
President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at 1:47 p.m. on December 7, 1941. By that time the following day, FDR had finished delivering his war message to a joint session of Congress. It is hard to think of any other twenty-four-hour period that so radically transformed America and its role in the world. Japanâs assault on a quiet Sunday morning transformed a precarious peace into a total war. In this incredibly short frame of time, one era ended and a new one began. Pearl Harbor was the defining event of the twentieth centuryâit changed the global balance of power, set the stage for the Cold War, and allowed the United States to emerge as a global superpower.
There is no shortage of books about Pearl Harbor or about Franklin Roosevelt, but there is surprisingly little written about how FDR responded in the hours immediately after the attack. The standard accounts of Pearl Harbor focus on the broad diplomatic, military, and political forces that conspired to produce the worst military failure in American history. They explain why the attack took place, trace the failure of American intelligence, and depict the nature of the carnage in Hawaii. But
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