Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1941: The headline in a special edition of the Portales Daily News read “JAPS ATTACK U.S.”
A secondary headline read, “50 Japanese Planes Loose Powerful Bombs On United States Fortifications in Hawaii”
A story under the headline “Bulletin!” reported:
“The United States is now at war with Japan, with Japan as the aggressor.
“England is expected to declare war on Japan within the next hour.
“This startling news was flashed around the world at 2:30 E.S. Time, as the report was received at the White House that a fleet of 50 planes had struck at the heavily fortified Pearl Harbor.”
The newspaper, which did not usually publish on Saturday or Sunday, produced three different editions on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, with updated news about the attack on page 1. Pages 2-7 for each edition were reprints of the Dec. 5 edition.
The Clovis News-Journal published one “Extra” edition after learning of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Extra-edition headlines included:
“JAP BOMBERS BLAST HAWAII”
“MANILA ALSO BOMBED”
“Sudden undeclared war flares in Pacific”
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens. Contact:
