THE MONTH THAT CHANGED AMERICA
Review of Craig Shirley’s “December 1941, 30 Days that Changed America and Saved the World”
“DECEMBER 1941, 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World” by Craig Shirley offers a rare opportunity to relive that incredible month in a time-travel sort of way, rather than read about it in the hindsight of history. It is a time capsule of the period, and is so compelling it is a hard book to set aside.
Drawing on newspapers and magazines of the day, Shirley has written a chapter for each day of December 1941. They form a portrait of America, jampacked with information, ranging from the ordinary to the momentous. Woven through the book is information about what products Americans were buying, what toys children were hoping to receive for Christmas, the measurements and juicy details of Hollywood glamour gals and the cost of groceries.
In the days before the Pearl Harbor attack, ominous details of the movements of the Japanese fleet are included, buried at the time in a flood of news articles but standing out now like horrible red flags.
One striking feature is the confusion and misinformation about the attack itself. It was days and weeks before the true, horrible extent of the damage and devastation was revealed, and in the absence of facts, rumors flew. On Dec. 12 the list of deaths numbered 155, but was still incomplete. Attacks were expected on both coasts of the U.S., and sightings of phantom enemy planes and ships were reported for months.
The book also discloses the intensity of war developments in Europe, and carries a sense of the inevitability of American involvement. The first use of the term “Second World War” begins to creep in with the grim realization that the Great War that ended in 1918 would not be the only war to engulf the entire world.
Throughout the month, Japanese attacks in the Pacific continue to mount, even as news articles sound relentlessly positive and falsely cheerful. Shirley notes that readers “would have been forgiven if they thought the Japanese had just offered to sue for peace.”
On Christmas Eve, FDR and Winston Churchill, together in Washington, made a dual radio address, with Roosevelt concluding, “The new year of 1942 calls for the courage and the resolution of old and young to help win a world struggle in order that we may preserve all we hold dear.” I couldn’t help but wonder if America ever dreamed how long it would take or how many would die in the effort.
Peggy Carlson is on the newsroom staff of The Free Lance-Star
