Pearl Harbor Dispatch Analysis

This activity can be used during a unit introducing U.S. involvement in World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For grades grades 5-8. Approximate time needed is 10-15 minutes.

Ask students to look at the partially obscured message. Without providing any context, model document analysis:

• Quickly scan this document. What do you notice first?
• Describe the document as if you were explaining it to someone who can’t see it.
• What details from the document are clues that may help you understand the purpose of the document?
• Based on what you can see, what do you think is written behind the black lines? What kind of event do you think happened for someone to send this message? List evidence from the document to explain your opinion.

Depending on students’ abilities and prior knowledge, assign 5-7 minutes to analyze the document and to try to determine what has been blacked out. Then, ask students to report both their thinking and their answers to the class.

Ask students to offer educated guesses as to the specific event and to explain their evidence. Following a brief discussion and potential guesses, tell students to click on “View Entire Document” to reveal the blacked-out text. Provide the following context:

This Navy dispatch announced the attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by the Japanese navy. This was the first official word that reached the rest of the United States announcing the attack. This dispatch was sent by the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific (CINCPAC) to all major navy commands and fleet units.

 

This specific copy was received by the Boston Naval Yard. It was received at the Squantum Naval Reserve Aviation Base on December 7, 1941, from the First Naval District. It states, “AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL.” The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt gave his famous “Day of Infamy” speech and Congress declared war on Japan.

Tell students to imagine they received this dispatch somewhere in the United States. What would be their immediate reaction? Why?