Eighty‑four years ago today, on December 8, 1941, the United States formally entered World War II by declaring war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor the previous day.
Declaration of war on Japan
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan in response to the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor. Congress approved the declaration the same day, with the Senate voting 82–0 and the House 388–1, the lone dissenting vote coming from Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a committed pacifist.
Other events that day
On the same date, several other countries aligned with the Allies, including New Zealand, also declared war on Japan as news of Japanese attacks across the Pacific spread. Military actions associated with the wider Pacific offensive, such as Japanese attacks in places like British Malaya and Guam, were underway around this time as part of Japan’s rapid expansion at the start of the Pacific War.
