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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 50, December 9, 2001, Article 6 THE DATE THAT LIVES IN INFAMY Friday was the sixtieth anniversary of the Japanese attack on U.S. naval forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. "The surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were heading back to Japan. Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships. In one stroke the Japanese action silenced the debate that had divided Americans ever since the German defeat of France left England alone in the fight against the Nazi terror. Word of the attack reached President Roosevelt as he lunched in his oval study on Sunday afternoon. Later, Winston Churchill called to tell him that the Japanese had also attacked British colonies in southeast Asia and that Britain would declare war the next day. Roosevelt responded that he would go before Congress the following day to ask for a declaration of war against Japan. Churchill wrote: "To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder." On Monday, FDR signed the declaration of war granted by Congress." http://www.ibiscom.com/pearl.htm http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm The war had numerous effects on American numismatics, including the "Hawaii" overprints on Federal Reserve Notes circulating in the state. From Ron's Currency web site (http://www.ronscurrency.com/rcpmfaq.htm): "Q: Why does my note have HAWAII printed on it? A: During the early part of WWII, the US had fears that Japan would overrun Hawaii. If this occurred, large sums of currency could be captured and used to fund their war effort. So, the US decided to issue the same $1 Silver Certificates, $5, $10 and $20 Federal Reserve Notes as used on the mainland, but with a brown seal and serial numbers and overprinted with the word "HAWAII" twice on the front and in large block letters on the back. Because these notes were distinctive, it would make it easy for the US to demonitize the notes if large amounts fell to the enemy. Later in the war, these notes were used in the US held Pacific Islands for the same reasons." Below are links to pages at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco with illustrations of the four denominations of Hawaii notes: http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1695.html http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1696.html http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1697.html http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/notes/1698.html

Wayne Homren, Editor

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