ONCE IS ENOUGH - 7 DECEMBER 1941

And so we sit down to keyboard a bit late again.

Not, this time, late in the day, but late in sitting down, for this is an important anniversary, one which we usually precede with some sort of commemoration.

For this is the anniversary of The Infamous Day, 7 December 1941, as coined by President Roosevelt, in so many words, so very eloquently.

Several thousand survivors of that horrendous day survive and they help us to ‘keep’ the Day, as it were.

The Great Pacific Fleet was not ready. The might of the United States was not ready. The leaders and people of the United States were not ready.

Even after VE and VJ Days, when the nation should have known better, the paramount thought among leaders and people was to disarm, to disarm as quickly as possible and to ‘get back to normal.’

Hindsight is quite an advantage, and those folks can perhaps be forgiven.
To some extent.

For a short time the effort seemed to be possible.
And then reality.

The decision was made, within a few short years of victory, that such unreadiness should never again prevail.

And so the sacrifice of that day and of the four years of days that followed were perhaps not in vain, for they started the preparation of the Republic for the new world which was coming into existence, the world of the Cold War and all the struggles and the sacrifices which would eventually ensue, then and thereafter.

Perhaps that is the true meaning of Pearl Harbor: that the best way to prevent war, to prevent catastrophe, is not to foolishly attempt to outlaw war or to ignore the signs that it is coming, but rather the best way is to prepare for it with force so overwhelming, so terrible, so all-knowing, that no enemy, whether rational or not, would dare to even approach the brink.

As Churchill said regarding WW2 appeasement, They had the choice of preparing for war or for preparing for peace. They chose to prepare for peace. They got war [paraphrase].

Let us hope the Good Guys never make the same mistake again.