There's a simple way to sum up most dramatizations of America's entry into World War II. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, brave men are slaughtered, America is stunned, President Franklin Roosevelt gives the "day of infamy" speech and the nation goes to war.
But a new book and TV special focus on just 24 hours in that period and present a ton of marvelous details about how events unfolded in the Pacific, the United States and the rest of the world. In particular, they showcase Roosevelt's actions and reactions after the attack, but with sidebars of information.
The drama of Roosevelt's speech was preceded by the even more intense sight of the polio-crippled president walking dramatically to the lectern. A car confiscated from gangster Al Capone had to be used to transport the president, because the government didn't have a bulletproof car. Even as America was getting the news about the Japanese attack, a famously isolationist U.S. senator refused to believe it and went ahead with a rally and speech denouncing Roosevelt. Also, the president might have been momentarily high from cocaine administered medicinally for a sinus problem.
All those vignettes are in "Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After," a two-hour special airing Wednesday -- the 70th anniversary of the attack -- on the History Channel. The special will also be on DVD in January.
Several historians are featured in the program, notably Steven Gillon of the University of Oklahoma. He is a resident historian for the channel, author of several books tied to History programs and also wrote the new book "Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War." That book covers the same ground as the TV special, but in greater detail.
While the special overdoes the dramatic music, it has a stirring story, especially as Roosevelt and his team are told what has happened and try to figure out how to respond. They were hampered by communication problems (news traveled much more slowly in 1941), wary of making public the extent of the damage, concerned about additional attacks (which came) and slowed by disagreement. As awful as Japan's acts were, Roosevelt worried even more about Nazi Germany and about how Japan's actions might be used to get into the war in Europe.
Terrible mistakes were made, including the decision to inter Japanese-Americans. Yet Roosevelt remained focused -- both the special and the book note wife Eleanor's claim that Roosevelt had a "deadly calm" about him -- and rallied the nation.
