Library of Congress A rescue boat retrieves a seaman from the burning USS West Virginia after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Day of infamy: Attack on Pearl Harbor

Library of Congress A rescue boat retrieves a seaman from the burning USS West Virginia after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

More than 2,000 Americans were killed amid the bombings, which destroyed a significant number of US battleships and airplanes.

In a speech to Congress the following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the day of the attack "a date which will live in infamy." Shortly thereafter, Congress passed a declaration of war against Japan, casting the United States into World War II.