The President 's description of December 7 , 1941 as " a date which will live in infamy " was borne out ; the date very quickly became shorthand for the Pearl Harbor attack in much the same way that November 22 , 1963 and September 11 , 2001 became inextricably associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the September 11 attacks , respectively . The slogans " Remember December 7th " and " Avenge December 7 " were adopted as a rallying cry and were widely displayed on posters and lapel pins . '' Prelude to War '' ( 1942 ) , the first of Frank Capra 's '' Why We Fight '' film series ( 1942 – 45 ) , urged Americans to remember the date of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria , September 18 , 1931 , " as well as we remember December 7th , 1941 , for on that date in 1931 , the war we are now fighting began " . The symbolism of the date was highlighted in a scene in the 1943 film '' Bombardier '' , in which the leader of a group of airmen walks up to a calendar on the wall , points to the date ( " December 7 , 1941 " ) and tells his men : " Gentlemen , there 's a date we will always remember — and they 'll never forget ! " Twenty-two years later , the continuing resonance of the Infamy Speech was demonstrated following the assassination of John F. Kennedy , which many commentators also compared with Pearl Harbor in terms of its lasting impression on many worldwide . Sixty years later , the continuing resonance of the Infamy Speech was demonstrated following the September 11 attacks , which many commentators also compared with Pearl Harbor in terms of its lasting impression on many worldwide . In the days following the attacks , author Richard Jackson notes in his book '' Writing the War on Terrorism : Language , Politics and Counter-terrorism '' that " there was a deliberate and sustained effort " on the part of the George W. Bush administration to " discursively link September 11 , 2001 to the attack on Pearl Harbor itself " , both by directly invoking Roosevelt 's Infamy Speech and by re-using the themes employed by Roosevelt in his speech . In Bush 's speech to the nation on September 11 , 2001 , he contrasted the " evil , despicable acts of terror " with the " brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity " that America represented in his view . University of Washington Professor and author Sandra Silberstein draws direct parallels between the language used by Roosevelt and Bush , highlighting a number of similarities between the Infamy Speech and Bush 's presidential address of September 11 . Similarly , Emily S. Rosenberg notes rhetorical efforts to link the conflicts of 1941 and 2001 by re-utilizing Second World War terminology of the sort used by Roosevelt , such as using the term " axis " to refer to America 's enemies ( as in " Axis of Evil " ) . Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar referenced the speech hours after the 2004 Madrid train bombings , saying , " On March 11 , 2004 , it already occupies its place in the history of infamy . " Northwestern University professor Daniel Immerwahr writes , that in the speeches editing , Roosevelt elevated Hawaii as part of America , and downgraded the Philippines as foreign
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Infamy Speech