We all know December 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy.” But did you know that was not the original line penned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt?

The presidential address that was delivered to Congress on the day after the attack was not the product of a team of speechwriters and consultants but FDR himself. When Roosevelt dictated the speech to his assistant Grace Tully three hours after learning of the attack, this was the opening line: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in world history, the United States of America was simultaneously and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

More in the December issue of the Throwback, my monthly history e-newsletter.