WashPost Readers Outraged That the Post Had 'Not One Line in the Paper' About Pearl Harbor on December 7

December 14th, 2013 3:34 PM

On the “Free For All” page in Saturday’s Washington Post devoted to letters to the editor, three locals smacked the Post for failing to note the 72nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7.

None of the letters as printed made the point that the Post has “flooded the zone” with lots of coverage and special sections this year for the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington and then the JFK assassination. So what about the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2011? What did that draw?

No zone-flooding. No special sections. No articles in the A-section of the paper on December 7, 2011 or the week leading up to it. On the 7th, they had a story on the front page of the Metro section by reporter Tom Jackman on two Japanese-American veterans of World War II now living in the same retirement community in Springifield, Virginia.

The day that “will live in infamy” isn’t apparently infamous enough to last in the Post. Here are the angry letters as printed on Saturday:

I was shocked and dismayed to find no mention in the Dec. 7 Post of “a day that will live in infamy.” The anniversary of Pearl Harbor is one of the most important days in the history of our country. And we wonder why young people often appear ignorant of what has happened in the past?

I hope this day will not be ignored again by The Post.  -- Anne Mahoney Robbins, Rockville

Did anyone at The Post happen to notice on the calendar that Dec. 7 is Pearl Harbor Day? Not one line in the paper. Remarkable. -- Ron Gunderson, Ellicott City

Apparently, 72 years ago Dec. 7, an important event happened involving the United States and Japan. Does The Post have any information regarding this event? I think it had something to do with pearls. Maybe it was a trade agreement with Mikimoto that went bad? Any information the paper could supply would be appreciated by many, I’m sure. -- Steve Ripley, Arlington