Within days of Japan’s December 7, 1941 attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, a diverse, often contentious, and isolationist-leaning nation still in the depths of the Great Depression came together in united purpose and finally entered the global war that had at that point been raging around it for almost two years. The singularity, universality and ultimate effectiveness of that resolve is legendary, as was its especial spirit. Certainly, there was a degree of outrage at the enemy, and of patriotic fervor. But what stood out among the American people during those 4 years of war was a national spirit in the face of adversity that was unusual, before or since, in its blend of quiet determination, good will, and hope. Carl Sandburg, writing about a new Irving Berlin song in his Chicago Times column in December, 1942, expressed it, perhaps, best of all: