Will Faucett:

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a preemptive attack on the United States Naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii, by the Empire of Japan’s Naval Air Service on Sunday morning of December 7, 1941. Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan, was the individual that ordered the attack. The attack was carried out by Japanese Kamikaze pilots who made deliberate suicidal crashes into the enemy targets. “After two hours of bombing, 18 U.S. ships were sunk or damaged, 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, and 2,403 people were killed.” The attack was Japan’s declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire, and was what forced the U.S. to join the war.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President during the war. FDR was known for his “Fireside Chats” which were radio broadcasts of him updating the public on the war. Since there were no televisions at the time, every household had a radio that they would listen to every night. On December 8th, 1941, one day after Japan's attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, President FDR gave his “Infamy Speech”.  President Roosevelt talked about the attacks the prior day as “a date that will live in infamy”.

Sebastian Goldberg:

Pearl Harbor and World War II affected lots of people on the U.S. homefront in many ways. After the attack the country introduced rationing, women had to go to work, manufacturing changed, and African Americans played a new role.

Rationing was a big deal for Americans. Tires, gas, and bikes were all rationed. The reason for this was so that the military would have the rubber, metal, and gas they needed for all their ships and planes. Foods that were rationed included sugar, coffee, meats, canned milk, canned fish, fats, and cheese. People on the U.S. homefront started planting “victory gardens” (gardens planted in someone's backyard) after Pearl Harbor. Americans would get 60% of their produce from their gardens.

Haruki Ono:

The interviewee was in first grade when she listened to FDR's fireside chat where she heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the start of World War II. The Fireside Chats were delivered through the radio from 1933 to 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Essentially, the only source of live information citizens had access to was through radio. Therefore, during FDR speech, every family huddled around the radio to be aware of any updated information about the war.

The war dramatically changed people's lives because the government put constraints on the availability of food, gas, etc. Another prominent consequence of the war was the blackout curtains that were provided to citizens. The shades were made to prevent the light from going outside so that any attackers could not identify the city so easily at night. "Civil Defense" were people who volunteered in ensuring that there was no conspicuous light that was coming out of buildings.

Sources:

https://www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/search/world%20war%20II/type/ar?searchType=basicsearch

https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-wwii-home-front.htm

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rationing

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/infamy.htm

https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consequences_of_the_attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/fireside-chats