Third and fourth terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese struck the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack, knocking out the main American battleship fleet and killing 2,403 American servicemen and civilians. The great majority of scholars have rejected the conspiracy thesis that Roosevelt, or any other high government officials, knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had kept their secrets closely guarded, and while senior American officials were aware that war was imminent, they did not expect an attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt had anticipated that the first attack would take place in the Dutch East Indies, Thailand, or the Philippines.
List of Medal of Honor recipients during peacetime
Prior to World War II, the Medal of Honor could be awarded for actions not involving direct combat with the enemy; 193 men earned the medal in this way. Most of the peacetime medals were awarded to members of the United States Navy for their actions during boiler explosions, man-overboard incidents, and other hazards of naval service. The last award for valor not in combat and was to Francis P. Hammerberg a United States Navy diver who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for rescuing two fellow divers at Pearl Harbour in the then Territory of Hawaii. He lost his life during rescue operations on February 17, 1945.