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.
Victoria Hotel, Darwin
On 19 February 1942, Darwin was bombed by Japanese air raids, the largest attacks mounted by a foreign power against Australia. It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor, though a considerably larger number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people and caused immense damage to the town. They were the first of many raids on Darwin. Despite this extensive destruction to the town, the Victoria Hotel survived with little damage. Ironically, just as much damaged was caused to the hotel by the September 1941 soldiers riot, as the Japanese bombing raids.