Petalumans rally in wake of Pearl Harbor

On Dec. 7, 1941, a world at war came to Petaluma.

Do you remember where you were when you first heard President Roosevelt’s speech regarding the “day that shall live in infamy?” You don’t need to be 80 years old to remember, because that speech has been replayed every year since.

Japan and the United States had been on a collision course for a long time and Adolph Hitler’s victories in Europe had enthused the Japanese Empire. By 1941, the Nazis had control of most of Europe, had invaded France and attacked Russia.

Roosevelt had made a fervent plea to Hitler to halt his aggression and was flat-out told to “mind his own business.” America waffled for two years on the decision to go to war, and public opinion had forced the president to sign a Neutrality Act in 1938. It was soon found that neutrality wouldn’t work, not in this war.

Even so, many U.S. factories raced ahead for defense production and in California, Consolidated Aircraft was making the B-24 Bomber and Lockheed, Douglas, Vultee, North American and Northrup Companies were also turning out war planes here. Kaiser Shipbuilding in Oakland was employing 100,000 people as well. It was called “Defense Dollars at work.” Everyone felt that war was coming, but when?

The Great Depression of the 1930s had hit Europe and Asia as well as the U.S., and Hitler had used it as a means to gain power in Germany. Could that happen here?

An Argus-Courier editorial warned: “The menace of the growth of the Nazi Party in the U.S. is alarming. The world is in a very precarious position.”

In the 30s, Roosevelt had instituted reforms aimed at helping America get back on it’s feet. The Works Projects Administration (WPA), plus the California Conservation Corps (CCC), were slowly rebuilding California. Many of those projects were employing Sonoma County residents.

Although our country was firmly against entering the war, help to our allies was moving at full speed. Petaluma’s butter and egg production broke all records, as much of it was shipped overseas to Britain. But California, on Dec. 6, 1941, was still designated a “calm shore in the storm.” It just couldn’t happen here, could it? It all made good conversation in our overly busy saloons.

And then, the world changed, as Pearl Harbor had been destroyed within a matter of hours. Six carriers and 423 fighter/bombers of the Japanese Imperial Navy wiped out almost all of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and 2,335 American servicemen were killed in the attack. This event marked the end of isolationism in America.

Within two days, all California coastal communities were braced for invasion. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat headlined on Jan. 2, 1942: “Enemy here!”

Petaluma volunteers were organized to watch for boats and planes, and a local civil defense system was quickly put together. The roof of the five-story Hotel Petaluma was made a 24-hour lookout site. More than 100 Petalumans volunteered for that duty.

Anxiety was great here, as floating mines were found off the Sonoma Coast, mysterious lights were seen at sea and submarines were sighted off Dillon Beach. Would the Japanese invade San Francisco Bay? Wasn’t Eureka a natural invasion site? Should we impose blackouts here? There were no immediate answers.

Republican Candidate Wendell Wilkie had emphasized at the Bohemian Grove, in August of 1941: “The United States must not enter this war!” Another voice for isolation, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, had said in September of that year: “The quickest way for the U.S. to lose a war is to attack Germany.” Lindbergh was later accused of being a Nazi sympathizer.

Sonoma County had missed out on California’s industrialization for war preparation, but not on militarization. More than 700,000 Californians were in uniform by July of 1942, many from Sonoma County, as thousands of Mexican migrants were brought in to work the fields and war production plants. That year’s graduating class from Petaluma High School had more than 75 percent of our boys joining the military.

In some ways, the winter of 1941-42 was normal here. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane was playing at The State Theater, the turning basin had just been dredged again, and there was a mini boom in real estate sales.

But there were warning signs, too. The president had asked Congress for $540,000 to improve Bodega Bay as a refuge for U.S. Navy ships. By July 1942, our community was preparing air raid shelters. Roosevelt had famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” But in Petaluma, fear was abundant then.

Many social changes occurred here because of our proximity to Asia and the Pacific Coast. Whole families of Japanese-Americans were evacuated from their business and homes to isolated war camps, in a move based on our unwarranted fear and prejudice. Many of those families did not recover their belongings after the war.

A few months into 1942, another direct result of the war hit Petaluma. Roosevelt issued an edict that closed all silk and hosiery mills in the United States to conserve silk for the armed forces. It was mainly to halt the importation of silk from Japan. Petaluma’s Carlson/Currier Silk Mill was forced to lay off all its employees and eventually close permanently.

We were not out of the Great Depression yet, and we ran smack dab into World War II. Tough times indeed.

(Historian Skip Sommer is an Honorary Life Member of Heritage Homes and the Petaluma Historical Museum. Contact him at skipsommer@hotmail.com.)