Leveled Readings / FDR Pearl Harbor Address
FDR Pearl Harbor Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Pearl Harbor Address (December 8, 1941)
These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.
Original wording
“I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”
Adapted · about grade 4
Japan attacked us on December 7, 1941. I ask Congress to say we are now at war with Japan.
Adapted · about grade 7
I ask Congress to declare that since Japan's unprovoked and terrible attack on December 7, 1941, the United States and Japan have been at war.
Adapted · about grade 10
I ask that Congress declare that, since Japan's unprovoked and dastardly attack on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
Used in: Should the United States have dropped the atomic bomb?