Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U.S. Senate

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress, giving his solemn, defiant, and now famous declaration of war against the Empire of Japan, reprinted below. Contrary to popular opinion, his words did not make the state of war official, as the U.S. Constitution vests the power to declare war in the Congress. Accordingly, a few minutes after the president gave his address, the legislators met and agreed on the war declaration, as revealed in the official minutes of the Senate, also reproduced below.

President Roosevelt to Congress

Yesterday, December 7, 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...