ABSTRACT
The editorial writer of The New York Times took as his theme on the Sunday after the Pearl Harbor attack the closing words of the President's address to Congress "for liberty under God", words he said were worth remembering and repeating. To The Times there was no doubt where responsibility for the war lay. For the history books and for posterity, it asserted: America's slate was clean. America's response was grounded in religion. The Declaration of Independence had named God as the fount of liberty. The American people, "a queer compound of doubts and dreams", were capable of an exaltation inspired by a sense of divine destiny. The Houston Chronicle took as its keynote the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. It was the liberties proclaimed by the Bill of Rights that were the motivating factors in the country's commitment to victory.
