By October 1941, the shipbuilding industry in the city had jumped to 22,000 employees, up from 1,000 only two years earlier. At that point, Los Angeles already ranked first of all cities in America in production of aircraft, and the city’s San Pedro Bay housed an enormous naval armada. After the unanticipated attack on Pearl Harbor on Decemresulted in the deaths of 2,403 Americans, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war and join the Allied Powers. The first months of 1942 were strained ones for the West Coast. Often relegated to a footnote in the history of World War II, the “battle” is a prime example of what can happen when the military and civilians expect an invasion at any moment. Never heard of it? That’s because nothing actually happened. Take the Battle of Los Angeles, for instance. For 38 minutes, chaos and panic reigned as people abandoned their cars on the highway to seek shelter before finally receiving word that the alert had been sent on accident.Īs terrifying as the experience was for those on the archipelago, it’s not the first time an impending attack has turned out to be a false alarm. territory of Guam, Hawaiian citizens-and countless tourists-were quick to assume the worst. With North Korea launching numerous missiles throughout 2017, and previously threatening to attack the U.S. “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. This past Saturday, residents of Hawaii were alarmed as cell phones across the island state chimed with an early morning emergency alert. Page B of the February 26, 1942, Los Angeles Times, shows the coverage of the so-called Battle of Los Angeles and its aftermath.
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