Awe and reverence on two fronts

Last August, I visited the Pearl Harbor National Memorial with my sister where we looked back on the deadly strike against U.S. naval and military forces in Hawaii.

The whole memorial - including the sunken USS Arizona and stories of sacrifice - were hard to stomach yet produced a swell of pride one can’t easily describe. What also struck me was the display of the President’s annotated transcript for his address to Congress, and by extension the nation, the following day.?

Can you imagine what FDR was thinking that day? How nervous his secretary Grace Tully must have been while dictating a message to the American people declaring “a date which will live in infamy”??FDR’s speechwriters were in New York, they weren’t even there!

I’m not trying to prop up oratory above the valiant sacrifices of our military service members. What I guess I’m trying to convey from a communicator’s point of view is pure awe. How does one go about comforting and galvanizing a nation that has been shaken to its core?

Looking back 80 years ago, it seems like such a lofty and herculean effort but it started with a piece of paper and pencil notes.