![]() ![]() Looking over the drafts supplied by the archivist Raymond Teichman at the Franklin D. ![]() was marking the date with great specificity however, I would have substituted that for which.) Just as Churchill's ''blood, toil, tears and sweat'' has been shortened in memory to ''blood, sweat and tears,'' F.D.R.'s ''date which will live in infamy'' has been cut to ''F.D.R.'s day of infamy speech.'' (Day is not as puissant as date in this case, as F.D.R. History has a way of editing phrases to make them more memorable. It was an unfamiliar word to most people few recalled the passage in Ezekiel in the King James Version of the Bible, ''Ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people.'' Because the adjective infamous is within the periphery of understanding of most English speakers, the noun infamy was a better choice than, say, obloquy or the more bookish opprobrium. He reached for a word that expressed ''shame, disgrace, evil reputation, obloquy, opprobrium.'' His choice: infamy. What about ''a date which will live in world history''? That seemed to credit the Japanese with an historic act and carried with it no condemnation. He changed simultaneously to the more dramatic suddenly, which went to the surprise nature of the combined attack. Simultaneously dealt with the naval and air forces operating as a unit, which was not his central point besides, it was a six-syllable word. ''Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history,'' went the first draft of his six-minute message, ''the United States was simultaneously and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.''į.D.R. He dictated this to Grace Tully, his secretary: Rosenman, for his speech to Congress calling for a recognition that ''a state of war has existed'' - chose to write the message himself. Roosevelt - who could have turned to his great speechwriters, Robert E. The day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. ![]() This is a good day to take a close look at a famous speech. ![]()
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