From the Desk of Governor Schricker Part One: The Days before Pearl Harbor

By Daniel Stearns, Reference Assistant

Just days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia wrote to Governor Schricker, thanking him for making the trip to a conference held in Chicago. The conference hosted governors from around the Midwest who convened to discuss contingencies for an attack by a hostile nation on the U.S. mainland. The letter is dated December 5, 1941, and was received by Governor Schricker on December 8, 1941, the very day of the Pearl Harbor attack.

_{[Image Right: Scott County Journal, January 16, 1941, 1, Newspapers.com]}

_{[Image above: Henry F. Schricker to Fiorello H. LaGuardia, December 8, 1941, [B100268663W] Papers of Governor Henry Schricker, Indiana State Archives.]}

Several months earlier, in May of 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered the creation of an Office for Civilian Defense. He tapped New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (after whom LaGuardia Airport is named) to be its first director. LaGuardia surmised that much of the work to ensure the infrastructure that was vital to defense production at home was protected from sabotage, and air attacks would fall on the shoulders of local communities. As such, the need for coordination with state governments was paramount. To that end, he held a conference attended by Governors and civilian defense officials from the Midwest in Chicago on December 1, 1941.

The ideas and discussions at this meeting took place against the backdrop of the eventuality of America's entry into WWII. By this point, the United States was already mobilizing for war and direct involvement in the fray was seen by many as inevitable. But how and when U.S. entry would take place was anyone's guess. By the time LaGuardia’s letter reached the desk of Governor Schricker, the world had irrevocably changed, and the U.S. was at war.

In Indiana, the partisan politics of Schricker’s first months in office were largely put aside as the governor and lawmakers worked to mobilize Indiana's resources for the war effort. As governor of a major industrial state, Schricker played a crucial role in coordinating defense production, managing wartime rationing, and preparing for potential domestic threats.

This collection highlight captures a pivotal moment in American history—the final days of peace before Pearl Harbor thrust the nation into World War II. Governor Schricker's participation in this Chicago conference demonstrates Indiana's role in wartime planning and the early recognition that civilian defense would be critical to the war effort. Within days of receiving this letter, Schricker would transition from preparing for a theoretical conflict to managing Indiana's full wartime mobilization, including overseeing the state's massive contribution to aircraft production, ammunition manufacturing, and agricultural output that would help sustain the Allied war effort.