JFK HEARD NEWS OF PEARL HARBOR ATTACK ON THE RADIO
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Ralph G. Martin writes that as a young sailor John F. Kennedy "had no romantic conception of war" and that "he saw it as an event of shattering waste and horror."
The event that propelled the United States into World War II could also be described as one of "shattering waste and horror." Seventy-six years ago today, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
JFK, fresh out of Officer Training School, was assigned, at age 24, to the Office of Naval Intelligence here in the Nation's Capital. On that historic Sunday, Jack Kennedy was playing touch football on the Mall close to the Washington Monument with his friend Lem Billings.
As they were returning to Jack's apartment on 16th Street, news of the attack on Pearl Harbor was broadcast over the car radio.
Nigel Hamilton writes...
"(Lem) Billings was 'terribly excited.' Thick, billowing smoke rose above the Japanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue as guilty diplomats burned their papers. Hundreds began to assemble outside the White House...wanting to know what would be the president's reaction."
"A Hero For Our Time: An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years," by Ralph G. Martin, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983.
"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.
"JFK, Reckless Youth," by Nigel Hamilton, Random House, New York, 1992.
_burning_after_the_Japanese_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor_-_NARA_195617_-_Edit.jpg)
The event that propelled the United States into World War II could also be described as one of "shattering waste and horror." Seventy-six years ago today, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
JFK, fresh out of Officer Training School, was assigned, at age 24, to the Office of Naval Intelligence here in the Nation's Capital. On that historic Sunday, Jack Kennedy was playing touch football on the Mall close to the Washington Monument with his friend Lem Billings.
As they were returning to Jack's apartment on 16th Street, news of the attack on Pearl Harbor was broadcast over the car radio.
Nigel Hamilton writes...
"(Lem) Billings was 'terribly excited.' Thick, billowing smoke rose above the Japanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue as guilty diplomats burned their papers. Hundreds began to assemble outside the White House...wanting to know what would be the president's reaction."
SOURCES
"A Hero For Our Time: An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years," by Ralph G. Martin, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983.
"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.
"JFK, Reckless Youth," by Nigel Hamilton, Random House, New York, 1992.
USS Arizona
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
NARA Photo
