Under The Influence

In one of the stranger, side-stories about Pearl Harbor and the immediate aftermath is the story that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his speech to Congress on December 8, 1941, after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, that he quite possibly was under the influence of cocaine. 

The issue was raised during the History Channel’s outstanding documentary, “Pearl Harbor 24 Hours After” which showed among other things that, the attack completely shook the USA to its core. Panic was rampant in Washington and the country as a whole. 

In the era before cable news television, President Roosevelt was completely in the dark for several hours as to the exact damage that was done to the Pacific fleet as he couldn’t get detailed information from the Pentagon, or government officials in Hawaii.

The country was woefully unprepared for war as the U.S. had one (1) combat-ready division and the army at the time of the Japanese attack was the 17th largest in the world (behind Rumania) but in less than four years would field 12.2 million men under arms at its peak.

The battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. US Archives photo

 

 

Roosevelt showed a master’s touch on political leadership. Even with scant details, he released even less to his Cabinet, knowing that the word would leak out. He needed to galvanize the country with his speech and that his message needed to be brief and to the point. It wasn’t perfect, (he signed the order for interring Japanese-Americans, which was unconscionable), but other than that, his actions were exactly what was needed for the country. 

But the most intriguing part of the documentary was that while the president was meeting with his cabinet members on Sunday evening in Washington D.C. preparing for his speech to Congress, he spent over an hour with his physician in the White House and was probably given cocaine.