Kent Syler, The Daily News Journal, December 7, 1941
Rep. Albert Gore, Sr.
“Washington is calm over the threat of war with Japan. The calm may be ominous.”
With those words, Congressman Albert Gore Sr. began his Oct. 19, 1941 “radio talk” to Tennesseans.
Almost two months before Pearl Harbor, Gore used his weekly Sunday night address, aired on Nashville’s WSM, to update listeners on the war in Europe, warn that Japan was an imminent threat, and decry congressional isolationists who believed America could still avoid war.
Middle Tennessee State University’s Albert Gore Research Center holds the official papers of Albert Gore Sr. These letters and documents detail how a 33-year-old, second-term congressman from rural Tennessee somehow sensed that war with Japan was at hand, while America’s military and national leadership got caught off-guard at Pearl Harbor.
As Gore’s mid-October broadcast continued, he said, “Japan’s motive is clear. They have waited impatiently for Hitler to knock out European Russia and turn on Britain so that they, the Japanese, can make a grab, like a scavenger, upon the rich strategic south seas and upon Siberia. Hitler, in turn, has waited for Japan to start trouble with the United States in the hope that this would divert America’s might and America’s aid from Great Britain to the Pacific.”
Gore concluded his thoughts by observing, “the change in the Tokyo Cabinet is interpreted here as evidence that Japan thinks it is time for her to move.” Over the next weeks, Gore’s addresses turned back to Germany, dealing with Lend-Lease appropriations and the repeal of the Neutrality Act. Gore continued his attacks on isolationists and rallied support for the “shoot on sight” plan of President Franklin Roosevelt and fellow Tennessean and Secretary of State Cordell Hull to fight German U-boats.
In his Oct. 26 radio program, Gore addressed challenges on the home front. He warned of the dangers of inflation, profiteering, and labor unrest in industries important to America’s war effort.
Three weeks later, Gore once again turned his focus to Japan in his Nov. 16 update.
“We are in the midst of momentous discussions with Japan, whose messenger has just arrived in our Capital. Japan is teetering on the brink of war moves against the interests of the United States. The situation is tense. We are not in a position to appease Japan by giving in to her demands, and yet she is poised ready to strike.”
On Dec. 4, Gore wrote WSM to let the station know that he was going to be in Tennessee on Dec. 7, and would be doing his Sunday broadcast in person. At the time, he had no idea how the day’s events would change his address and American history.
On the evening of the “date that will live in infamy,” an angry Albert Gore took the microphone. He started his talk by reflecting on the magnitude of the day’s events: “Never in the history of civilized man has any nation resorted to such brazen treachery as Japan has practiced upon the United States.
“Not only did she follow Hitler’s example of lulling his victims into a sense of false security by talking peace while preparing for war, Japan’s representatives were actually talking peace to our government in Washington when the vicious attack was launched upon us.
“There is no choice for us now but war. Perhaps there has been no other choice since this wave of aggressive warfare by the totalitarian dictatorship was unloosed upon the world.”
Gore continued, “The United States must immediately declare war upon Japan and strike at her vitals with all the forces of death at our command.
“The United States has not wanted war. We have just diligently tried to avert it. It has come in spite of all of our efforts for peace.
“Perhaps nothing we could have done would have diverted the course of this world conflagration.”
Gore concluded his address on the evening before America’s official involvement in World War II, with these historic words: “The die is cast. The battle is on.
Let the storm rage. Let the tempest roar. America will not prove unworthy of her destiny.”
Kent Syler is the Special Projects Coordinator for MTSU’s Albert Gore Research Center and an Instructor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Email Kent at [email protected]. To read additional transcripts of Rep. Albert Gore’s WWII “radio talks” go to: http://gorecenter.mtsu.edu/research/GoreHouse.shtml