Sixty-eight years ago today the Imperial country of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt got the news at about 5:00 pm in Washington, DC, when he was about to start work on his stamp collection (really).
Shortly after, FDR dictated his speech to his Secretary, Grace Tully, as he puffed away on a cigarette. By December 8th, the speech was completed and was ready to be presented to Congress--"a date which will live in world history" had changed to "a date which will live in infamy"--but the substance remained the same: America was going to war.
While the dates of December 7th and December 8th, 1941 have been meticulously researched by historians, none have noticed until today that seated in Congress behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt is none other than former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Experts will tell you Dick Cheney didn't use his real name at the time--instead he disguised himself as Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn--but the picture speaks for itself: Dick Cheney was there in 1941.
It's natural to compare the two events--Pearl Harbor and 9/11--both were similar in that they were rare attacks on American soil. But, as the dust of history settles, no two speeches in response could be more different.
FDR's was just over 500 words, directly declared war on Japan, and was delivered within 24 hours of the attack . George W Bush's sits at over 3,000 (and includes the line: "this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago"), contained no declaration of war (understandable), and was delivered nine days later on September 20. Odder still, Dick Cheney attended FDR's speech, but not Bush's.
I smell conspiracy.
Brilliant sir. Purely brilliant. Thank god we're spending public money for you to uncover such important historical oversights.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you.
He never ages!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBy thw way I just added you to my RSS feeds, it's damn impossible to keep up with all your updates.