Newswise — It was “a date which will live in infamy.” Early on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes and submarines attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, sinking or severely damaging 30 ships and killing some 2,400 military personnel and civilians. Now, as Americans prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of that attack, a Florida State University historian and scholar is prepared to offer his expertise on a war that altered the course of history.
• G. Kurt Piehler, director, FSU Institute on World War and the Human Experience, and associate professor of history: (850) 329-7137 or (850) 644-9541, [email protected]
Piehler’s work has centered around questions of memory and history, as well as the human experience of World War II. He has conducted more than 300 interviews with World War II veterans over the course of his career.
“Americans correctly remember that Pearl Harbor united the nation in the struggle against Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. But what many have forgotten, even those who lived through World War II, was how divided Americans were prior to Dec. 7, 1941. In retrospect, we need to remember that even ‘the good war’ sparked heated debates over American foreign policy and whether it was in the national interest to oppose German and Japanese aggression. The lessons of history are complex.”
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