A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory / Edition 1

by Emily S. Rosenberg

Overview

December 7, 1941-the date of Japan's surprise attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor-is "a date which will live" in American history and memory, but the stories that will live and the meanings attributed to them are hardly settled. In movies, books, and magazines, at memorial sites and public ceremonies, and on television and the internet, Pearl Harbor lives in a thousand guises and symbolizes dozens of different historical lessons. In A Date Which Will Live, historian Emily S. Rosenberg examines the contested meanings of Pearl Harbor in American culture.
Rosenberg considers the emergence of Pearl Harbor's symbolic role within multiple contexts: as a day of infamy that highlighted the need for future U.S. military preparedness, as an attack that opened a "back door" to U.S. involvement in World War II, as an event of national commemoration, and as a central metaphor in American-Japanese relations. She explores the cultural background that contributed to Pearl Harbor's resurgence in American memory after the fiftieth anniversary of the attack in 1991. In doing so, she discusses the recent "memory boom" in American culture; the movement to exonerate the military commanders at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short; the political mobilization of various groups during the culture and history "wars" of the 1990s, and the spectacle surrounding the movie Pearl Harbor. Rosenberg concludes with a look at the uses of Pearl Harbor as a historical frame for understanding the events of September 11, 2001.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822336372
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	08/02/2005
Series:	American Encounters/Global Interactions Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

Emily S. Rosenberg is DeWitt Wallace Professor of History at Macalester College. She is the author of Financial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930 (also published by Duke University Press) and Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945. She is coauthor of In Our Times: America since World War II and Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

I. Signifying Pearl Harbor: The First Fifty Years 9

1. Infamy: Reinvigorating American Unity and Power 11

2. Backdoor Deceit: Contesting the New Deal 34

3. Representations of Race and Japanese-American Relations 53

4. Commemoration of Sacrifice 71

II. Reviving Pearl Harbor after 1991 99

5. Bilateral Relations: Pearl Harbor's Half-Century Anniversary and the Apology Controversies 101

6. The Memory Boom and the "Greatest Generation" 113

7. The Kimmel Crusade, the HIstory Wars, and the Republican Revival 126

8. Japanese Americans: Identity and Memory Culture 140

9. Spectacular History 155

10. Day of Infamy: September 11, 2001 174

Notes 191

Bibliography 213

Index 229

What People are Saying About This

Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg - James M. McPherson

“‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’ Every radio program during my World War II childhood ended with that slogan. Emily S. Rosenberg has written a splendid history of the contested memories of Pearl Harbor over the past sixty years, memories that frame American opinions of everything from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war against the Axis to President George W. Bush's war against the axis of evil.”

Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields - Edward T. Linenthal

"Shortly after the fiftieth-anniversary ceremonies at the USS Arizona Memorial in December 1991, I viewed this sacred American relic using a snorkel and mask in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The battleship still endures, bleeding drops of oil with regularity, attracting the curious and the reverent, anchoring in a site the command ‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’ But what are we asked to remember? Emily S. Rosenberg's welcome book is about the history of the use of the powerful symbol of ‘Pearl Harbor,’ a symbol as enduring and haunting as the USS Arizona itself."

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II - John W. Dower

“Emily S. Rosenberg has given us a fine, concise study of war, memory, and mythmaking in America that will prove equally appealing to teachers, students, and general readers.”

Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War - Akira Iriye

“To trace and analyze the changing images of the Pearl Harbor attack held by generations of Americans is a daunting task, requiring the skills of a seasoned cultural and social historian. Emily S. Rosenberg superbly fits the requirements. This is the best, perhaps the only, study of the Pearl Harbor icon.”

Editorial Reviews

"A Date Which Will Live is a penetrating and elegant work of cultural and social history that challenges the contrived distinctions that are frequently drawn between 'high' and 'low' history, or between so-called 'rational' history and 'nostalgic' myth. Instead, it explores the intertextuality that exists between cultural memory, historical production, media representation, and public political discourse, and the intense political contests that lie behind the articulation of national narratives. . . . In sum, this is an excellent book that makes a genuine contribution to the growing literature on the national myths and narratives that lie at the centre of American identity and political discourse."--Richard Jackson "Journal of American Studies"

"A Date Which Will Live is a scholarly, well-documented, comprehensive analysis of the significance of Pearl Harbor to Americans. It provides a fine review of the numerous attitudes and interpretations that a nation may have as regards a shaping event in its history."--Armand Hage "Journal of Pacific History"

"A Date Which Will Live makes a valuable contribution to understanding how World War II is perceived in American cultural memory. The author . . . is judicious in her survey of viewpoints on Pearl Harbor."--Michael C.C. Adams "Journal of Military History"

"[Rosenberg] skillfully illuminates the intersection between memory and history. . . . A Date Which Will Live brims with insight, sharp analysis, and a keen sense of irony. It marks a welcome addition to an increasingly vibrant genre of cultural history."--Robert J. McMahon "Western Historical Quarterly"

"No one familiar with Rosenberg's work will be surprised to learn that A Date Which Will Live is both high-quality scholarship and a pleasure to read. The strengths of Rosenberg's earlier books and articles are present here: attentiveness to ambiguity and nuance, a beguiling prose style, and-most important-a capacity to break down the barriers between diplomatic and cultural history so thoroughly that one often forgets the obdurateness with which those fields have been segregated until recently. . . . A Date Which Will Live is a major achievement that fully measures up to the standards we have come to expect from this scholar."
--Seth Jacobs "Reviews in American History"

"Some books are meant for a popular audience, some for an audience of academic specialists. This book is meant for both. The subject of memory as a field of historical exploration is new enough that specialists wishing to get their feet wet will find this a useful, even penetrating volume. Yet the author and her publisher are clearly hoping to reach the wider audience of readers who are caught up in efforts to harness the meaning of Pearl Harbor to contemporary events. These readers, too, could do no better than to start with this interesting and lively volume."--Michael J. Hogan "American Historical Review"

"'Remember Pearl Harbor.' Every radio program during my World War II childhood ended with that slogan. Emily S. Rosenberg has written a splendid history of the contested memories of Pearl Harbor over the past sixty years, memories that frame American opinions of everything from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war against the Axis to President George W. Bush's war against the axis of evil."--James M. McPherson, author of Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg

"Emily S. Rosenberg has given us a fine, concise study of war, memory, and mythmaking in America that will prove equally appealing to teachers, students, and general readers."--John W. Dower, author of Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

"Shortly after the fiftieth-anniversary ceremonies at the USS Arizona Memorial in December 1991, I viewed this sacred American relic using a snorkel and mask in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The battleship still endures, bleeding drops of oil with regularity, attracting the curious and the reverent, anchoring in a site the command 'Remember Pearl Harbor.' But what are we asked to remember? Emily S. Rosenberg's welcome book is about the history of the use of the powerful symbol of 'Pearl Harbor, ' a symbol as enduring and haunting as the USS Arizona itself."--Edward T. Linenthal, author of Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields

"To trace and analyze the changing images of the Pearl Harbor attack held by generations of Americans is a daunting task, requiring the skills of a seasoned cultural and social historian. Emily S. Rosenberg superbly fits the requirements. This is the best, perhaps the only, study of the Pearl Harbor icon."--Akira Iriye, author of Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War

From the Publisher

"No one familiar with Rosenberg's work will be surprised to learn that A Date Which Will Live is both high-quality scholarship and a pleasure to read. The strengths of Rosenberg's earlier books and articles are present here: attentiveness to ambiguity and nuance, a beguiling prose style, and-most important-a capacity to break down the barriers between diplomatic and cultural history so thoroughly that one often forgets the obdurateness with which those fields have been segregated until recently. . . . A Date Which Will Live is a major achievement that fully measures up to the standards we have come to expect from this scholar."

Reviews in American History - Seth Jacobs

"A Date Which Will Live is a penetrating and elegant work of cultural and social history that challenges the contrived distinctions that are frequently drawn between ‘high’ and ‘low’ history, or between so-called ‘rational’ history and 'nostalgic’ myth. Instead, it explores the intertextuality that exists between cultural memory, historical production, media representation, and public political discourse, and the intense political contests that lie behind the articulation of national narratives. . . . In sum, this is an excellent book that makes a genuine contribution to the growing literature on the national myths and narratives that lie at the centre of American identity and political discourse."

Journal of American Studies - Richard Jackson

"Shortly after the fiftieth-anniversary ceremonies at the USS Arizona Memorial in December 1991, I viewed this sacred American relic using a snorkel and mask in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The battleship still endures, bleeding drops of oil with regularity, attracting the curious and the reverent, anchoring in a site the command ‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’ But what are we asked to remember? Emily S. Rosenberg's welcome book is about the history of the use of the powerful symbol of ‘Pearl Harbor,’ a symbol as enduring and haunting as the USS Arizona itself."

Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields - Edward T. Linenthal

To trace and analyze the changing images of the Pearl Harbor attack held by generations of Americans is a daunting task, requiring the skills of a seasoned cultural and social historian. Emily S. Rosenberg superbly fits the requirements. This is the best, perhaps the only, study of the Pearl Harbor icon.

Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War - Akira Iriye

Emily S. Rosenberg has given us a fine, concise study of war, memory, and mythmaking in America that will prove equally appealing to teachers, students, and general readers.

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II - John W. Dower

‘Remember Pearl Harbor.’ Every radio program during my World War II childhood ended with that slogan. Emily S. Rosenberg has written a splendid history of the contested memories of Pearl Harbor over the past sixty years, memories that frame American opinions of everything from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's war against the Axis to President George W. Bush's war against the axis of evil.

Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg - James M. McPherson

Among other questions, Rosenberg asks how Pearl Harbor has fared over the years in print, film and "commemorative" media, as well as what it means to Japanese Americans. Noteworthy is her account of efforts to restore the good name of Adm. Husband Kimmel and Gen. Walter Short, on whose watches the bombing occurred and who, their supporters believe, were shortchanged by history. — Victorino Matus

The Washington Post

"A Date Which Will Live is a scholarly, well-documented, comprehensive analysis of the significance of Pearl Harbor to Americans. It provides a fine review of the numerous attitudes and interpretations that a nation may have as regards a shaping event in its history."

Journal of Pacific History - Armand Hage

"[Rosenberg] skillfully illuminates the intersection between memory and history. . . . A Date Which Will Live brims with insight, sharp analysis, and a keen sense of irony. It marks a welcome addition to an increasingly vibrant genre of cultural history."

Western Historical Quarterly - Robert J. McMahon

"Some books are meant for a popular audience, some for an audience of academic specialists. This book is meant for both. The subject of memory as a field of historical exploration is new enough that specialists wishing to get their feet wet will find this a useful, even penetrating volume. Yet the author and her publisher are clearly hoping to reach the wider audience of readers who are caught up in efforts to harness the meaning of Pearl Harbor to contemporary events. These readers, too, could do no better than to start with this interesting and lively volume."

American Historical Review - Michael J. Hogan

"A Date Which Will Live makes a valuable contribution to understanding how World War II is perceived in American cultural memory. The author . . . is judicious in her survey of viewpoints on Pearl Harbor."

Journal of Military History - Michael C.C. Adams