"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation"

Know what doesn't have enough oomph to really describe President Roosevelt's speech on December 8th, 1941? Its title.

Seriously, "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation?"

Yawn.

And its most common nickname, "Pearl Harbor Speech," isn't much better.

Sure, they're both accurate—it was a speech addressed to the nation regarding recent events at Pearl Harbor, after all—but wow, are they low on pizzazz. We much prefer this speech's other popular nickname: "The Infamy Speech." Why? We'll give you three reasons.

First, it references the famous (or is it infamous) first line of the speech, in which FDR asserts that December 7th, 1941 would be "a date which will live in infamy" (1). And just like Captain America, we dig it when we understand the reference. (Also, it totally did. Become a date that lived in infamy, that is.)

Second, it's not as blah as the first two names. Those names are plain Jane; this name is fancy Nancy. Those names are iceberg lettuce; this name is fresh organic romaine. Those names are basic white cotton; this name is gold sequins. Those names are…

Well, you get what we're saying. It's a cool name.

And third, we like it because the word "infamy" almost didn't make it into the speech. In the first draft, FDR wrote "world history" instead of "infamy." How crazy would that have been? For sure, "The World History Speech" just doesn't have the same panache as "The Infamy Speech."

And with speech nicknames, it's all about the panache.