Pearl Harbor 60

December 7th, 2001 marked the 60th anniversary of on one of the most poignant and somber days in American history, a date President Roosevelt declared at the time to be one "that would forever live in infamy." It was of course the date of Japan’s devastating and deadly attack on Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor has a special significance for the United States because, more than anything else, it provides the clearest example of what can happen when the armed forces are unprepared. Memories of soldiers training with broomsticks, obsolete aircraft and defective early warning systems have galvanized successive governments into maintaining the highest possible emphasis on national security arrangements. In short Pearl Harbor completely redefined the American military ethos, to the point where the nation has a high-tech, 21st Century fighting force in a permanent state of readiness.