The president of the US at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He proclaimed that December 7, 1941, would be "a date which will live in infamy" in a speech he delivered to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941.
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, shortly before 8:00 a.m. (local time), the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military assault on the United States at the naval facility at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. The strike caused the United States, which was at the time a neutral nation, to formally enter World War II the next day. The assault was code-named Operation AI, Hawaii Operation, and Operation Z by the Japanese military command.
At 7:48 in the morning Hawaiian Time, the assault started. 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft—fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers—attacked the facility in two waves, taking off from six aircraft carriers. All eight of the existing US Navy battleships were damaged, with four of them being sunk. Six of them were subsequently raised, with the exception of USS Arizona, and they all continued to combat in the war. In addition, the Japanese sunk or damaged one minelayer, three destroyers, three cruisers, and an anti-aircraft training ship. There were more than 180 US planes lost. 1,178 people were hurt, and 2,403 Americans died. The headquarters building—also the location of the intelligence division—and other significant base structures, including the power plant, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, were spared bombardment. Only 29 airplanes, five midget submarines, and 64 military members were lost by the Japanese nation. One of the submarine's commanding officers, Kazuo Sakamaki, was taken prisoner.
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