Sunday, December 7, 1941 began as a quiet day at the White House. [View all]

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt entertained a small group of visitors at a luncheon in the State Dining Room. President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not join them, instead taking his lunch in the Oval Office with close advisor Harry Hopkins.

At 1:40 p.m., the phone rang. Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, had a distressing message for the president: Japanese Imperial forces had attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the American fleet. Less than an hour later, the news was confirmed. World War II had reached American soil.