---
title: Same days, different front pages:Pearl Harbor, 7–9 December 1941
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/
description: within three days of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Juneau paper and a Moscow Komsomol paper each told their readers about it.
section: Then and now
---

![Illustration: a redacted Cold War intelligence-dossier collage centred on a world map of influence operations, with the U.S. Capitol among the evidence.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-home.jpg)

[Then and now](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/)

# Same days, different front pages:Pearl Harbor, 7–9 December 1941

At a glance

Within three days of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Juneau paper and a Moscow Komsomol paper each told their readers about it. The Juneau paper led with it in the largest type on the page…

- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

On this page

- [United States: Juneau, 7 and 8 December](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#united-states-juneau-7-and-8-december)
- [Soviet Union: Moscow, 9 December](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#soviet-union-moscow-9-december)
- [Where they differ](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#where-they-differ)
- [Where they are alike](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#where-they-are-alike)
- [Later, outside this week](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#later-outside-this-week)
- [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/press-pearl-harbor-1941/#sources)

On this page

> **Content note.** The American headlines shown use "Japs", an ethnic slur common as a clipped headline word in the American press of the period. It is shown as printed, as evidence of the method.

**In one line:** within three days of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Juneau paper and a Moscow Komsomol paper each told their readers about it. The Juneau paper led with it in the largest type on the page; the Moscow paper put the Moscow front on page 1 and the Pacific war on page 4, under TASS dateline after TASS dateline. All pages are shown as printed.

**The facts.** Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, on the morning of Sunday 7 December 1941 (Hawaii time), and Japanese forces attacked the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam and Wake at about the same time. On 8 December Congress declared war on Japan, with one dissenting vote, and Britain declared war on Japan. The Soviet Union was at war with Germany and was bound to Japan by the neutrality pact of April 1941.

**Definitions used for every page**, quoted from the archive's technique list:

- [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/): "Attach a loaded label so the audience rejects the target without checking the claim."
- [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/): "Select, omit, or order facts so the remaining pile can only be read one way."

|  | *Daily Alaska Empire*, 7 and 8 Dec | *Komsomolskaya Pravda*, 9 Dec |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Where and who** | Juneau, Alaska Territory; a daily, AP member | Moscow; organ of the Komsomol's Central and Moscow committees |
| **Government at the time** | Roosevelt administration | Stalin government |
| **Lead on the page** | 7 Dec: "JAPS ATTACK HONOLULU AND MANILA"; 8 Dec: "DECLARE WAR / UNITED STATES, JAPAN IN FIGHT" | Page 1: "МНОЖИТЬ БОЕВЫЕ РЯДЫ КОМСОМОЛА" ("Multiply the fighting ranks of the Komsomol"); page 4: "Война на Тихом океане" ("War in the Pacific") |
| **Source of the news** | Associated Press, datelined Washington, Honolulu, Tokyo | TASS, quoting Reuters, Associated Press, United Press and Domei |

## United States: Juneau, 7 and 8 December

![The Daily Alaska Empire war extra of 7 December 1941 with the headline JAPS ATTACK HONOLULU AND MANILA](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/daily-alaska-empire-war-extra-1941.jpg)

*[The Daily Alaska Empire, 'JAPS ATTACK HONOLULU AND MANILA' war extra, 7 December 1941](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/daily-alaska-empire-war-extra-1941/). Library of Congress, Chronicling America. No known restrictions.*

![The Daily Alaska Empire of 8 December 1941 with the banner DECLARE WAR, UNITED STATES, JAPAN IN FIGHT](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/daily-alaska-empire-declare-war-1941.jpg)

*[The Daily Alaska Empire, daily edition, front page (Juneau, Alaska Territory, December 8, 1941)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/daily-alaska-empire-declare-war-1941/). Library of Congress, Chronicling America. No known restrictions.*

**Printed.** 7 December: "JAPS ATTACK HONOLULU AND MANILA", "WAR EXTRA". 8 December: "DECLARE WAR / UNITED STATES, JAPAN IN FIGHT", "HEAVY TOLL TAKEN BY JAP PLANES", "2 BATTLESHIPS OF U. S. SUNK, JAPAN CLAIMS", "Censorship Instituted by Army, Navy", and Roosevelt's phrase "the date which will live in infamy".

**How the definitions apply.** The label "Japs" is the loaded word in the largest type on 7 December and again in a column headline on 8 December; the Associated Press text on the same pages says "the Japanese". That is [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) by the archive's definition: a clipped ethnic shorthand where the body text has the neutral term. In the American press of the period "Nazi" and "Red" served the same clipped function for other enemies. On 8 December the page also prints the Tokyo claim about US losses under its own headline, attributed ("JAPAN CLAIMS"), next to the White House's damage statement, which is how the page sources the claim rather than withholding it.

## Soviet Union: Moscow, 9 December

![Komsomolskaya Pravda front page of 9 December 1941 with the headline MULTIPLY THE FIGHTING RANKS OF THE KOMSOMOL and a photograph of a soldier with a submachine gun](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/komsomolskaya-pravda-front-page-1941-12-09.jpg)

*[Komsomolskaya Pravda, daily edition, front page (Moscow, December 9, 1941)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/komsomolskaya-pravda-front-page-1941-12-09/). Wikimedia Commons, scan of the issue licensed by the publisher under CC BY-SA 3.0.*

![Komsomolskaya Pravda page 4 of 9 December 1941 headed ZA RUBEZHOM, Voina na Tikhom okeane, with TASS dispatches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/komsomolskaya-pravda-voina-na-tikhom-okeane-1941.jpg)

*[Komsomolskaya Pravda, daily edition, page 4 article (Moscow, December 9, 1941)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/komsomolskaya-pravda-voina-na-tikhom-okeane-1941/). Page 4, same issue and licence.*

**Printed.** Page 1: "УСПЕШНЫЕ КОНТРАТАКИ НАШИХ ВОЙСК" ("Successful counter-attacks of our troops"), the Sovinformburo communiques of 7 December, and a photograph captioned "Сержант Д. И. ПАНКРАТОВ, пограничник, в одном бою уничтожил более 70 фашистов" ("Sergeant D. I. Pankratov, a border guard, destroyed more than 70 fascists in one battle"). Page 4: "ЗА РУБЕЖОМ / Война на Тихом океане", with items headed "Сообщение Белого Дома о воздушном налете японцев на Гавайские острова" ("White House report on the Japanese air raid on the Hawaiian Islands"), "Послание Рузвельта конгрессу", "США объявили войну Японии" and "Речь Черчилля", each under a "(ТАСС)" dateline that names the agency it takes the news from.

**How the definitions apply.** The page-1 caption applies "фашистов" ("fascists") to the German troops, as the page does throughout. By the archive's definition it is a label, applied here to one's own enemy exactly as "Japs" is applied to the enemy on the American pages; whether it is descriptive or loaded is a reader's judgement, and the tag records only that it is a label. On [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/), the issue's own front page is the Moscow front, and the Pacific war is carried as a page of attributed foreign dispatches. That is an ordering a reader can see: the page does not say why.

![Illustration: overlapping newspaper front pages with unreadable headlines, red grease-pencil circles and clippings.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/graphics/front-pages.jpg)

Illustration, not an archive object

## Where they differ

- **Distance from the event.** The Juneau paper was a long way from the Pacific Fleet. The Moscow paper was in a country at war with Germany, with German forces near the capital and a Soviet counter-offensive under way since 5–6 December, and at peace with Japan under the neutrality pact.
- **Order.** The Juneau paper put the attack in the largest type on page 1. The Moscow paper put its own front on page 1 and the Pacific war on page 4.
- **Sourcing.** The American pages cite the Associated Press, Tokyo and the White House. The Moscow page cites TASS and, inside the TASS items, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press and Domei, so it carries the Japanese memorandum and the Roosevelt message in the words those agencies relayed.
- **Controls.** The 8 December American page itself reports that the Army and Navy had instituted censorship; the American press was newly under it. The Moscow paper was an organ of the ruling party's youth wing, in a one-party state at war, and carried TASS copy.
- **The label.** The Juneau pages use "Japs" in headlines. The Moscow page uses "фашисты" for the enemy it is at war with.

## Where they are alike

- Both papers report the same event and give the same sequence: raid, White House statement, Roosevelt message, declarations of war.
- Each page selects and orders; none shows every dispatch on the subject.
- Each uses a label for the enemy somewhere on the pages shown.

## Later, outside this week

The archive's Japanese-side page for this war, ['Toki no tatefuda' (Notice Board of the Times), Shashin Shūhō No. 200, page 2 (24 December 1941)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/toki-no-tatefuda-shashin-shuho-200-1941/) (*Shashin Shūhō* No. 200, dated 24 December 1941), is from a government magazine published two weeks later and is not a same-week front page. No Japanese or German newspaper of 7–9 December 1941 could be cleared for hosting.

## Sources

- [Library of Congress, Chronicling America: *The Daily Alaska Empire*, 7 December 1941](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045499/1941-12-07/ed-1/?sp=1) and [8 December 1941](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045499/1941-12-08/ed-1/?sp=1)
- [Wikimedia Commons: *Komsomolskaya Pravda*, 9 December 1941 (PDF)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Komsomolskaya-Pravda-77-1941-12-09-all.pdf)

*Image gaps: Japanese newspapers (for example the*Asahi Shimbun*of 8–9 December 1941) and German papers (for example the*Völkischer Beobachter*) could not be cleared; no Commons or library copy with a verifiable free basis was found. The*Honolulu Star-Bulletin*extra of 7 December 1941: not hosted, licence could not be verified.*