Fact Check

Did Sean Spicer Tweet 'Today Is Dday' On Pearl Harbor Day?

While both events are historic, they did not occur, nor are they celebrated, on the same day.

Published Dec. 7, 2022

Article 8 of 10 in Collection
Claim:
Sean Spicer tweeted "Today is Dday" on December 7, 2022.
Context

December 7 is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Western Europe during World War II, is commemorated annually on June 6.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 2022, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted "Today is Dday. It only lives in infamy if we remember and share the story of sacrifice with the next generation."

Right off the bat, the tweet runs into shaky ground: For starters, Dec. 7 is not D-Day. Further, The historical allusion "lives in infamy" is misplaced when attributed to D-Day. 

Dec. 7 is Pearl Harbor Day, which commemorates the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941. In describing that attack, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously referred to Dec. 7 as "a date which will live in infamy in the United States of America." D-Day, the Allied invasion of Western Europe, occurred on June 6, 1944. 

Several accounts on Twitter shared screenshots of the tweet, which Spicer deleted after being corrected. His apology confirms he did send the tweet in question:

For that reason, the claim is True.

 

Article 8 of 10 in Collection

Sources

Home | D-Day | June 6, 1944 | The United States Army. https://www.army.mil/d-day/index.html. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.

"Sorry. Apologies." Twitter, https://twitter.com/seanspicer/status/1600528997342793730. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.

"Speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, New York (Transcript)." Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, https://www.loc.gov/resource/afc1986022.afc1986022_ms2201/?st=text. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.