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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 50, December 9, 2001, Article 6

THE DATE THAT LIVES IN INFAMY

  Friday was the sixtieth anniversary of the Japanese attack
  on U.S. naval forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

  "The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in
  two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at
  8:55.   By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that
  launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were
  heading back to Japan.

  Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed
  planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged
  or destroyed battleships.  In one stroke the Japanese action
  silenced the debate that had divided Americans ever since the
  German defeat of France left England alone in the fight against
  the Nazi terror.

  Word of the attack reached President Roosevelt as he
  lunched in his oval study on Sunday afternoon.  Later, Winston
  Churchill called to tell him that the Japanese had also attacked
  British colonies in southeast Asia and that Britain would declare
  war the next day. Roosevelt responded that he would go before
  Congress the following day to ask for a declaration of war
  against Japan.

  Churchill wrote: "To have the United States at our side was to
  me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United
  States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death.  So we
  had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was
  sealed. As for the Japanese, they  would be ground to powder."

  On Monday, FDR signed the declaration of war granted by
  Congress."

  http://www.ibiscom.com/pearl.htm

  http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm

  The war had numerous effects on American numismatics,
  including the "Hawaii" overprints on Federal Reserve Notes
  circulating in the state.   From Ron's Currency web site
  (http://www.ronscurrency.com/rcpmfaq.htm):

  "Q: Why does my note have HAWAII printed on it?

   A: During the early part of WWII, the US had fears that
      Japan would overrun Hawaii. If this occurred, large sums
      of currency could be captured and used to fund their war
      effort. So, the US decided to issue the same $1 Silver
      Certificates, $5, $10 and $20 Federal Reserve Notes as
      used on the mainland, but with a brown seal and serial
      numbers and overprinted with the word "HAWAII" twice
      on the front and in large block letters on the back.

      Because these notes were distinctive, it would make it easy
      for the US to demonitize the notes if large amounts fell to
      the enemy.  Later in the war, these notes were used in the
      US held Pacific Islands for the same reasons."

  Below are links to pages at the Federal Reserve Bank of
  San Francisco with illustrations of the four denominations
  of Hawaii notes:

  http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1695.html
  http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1696.html
  http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1697.html
  http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1698.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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