THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM: SEPT 10th, NOV 21st, & DEC 6th
These three dates represent days before momentous events in American and world history. They were days in which people living at the time had no idea of what changes would come because of what would happen the next day.
September 10, 2001: Americans could not have fathomed that two great New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon would be successfully targeted by Islamic terrorists on 9-11.
November 21, 1963: There had not been a presidential assassination in more than sixty years. We had the youngest-elected POTUS looking forward to re-election and Americans had great faith and trust in their government. JFK's death on 11-22 stunned us and the world.
December 6, 1941: Europe was at war, but the United States was not. While Hawaii was under military alert, Americans certainly did not expect an attack on 12-7 that would take thousands of lives, destroy valuable military material, and propel our nation into World War II.
Sean Munger describes December 6, 1941 as "the very last day of American history and society before it changed suddenly, dramatically and permanently." That description could easily apply to November 21, 1963 and September 10, 2001.
While the attacks on 9-11 came early in the morning on the U.S. East Coast, both the assassination of JFK and the attack on Pearl Harbor were announced in the early afternoon on the East Coast. As Munger points out, America's last day of innocence actually extended almost 13 hours into the 7th. So too, the death of JFK was not announced until 2 p.m. Eastern time on the 22nd.
SOURCE
"The day before infamy, December 6, 1941," by Sean Munger, December 6, 2015, www.seanmunger.com/
These three dates represent days before momentous events in American and world history. They were days in which people living at the time had no idea of what changes would come because of what would happen the next day.
September 10, 2001: Americans could not have fathomed that two great New York skyscrapers and the Pentagon would be successfully targeted by Islamic terrorists on 9-11.
November 21, 1963: There had not been a presidential assassination in more than sixty years. We had the youngest-elected POTUS looking forward to re-election and Americans had great faith and trust in their government. JFK's death on 11-22 stunned us and the world.
December 6, 1941: Europe was at war, but the United States was not. While Hawaii was under military alert, Americans certainly did not expect an attack on 12-7 that would take thousands of lives, destroy valuable military material, and propel our nation into World War II.
Sean Munger describes December 6, 1941 as "the very last day of American history and society before it changed suddenly, dramatically and permanently." That description could easily apply to November 21, 1963 and September 10, 2001.
While the attacks on 9-11 came early in the morning on the U.S. East Coast, both the assassination of JFK and the attack on Pearl Harbor were announced in the early afternoon on the East Coast. As Munger points out, America's last day of innocence actually extended almost 13 hours into the 7th. So too, the death of JFK was not announced until 2 p.m. Eastern time on the 22nd.
SOURCE
"The day before infamy, December 6, 1941," by Sean Munger, December 6, 2015, www.seanmunger.com/
US Naval Base
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
October 30, 1941
U.S. Navy Photo
