Offered: Original eighty-two year old The Lawton Constitution VOL.XXXX No.87 dated December 7, 1941 EXTRA JAPS BOMB HAWAII and SECOND EXTRA WAR DECLARED JAPAN DECLARES WAR ON AMERICA. Condition age toned along fold scattered loss but still attached front and rear length fold; Front and Last EXTRAS Headlines with missing center sheet with page 3,4,/5,6 lacking, very delicate original no other found, rarity especially date of attack and declaration of war on same sheet which predated Japanese papers.

**Japan declares war, 1941

Declaration of War against the United States and Britain [in Japanese], December 8, 1941. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)On December 7, 1941, two hours after the Japanese attack on American military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japan declared war on the United States and Great Britain, marking America’s entry into World War II. The Japanese government had originally intended to deliver the declaration thirty minutes before the attack, but the Japanese embassy in Washington took too long to decode the 5,000-word document.


The declaration read, in part, that Japanese “officers and men of our army and navy will concentrate their strength in engaging in battles, the members of our government will endeavor to carry out their assigned duties, our subjects throughout the empire will employ full strength to perform their respective tasks. Thus uniting one hundred million hearts and discharging the fullest strength of the nation, we expect all our subjects to strive to attain the ultimate objective of this expedition.” It was printed on the front page of Japanese newspapers on December 8, 1941, and again on the 8th of every month until the end of the war.



**The Lawton Constitution, the pioneer paper of Comanche County, was established in 1903 as a successor to the newspaper, the Elgin Eagle. The paper had both daily and a weekly edition and affiliated with the Democratic Party. The daily edition was published daily save for Sundays, and the weekly was issued on Thursdays.


In 1905, the Constitution Company published the paper and J. Roy Williams served as editor. S. K. Rush and H. M. Tilton were listed as managers. In volume three, James H. Timmons takes over as the manager of the paper. Both papers measured 15 by 22 inches. The daily paper cost four dollars per year, while the weekly cost one dollar per year. From 1906 to 1907 the daily had a circulation of 500 and the weekly had 1,625 subscribers. The next year the weekly reported a circulation of 2,267. John N. Shepler purchased the Constitution and took over the position of editor.


In 1907 the Constitution merged with The State Democrat to become the Lawton Constitution-Democrat. The paper was published daily and weekly with T. M. Bixby as the editor. A year's subscription was three dollars, and the paper claimed to be the “official newspaper of Comanche County and the City of Lawton.” In 1911 the paper resumed publication as The Lawton Constitution.