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After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in
the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States. On
December 8, 1941 (the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), Alan Lomax, then "assistant in charge" of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the
Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center), sent a telegram to fieldworkers in ten different localities across the United States, asking them to collect
"man-on-the-street" reactions of ordinary Americans to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war by the United States. A second
series of interviews, called "Dear Mr. President," was recorded in January and February 1942. Both collections are included in this presentation. They feature a
wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes. The result is a portrait
of everyday life in America as the United States entered World War II.
This online presentation includes one essay: "Making and Maintaining the Original Recordings." Also included are biographies of the fieldworkers who
conducted and arranged the interviews, complete transcripts of the interviews, related manuscripts, and original disc sleeves. This presentation was made
possible with the generous support of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the New Deal Network.
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The goal of the Library's National Digital Library Program is to offer
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The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of
the past. These primary historical documents reflect the attitudes,
perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress
does not endorse the views expressed in
these collections, which may contain materials offensive to some readers.
Special Presentation:
Making and Maintaining the Original Recordings
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