MPR News Presents

'Days of Infamy': Recordings of ordinary Americans reacting to Pearl Harbor and 9/11

USS Arizona Last Reunion
USS Arizona survivors from left, John Anderson, Don Stratton, Louis Conter and Lauren Bruner arrive Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Audrey McAvoy | AP

On Sunday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the coming week "is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment. Only, it’s not going to be localized, it’s going to be happening all over the country."

For the return of MPR News Presents, we'll hear a 2002 documentary from APM Reports and the Center for Documentary Studies called "Days of Infamy: December 7 and 9/11.” It's hosted by Deborah Amos.

Within the living memory of Americans are two deadly surprise attacks against the United States: Japan's assault on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Both times, the Library of Congress sent people out to record the voices of ordinary Americans as they reacted to a changed world.