Brief Summary
The Set-Up
Japan throws a deadly surprise party for the American military personnel at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt is not amused. The day after said party, he delivers a twenty-six-sentence-long thank-you speech, promising to return the favor in kind…but with less "surprise" and more "deadly."
The Text
Everything about this speech screams shock, disbelief, anger, and vengeance.
Which is pretty impressive, considering none of those words are used even once.
But we don't need 'em to get the gist of this bad boy. In twenty-six short sentences, President Roosevelt manages to accomplish four fairly major things:
- He tells everyone what the heck happened on December 7th 1941 out there in Hawaii and around the rest of the Pacific region, and who's responsible for it all.
- He conveys, super-clearly, how not happy he is with Japan's crummy behavior.
- He asks Congress for a formal declaration of war against Japan.
- He expresses his confidence in America's ability to not only take Japan on, but take them down.
As far as Presidential speeches go, there are shorter ones, and there are longer ones. But there are few that do so much so well in such a brief amount of time.
And who doesn't love a good multitasker?
TL;DR
President Roosevelt explains why Japan and America's theme song, "Why Can't We Be Friends," has been changed to "What Goes Around… Comes Around."