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.
Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal
To have been eligible for the award, "a person must have been a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who was present in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and who participated in combat operations that day against Imperial Japanese military forces attacking Hawaii. A person who was killed or wounded in that attack shall be deemed to have participated in the combat operations." The presentation of the medals was to be as "close as feasible to the fiftieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor."