1941
Roosevelt delivers his "Four Freedoms" speech outlining what is needed
for post war peace.
FDR signs Executive Order 8802 banning discrimination because of race or religion in hiring people for defense and government jobs.
Germany invades USSR.
Advertisers form the War Advertising Council.
Lend-Lease. In his annual State of the Union address President Roosevelt asks Congests to support the Allies in their against the Axis powers. He also defines what he considers the four essential freedoms, which and all similarly inclined people are dedicated to preserving:
 The Four Freedoms speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
President Roosevelt and Britain's Prime Minister Churchill, at a secret meeting off Newfoundland, enunciate the Atlantic Charter, pledging to destroy Nazi tyranny.
Japan declares war on the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
On December 7th, Japanese naval and air forces make a surprise attack
on U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Eighteen U.S. warships are
sunk or damaged, about 170 planes are destroyed, and about 2000 Americans are killed.
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress. Asserting that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy," he asked for a declaration of war against Japan.
Within hours Congress passed a resolution to that effect, with but one dissenting voting in the lower house. The attack on Pearl Harbor quickly ended the debate between isolationists and interventionists over foreign policy and united the American people in a solemn determination to meet successfully one of the greatest crisis in the nation's history.
Gasoline curfew begins in 17 eastern states. Gasoline stations are closed
from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Four days after the attack (December 11) Germany and Italy declared war
on the United States which in turn adopted war resolutions against them.
In response to the times, Howell M. Forgy, chaplin on U.S. cruiser New Orleans, which was attacked at Pearl Harbor, coined the phrase, "Praise
the Lord and pass the ammunition."
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