08 BBC Roosevelt

In this nation's capital, the Japanese attack on Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, and the torpedo was sold on two American cargo ships in the Pacific, have come with an electrifying shock. There are crowds right now gathered in front of the White House and the State Department and the Japanese Embassy.

They are sober, quiet crowds. There is more excitement among a crowd of 150 newspaper men, jammed within the lobby of the White House Executive Office. For a comparatively few feet away, the President is dictating the first draft of a message to Congress.

That much is announced at the White House. And this means that a joint session of Congress will be held probably as early as tomorrow at which the President will announce the Japanese attack upon the United States and ask for a declaration of war.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion. the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and desperately attacked by By Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States

and the Japanese Empire.