and Sign New Axis Alliance The Evening Star United States Declares War against Germany and Italy The Robesonian Naval Base, Air Depot at Manila Aflame after Merciless Attack The Atlanta Constitution The formalities began on the morning of December 11, 1941, when German and Italian diplomats paid a call on Secretary of State Cordell Hull to advise him of their governments’ decision to declare war on the United States of America, something Hull and the world already knew. Now the whole world would be completely aflame. After declaring war on America, Adolf Hitler and his fascist factotum, Benito Mussolini, gave ranting speeches in their respective capitals to appreciative and cheering audiences.1 Hitler announced that “the war would determine the history of the world for the next 500 to 1,000 years. This,” he said, “has become the greatest year of decision by the German people.” The Japanese ambassador was seated at the Hitler speech; their fates were now joined.2 The führer elaborated his reason for war with America, saying, “If anyone said the cultural values have been brought back from America to Europe, it was only the invention of a decayed Jewish mixture.”3 Hitler viewed America as too decadent and lazy to fight a global war effectively—certainly too weak to go up against the so-far unbeatable Wehrmacht.
