day of infamy speech

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‘A Date Which Will Live in Infamy.’ Read President Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address

P resident Franklin Roosevelt called the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor a “date which will live in infamy,” in a famous address to the nation delivered after Japan’s deadly strike against U.S. naval and military forces in Hawaii. He also asked Congress to declare war.

As the nation reflects on the anniversary of the surprise attack that led America to join World War II, here is the transcript of President Roosevelt’s speech, which he delivered in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8, 1941—one day after the assault:

“Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.”

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• FDR's Infamy Speech

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

• Daniel Webster's "Seventh of March" Speech

This public-domain content provided by the Independence Hall Association , a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1942. Publishing electronically as ushistory.org. On the Internet since July 4, 1995.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” Speech

At 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers and torpedo planes attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, catapulting the United States into World War II. In less than 2 hours, the fleet was devastated, and more than 3,500 Americans were either killed or wounded.

Just hours after learning of the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dictated this speech to his assistant “without hesitation, interruption or second thoughts,” as she later recalled. The next day, before a joint session of Congress, the President asked for a declaration of war against Japan, pronouncing December 7, 1941 to be “a date which will live in infamy.” Congress responded by immediately declaring war, and the United States entered World War II.

This short, seven-minute speech “represents the tipping point, the actual moment when the United States was transformed from an isolationist nation to a global superpower and leader of the free world,” according to Roosevelt Library Directory Paul Sparrow . In recognition of the 75th anniversary of the attack, the U.S. Senate’s copy of President Roosevelt’s speech is on display in the “Featured Documents” exhibit in the East Rotunda Gallery of the  National Archives in Washington, DC , from November 10, 2016 through January 4, 2017.

Click here to download a high-resolution copy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech from the National Archives’ online catalog.

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FDR's 'Day of Infamy' Speech

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Speech to Congress on December 8, 1941

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At 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stood before Congress and gave what is now known as his "Day of Infamy" or "Pearl Harbor" speech. This speech was given only a day following the Empire of Japan's strike on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire.

Roosevelt's Declaration Against Japan

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii shocked almost everyone in the United States military and left Pearl Harbor vulnerable and unprepared. In his speech, Roosevelt declared that December 7, 1941, the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor , would remain "a date which will live in infamy."

The word "infamy" derives from the root word "fame," and translates roughly to "fame gone bad." Infamy, in this case, also meant strong condemnation and public reproach due to the result of Japan's conduct. The particular line on infamy from Roosevelt has become so famous that it is hard to believe the first draft had the phrase written as "a date which will live in world history."

The Beginning of World War II

The nation was divided on entering the second war until the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. This had everyone united against the Empire of Japan in remembrance and support of Pearl Harbor. At the end of the speech, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war against Japan and his request was granted that same day.

Because Congress immediately declared war, the United States subsequently entered World War II officially. Official declarations of war must be done by Congress, who have the sole power to declare war and have done so on 11 total occasions since 1812. The last formal declaration of war was World War II.

The text below is the speech as Roosevelt delivered it, which differs slightly from his final written draft.

Full Text of FDR's "Day of Infamy" Speech

"Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives: Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island . And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island . Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire."

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President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Address to Congress

President Roosevelt addressed a Joint Session of Congress on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. President … read more

President Roosevelt addressed a Joint Session of Congress on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt denounced the attack and asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan. This film was digitally restored by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and the National Archives Motion Picture Lab. Courtesy of the University of South Carolina Moving Image Research Collections. close

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Pieces of History

The Day of Infamy Speech: Well-Remembered but Still Missing

Today’s post comes from Jim Worsham, editor of  Prologue , the quarterly magazine of the National Archives.

As news emerged of the Japanese sneak attacks on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. installations in the Pacific 75 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began writing the speech he would give to Congress the next day.

The news was bad, and a shocked nation now looked to FDR. The speech   became one of the greatest of the 20th century. It was direct, powerful, short, and to-the-point.

And it would be well-remembered—even though FDR’s final “reading copy” hasn’t been seen since shortly after he delivered it.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy,” he began, “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

In 1941, Presidents did not read from teleprompters as they do today. Roosevelt had only the printed text, a “reading copy,” to rely on, so it needed to be typed up to make it easy for him to read.

(It’s likely, some historians have noted, that he did not need to refer to it much because he had drafted the address himself, since his two principal speechwriters were out of town that day.)

Roosevelt ended his six-minute address by asking Congress for a declaration of war against Japan.

The “reading copy” of the speech has its own complicated history.

After speaking, Roosevelt left the Capitol, accompanied by his oldest son, James Roosevelt, who asserted that he brought the reading copy back to the White House. James Roosevelt said he placed the “reading copy” atop a coat rack where he hung his own coat.  That was the last that was seen of it.  

A massive search for the document was undertaken at the White House, and the President and his staff, keenly aware of its historic significance, were all genuinely distressed about its loss.

In the 1980s, archivists at the National Archives discovered a three-page, doubled-spaced typewritten copy of the speech within the files of the U.S. Senate and mistakenly concluded that this was the President’s reading copy. They believed that Roosevelt must have left his speech behind on the podium, and a Senate clerk filed it away. A near-identical copy was found in the House files. Both copies are now housed at the Center for Legislative Archives in the National Archives Building in Washington.

However, neither the House copy nor the Senate copy was the “reading copy” that the President used on December 8.

In 2014, experts at the Center and the Roosevelt Library, both units of the National Archives, reinvestigated the claim that the Senate copy was the misplaced reading copy. They confirmed that neither copy at the Center was the missing “reading copy.”

They affirmed and acknowledged that the “reading copy” of the Day of Infamy speech remains missing. According to the joint statement, the assertions that FDR either left the “reading copy” on the podium or handed it to a clerk appear to be purely speculative. These statements, they said, contradict the first-hand accounts of James Roosevelt and others at the White House on the afternoon of December 8, 1941, and the days that followed, as well as the findings of a Secret Service investigation prompted by the President’s personal secretary.

In addition to James Roosevelt’s claim that he brought the reading copy back with him to the White House, further indication that the President was reading from a different copy than what is held at the Center can be seen by watching the film of him deliver the speech.

As Roosevelt speaks, you can see him turn pages , but where he turns the pages is not where the text breaks on these two three-page “typewritten” copies. He turns pages sooner——an indication that what he was reading from was typed differently to make it easier for him to read it. Watching him turn the pages, it appears the “reading copy” was on four pages, not three, as the House and Senate copies are.

Grace Tully, the President’s secretary, always prepared the “reading copy” of a speech a special way on heavy stock paper with rounded corners, typed triple-spaced, with holes down the left side so the pages could be in a three-ring binder. The doubled-spaced copies at the Center were not prepared like this.  

The National Archives continues to hope that someone has or will find the “reading copy” of this historic speech so it can be returned to the National Archives and to the Roosevelt Library, “where Franklin Roosevelt hoped it would go.”  

If you have any information about the missing “reading copy,” contact the Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York, or the Center for Legislative Archives in the National Archives Building in Washington.

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Even Donald Trump has trouble getting New York’s attention

The former president came to the Bronx on Thursday night for an unusual campaign rally. The Bronx didn’t take much notice.

NEW YORK — You could hear Donald Trump sporadically through the trees. Crotona Park has a number of rocky hills, and the former president was speaking on top of one as I was talking to retired teacher Pam Sporn, 67, on top of one maybe a hundred yards away.

Sporn was carrying a sign written on cardboard: “TRUMP OUT OF OUR BORO.”

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“I think it’s very disrespectful for Trump to come to this particular area of the Bronx,” she said when asked why she came to the park during the rally. “I don’t want him anywhere in the Bronx. Because he’s a racist and a xenophobe. This particular neighborhood is very much an immigrant —”

A young man interrupted. He was wearing a T-shirt featuring Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character adopted as a sort of right-wing mascot during the 2016 election campaign.

“Excuse me ma’am,” he said. “Is there a Trump rally near here?”

“Go down that way,” one of the men with Sporn offered, pointing down a path where a number of people were listening to Trump outside the security area.

“Okay, thank you,” the young man said. “God bless you.”

Then, when he was a few yards down the path, he called back: “Go Trump!”

“You’ll get your ass kicked that way,” another man with Sporn replied.

“I like Trump,” said the young man, who is White.

Sporn tried to continue her response. “The people who live in this neighborhood —”

“You’re doing that intentionally!” one of the men with her, both of them Black, shouted at the young man.

“The people who live in this neighborhood,” Sporn said, “are primarily African American and immigrants from Africa, from Honduras —”

“He’s so dumb —” one of the men interjected, before suddenly turning furious. “Yo, don’t even do that because that will really get your ass kicked!”

Sporn gamely went on — “these are countries that Trump has called s-hole countries ” — but her companion made clear why things had suddenly escalated. “Why are you doing the Nazi sign?” he called after the kid.

He turned to me. “You see, this is what this is what that man promotes,” he said, referring to Trump.

“The kind of hate that he spews,” Sporn added, “is not something that helps our community.”

This encounter was a fitting microcosm of Trump’s visit. The young man was clearly trying to get a rise out of Sporn and her companions, and it worked. By dropping into the middle of a predominantly Black and Hispanic community in the Bronx, Trump was, among other things, doing the same thing: trolling the left and his critics. He hoped to get a rise out of his opponents, and he did.

At least among those who noticed he was there.

The rally had a footprint in the neighborhood, but a modest one. Despite the insistence of some Trump allies , the Bronx rally wasn’t huge. The hilltop where he spoke allowed for people to spread around the podium on all sides about 40 people deep, though it rarely extended that far. It was a small-club performance by design, not an arena show.

It was, however, much more diverse than any Trump rally I’ve attended. His audiences tend, like his voting base, to skew heavily White. This rally had a disproportionate number of Black, Asian and Hispanic attendees, reflecting the surrounding community. Many of those in attendance were, in fact, from the Bronx; others were from other places near New York City: Westchester County to the north, or out on Long Island.

An older woman who called herself Miss M had stopped to rest as she climbed the hill to the rally site. Miss M, who is Black, told me that she felt it was important to come because “I feel like women of color are getting a bum rap.”

“Not every woman of color is stupid,” she said, suggesting that those who didn’t support Trump were. She liked him, she said, because he “has great knowledge.”

“And he’s strong!” her daughter added, with which Miss M agreed. She noted that her daughter was “in that age group that somehow has slipped”: young people who lean left instead of right. Her daughter, like a number of rally attendees, brought her dog, a Maltese/Yorkie — “a Morkie!” — named Sugar.

There were also a number of families with kids there. Melinda Ramirez, 44, came with her three sons from their home nearby. She said that she had not voted for Trump in 2016 but did when he was up for reelection.

“I had no idea what was going on, even about him. But 2020? Covid woke all of us up,” she said. Ramirez lost her job and was frustrated by school closures, so she started to pay attention to politics. “That just made me want to say, okay, what’s going on now? I’ve got to watch the news — what are they going to do? And then I just started seeing the hatred for him. And I was like, what is going on?”

She was excited to see Trump, but not as excited as her 8-year-old son Ryan, who showed up in a Flash T-shirt. I asked what he wanted to hear Trump say. He quietly replied, “I like you.” In the background, one of the warm-up speakers, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), was leading the crowd in a “Let’s go Brandon” chant.

A 7-year-old named Connor was sitting on his dad’s shoulders on the other side of the rally site wearing a camouflage Make America Great Again hat. With some encouragement from his family, he told me about his tribute to the former president.

“I weared my Trump outfit to — I had an event,” he said about one day at school. “And then we had to learn — we talked about what Trump — how the people we dressed up as, about them.”

“It was president’s month and Black History Month, and he chose himself that he wanted to be Trump,” Kiera O’Connor, 27, explained. “And he made his little — he wore a suit and was very respectful. He didn’t mock him by wearing a wig or anything.”

O’Connor and her family were there, like many attendees, because they had family who worked in law enforcement. Some attendees posed for selfies with the numerous police officers on scene.

The rally had the familiar microeconomies that accompany Trump as he campaigns. There were merchants outside selling hats (a visor with fake orange “Trump hair,” for example) and T-shirts. (“I WAS THERE!” one popular shirt read. “BRONX NEW YORK / TRUMP.”) A number of people had placards showing Trump’s mug shot photo from his arrest in Georgia, but those were being given out by the campaign. There was also a surfeit of members of the pro-Trump media universe that has been fostered by the overlap of his popularity and the advent of cheap tools for streaming content.

Some of America’s more famous hustlers also showed up. Former New York congressman George Santos was there, as was Billy McFarland of Fyre Festival infamy. As rapper Sheff G made his way through security, fans called out to him from the line of people waiting to get in. He would later join Trump onstage, each of them dealing with the criminal justice system in New York City. This was the first Trump rally I’ve attended where the smell of marijuana was pervasive, though it was not the first park in the city where I’ve experienced that.

At about 6:30 p.m., the main event began. Trump started his speech by celebrating being back in New York City, where he was born. In fact, Crotona Park is near some landmarks in Trump family lore: His father was born in a building just outside the park, and Trump attended nearby Fordham University. But this praise for the city quickly got bogged down in the details of how he repaired Central Park’s ice rink and how he built a golf course near the Whitestone Bridge. The crowd deflated slightly.

It was humid and sunny, and by the time Trump started to speak, the free water being distributed by the campaign had run out. People had been waiting in line for hours to get in and, not long after he started speaking, as others were still filing in, people began filing out. (“I just wanted to be here for the beginning,” one man said as he walked toward the exit.)

Despite the relatively modest crowd size, or because of it, there was an obvious enthusiasm for Trump from the audience. This isn’t surprising; few people show up to Trump rallies who don’t like Trump. It’s easy, though, to downplay that enthusiasm or to suggest that it is insincere, particularly since so much of this particular crowd looked a lot different from Trump’s usual base of support.

It is also easy to see a diverse crowd of a few thousand people and overestimate what that suggests about the rest of the state. On one hand, hundreds or thousands of Black and Hispanic people came out to see Donald Trump in the Bronx. On the other hand, there are hundreds of thousands of Black and Hispanic people a short cab ride away from Crotona Park, in the borough where Trump fared the worst in 2020. Claims from Trump and his allies about the scale of the event and what it portends for November should be taken with a grain of salt.

Just outside the security area was a large rock outcropping on which a number of protesters had taken positions. Every so often, the din from shouting back and forth between the Trump fans waiting to get in and the Trump opponents on the rock reached the hilltop. By the time Trump supporters were departing in volume, the scene near the protesters was a mix of Trump fans, curious locals and police.

“The Bronx is my home, and I want Trump and all these fascist racists out of here,” one of the protesters, who identified herself only as Yanny, told me. “So that’s why I’m here, to let them know that they’re not welcome in our community.”

She added that the Bronx “has been historically neglected and purposely neglected. Has been defunded. It’s very racist. The fact that Trump chooses to come here, it’s pretty much trying to flex and say that he’s welcome in a place where we literally are brutalized on the streets.” I noted that one of the warm-up speakers had praised Trump as the vehicle for addressing that poverty, and Yanny scoffed. “He built his wealth off the back of people!” she said.

The scene, like the scene with the young man in the Pepe shirt, was tense. But only in that small area near the rally. A bit farther out in the park, the sound of the crowd faded. A woman rushed by on the phone, telling whoever she was speaking to that she had learned there was a Trump rally going on, of all things.

The park felt like any other New York park, if a bit more unkempt. It was dusk, and a group of people were playing soccer in an overgrown field. People were walking their dogs; kids were goofing around on bikes. Trump plunked down in the heart of New York City and — the city being the city — New York City barely noticed.

The Center for Legislative Archives

Day of Infamy Address

President Franklin Roosevelt issued a national call to arms on the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He expressed outrage at Japan and confidence in the "inevitable triumph" of the United States. On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war against Japan; on December 11 Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Day of Infamy Speech (page 1), December 8, 1941, RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Day of Infamy Speech (page 2), December 8, 1941, RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives.

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Biden’s speech at the Holocaust remembrance ceremony, annotated

By Zachary B. Wolf and Annette Choi , CNN

Published May 7, 2024

President Joe Biden talked about the documented increase of antisemitism in the United States during the annual US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the US Capitol building. Every recent president has made remarks at least once at the event, but Biden’s remarks came as pro-Palestinian protests have disrupted classes and commencements at multiple US universities . At times, rhetoric at those protests has veered into antisemitism, offended Jewish students and sparked a fierce debate about free speech.

Biden talked in-depth about the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli hostages that remain in captivity . He did not mention Israel’s heavy-handed response, which has not only destroyed much of Gaza and cost tens of thousands of lives but has also driven a wedge between Biden and many progressives, particularly on college campuses. See below for what he said , along with context from CNN.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Stu Eizenstat, for that introduction, for your leadership of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . You are a true scholar and statesman and a dear friend.

Speaker Johnson , Leader Jeffries, members of Congress and especially the survivors of the Holocaust. If my mother were here, she’d look at you and say, “God love you all. God love you all.”

Abe Foxman and all other survivors who embody absolute courage and dignity and grace are here as well.

During these sacred days of remembrance we grieve, we give voice to the 6 million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes who stood up to Hitler's unspeakable evil. And we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons that one of the darkest chapters in human history to revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again.

The Days of Remembrance commemoration has been an annual event since 1982. Every US president since Bill Clinton has spoken at least once at a remembrance event.

House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke shortly before Biden and tried to compare the situation on college campuses today with that on college campuses in Germany in the 1930s.

Never again, simply translated for me, means never forget, never forget. Never forgetting means we must must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth, we must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren. And the truth is we are at risk of people not knowing the truth.

That's why, growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah at our family dinner table.

Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

That's why I visited Yad Vashem with my family as a senator, as vice president and as president. And that's why I took my grandchildren to Dachau , so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that they knew was happening.

Biden visited Yad Vashem , Israel’s Holocaust remembrance site, in 2022 as president.

As vice president, he toured the Nazi concentration camp outside Munich in 2015 with his granddaughter during a trip for an annual security conference.

Germany, 1933, Hitler and his Nazi party rise to power by rekindling one of the world's oldest forms of prejudice and hate — antisemitism.

His rule didn't begin with mass murder. It started slowly across economic, political, social and cultural life — propaganda demonizing Jews, boycotts of Jewish businesses, synagogues defaced with swastikas, harassment of Jews in the street and in the schools, antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots.

With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide the Nazis called the final solution. Concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings. By the time the war ended, 6 million Jews, one out of every three Jews in the entire world, were murdered.

This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust. It didn't end with the Holocaust either, or after, even after our victory in World War II. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.

The Holocaust survivor Irene Butter wrote for CNN Opinion in 2021 about Adolf Hitler’s rise and echoes of Nazism in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

That hatred was brought to life on October 7th in 2023. On the sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Read mo re about Hamas .

Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people — babies, parents, grandparents — slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted .

Evidence of sexual violence has been documented. Here’s the account of one Israeli woman who has spoken publicly about her experience.

Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah.

Now here we are, not 75 years later but just seven-and-a-half months later and people are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. That it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget.

On May 7, 1945, the German High Command agreed to an unconditional surrender in World War II, 79 years ago.

And as Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we've seen a ferocious surge of anti s emitism in America and around the world.

In late October, FBI Director Christopher Wray said reports of antisemitism in the US were reaching “ historic ” levels.

Vicious propaganda on social media, Jews forced to keep their — hide their kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts.

On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class . Antisemitism, antisemitic posters , slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state.

Many Jewish students have described feeling intimidated and attacked on campuses. Others have said they support the protests , citing the situation in Gaza.

Last month, the dean of the University of California Berkeley Law School described antisemitic posters that targeted him.

Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas' appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It's absolutely despicable and it must stop.

Silence. Silence and denial can hide much but it can erase nothing.

Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they cannot be married – buried, no matter how hard people try.

In my view, a major lesson of the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier, is it not, was not inevitable.

We know hate never goes away. It only hides. And given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.

We also know what stops hate. One thing: All of us. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time.

Together, we cannot continue to let that happen. We have to remember our basic principle as a nation. We have an obligation. We have an obligation to learn the lessons of history so we don't surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone. Anyone.

From the very founding, our very founding, Jewish Americans , who represented only about 2% of the US population , have helped lead the cause of freedom for everyone in our nation. From that experience we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy.

As of 2020, Jewish Americans made up about 2.4% of the US population, according to the Pew Research Center , or about 5.8 million people.

So moments like this we have to put these principles that we're talking about into action.

I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world .

In America we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard . I understand. That's America.

The complaint of many protesters is that Israel’s response to the terror attack has claimed more than 30,000 lives and destroyed much of Gaza .

But there is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

Whether against Jews or anyone else, violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It's against the law and we are not a lawless country. We're a civil society. We uphold the rule of law and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.

To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt and your pain.

Let me reassure you as your president, you're not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.

My administration is working around the clock to free remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already, and will not rest until we bring them all home.

My administration, with our second gentleman's leadership, has launched our nation's first national strategy to counter antisemitism. That's mobilizing the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish communities.

But we know this is not the work of government alone or Jews alone. That's why I’m calling on all Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.

My dear friend — and he became a friend — the late Elie Wiesel said, quote, “One person of integrity can make a difference.”

Elie Wiesel , the Holocaust survivor, writer and activist, died in 2016.

We have to remember that, now more than ever.

Here in Emancipation Hall in the US Capitol, among the towering statues of history is a bronze bust of Raoul Wallenberg . Born in Sweden as a Lutheran, he was a businessman and a diplomat. While stationed in Hungary during World War II, he used diplomatic cover to hide and rescue about 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.

Read more about Wallenberg , the Holocaust hero and Swedish diplomat who was formally declared dead in 2016, 71 years after he vanished.

Among them was a 16-year-old Jewish boy who escaped a Nazi labor camp. After the war ended, that boy received a scholarship from the Hillel Foundation to study in America. He came to New York City penniless but determined to turn his pain into purpose. Along with his wife, also a Holocaust survivor, he became a renowned economist and foreign policy thinker, eventually making his way to this very Capitol on the staff of a first-term senator.

That Jewish refugee was Tom Lantos and that senator was me. Tom and his wife and Annette and their family became dear friends to me and my family. Tom would go on to become the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, where he became a leading voice on civil rights and human rights around the world. Tom never met Raoul, who was taken prisoner by the Soviets, never to be heard from again.

Read more about Lantos , the longtime congressman and Holocaust survivor who died in 2008. Lantos worked for Biden early in his career.

But through Tom's efforts, Raoul’s bust is here in the Capitol. He was also given honorary US citizenship, only the second person ever after Winston Churchill. The Holocaust Museum here in Washington is located in a road in Raoul’s name.

The story of the power of a single person to put aside our differences, to see our common humanity, to stand up to hate and its ancient story of resilience from immense pain, persecution, to find hope, purpose and meaning in life, we try to live and share with one another. That story endures.

Let me close with this. I know these days of remembrance fall on difficult times. We all do well to remember these days also fall during the month we celebrate Jewish American heritage, a heritage that stretches from our earliest days to enrich every single part of American life today.

There are important topics Biden did not address. He referenced the October 7 attacks on Israel but not Israel’s controversial response, which has drawn furious protests. He failed to mention Gaza, where Israel’s military campaign has killed so many, and which has led the World Food Programme to warn of a “full-blown famine .”

A great American — a great Jewish American named Tom Lantos — used the phrase “the veneer of civilization is paper thin.” We are its guardians, and we can never rest.

My fellow Americans, we must, we must be those guardians. We must never rest. We must rise Against hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity. And God bless the victims and survivors of the Shoah.

May the resilient hearts, the courageous spirit and the eternal flame of faith of the Jewish people forever shine their light on America and around the world, pray God.

Thank you all.