Pearl Harbor Christmas : a world at war, December 1941
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-208) and index.

A top historian offers a compelling history of perhaps the most remarkable holiday season in 20th-century history--December 1941--a Christmas season that played out in the shadows of the Pearl Harbor attack and the start of America's involvement in World War II. Christmas 1941 came little more than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The shock--in some cases overseas, elation--was worldwide. While Americans attempted to go about celebrating as usual, the reality of the just-declared war was on everybody's mind. United States troops on Wake Island were battling a Japanese landing force and, in the Philippines, losing the fight to save Luzon. In Japan, the Pearl Harbor strike force returned to Hiroshima Bay and toasted its sweeping success. Across the Atlantic, much of Europe was frozen in grim Nazi occupation. Just three days before Christmas, Churchill surprised Roosevelt with an unprecedented trip to Washington, where they jointly lit the White House Christmas tree. As the two Allied leaders met to map out a winning wartime strategy, the most remarkable Christmas of the century played out across the globe.