Following the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor, which left over 2,400 U.S. service members dead and nearly 20 warships damaged or destroyed, millions of Americans entered into a state of mass hysteria and fear.
Immediately after the ambush, as the United States declared war on Japan, Americans began preparing for what many feared was another imminent attack. On December 9, 1941, two days after Pearl Harbor, stock prices tumbled after unsubstantiated reports of an impending invasion set off a panic in New York City. Soon, blackouts were ordered up and down the West Coast in an attempt to conceal population centers from invading forces, and concern only grew as Secretary of War Henry Stimson warned that U.S. cities should be prepared for “occasional blows” from the enemy.
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