“Yesterday, December 7, 1941″Maimon Schwarzschild

Here is the audio of FDR’s “Day of Infamy” speech to the US Congress, 65 years ago today, calling for a declaration that a state of war had existed with Japan since the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7.

It is a superb speech, of course.  It is not as short as the Gettysburg Address, but it is a short speech too.

Here are some “then and now” reflections by Victor Davis Hanson:

[Today a] stronger, far more affluent United States believes it can use less of its power against the terrorists than a much poorer America did against the formidable Japanese and Germans.

World War II, which saw more than 400,000 Americans killed, was not nearly as controversial or frustrating as one that has so far taken less than one-hundredth of that terrible toll.

And after Pearl Harbor, Americans believed they had no margin of error in an elemental war for survival. Today, we are apparently convinced that we can lose ground, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, and still not lose either the war or our civilization.

Of course, by 1945, Americans no longer feared another Pearl Harbor. Yet, we, in a far stronger and larger United States, are still not sure we won’t see another Sept. 11.

Read the whole thing.  And do listen in to FDR.