| Shorttitle: | Air Raid Attack Act of 1942 |
| Longtitle: | An Act to provide protection of persons and property from bombing attacks in the United States, and for other purposes |
| Nickname: | Civilian Defense Protection Act of 1942 |
| Enacted By: | 77th |
| Effective Date: | January 27, 1942 |
| Cite Statutes At Large: | , Chap. 20 |
| Introducedin: | Senate |
| Introducedby: | Robert Rice Reynolds (D–NC) |
| Introduceddate: | December 15, 1941 |
| Committees: | Senate Committee on Military Affairs, House Committee on Military Affairs |
| Passedbody1: | Senate |
| Passeddate1: | December 19, 1941 |
| Passedvote1: | Passed |
| Passedbody2: | House |
| Passeddate2: | January 8, 1942 |
| Passedvote2: | 187-169, in lieu of |
| Conferencedate: | January 10, 1942 |
| Passedbody3: | House |
| Passeddate3: | January 19, 1942 |
| Passedvote3: | 335-2 |
| Passedbody4: | Senate |
| Passeddate4: | January 19, 1942 |
| Passedvote4: | Agreed |
| Signedpresident: | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Signeddate: | January 27, 1942 |
Air Raid Attack Act of 1942 was a United States federal statute authorizing the United States civil defense to protect Americans and property from bombing attacks, sabotage, and war hazards upon the United States entry into World War II. The Act of Congress established Civilian Defense regulations prohibiting the obstruction of the duties and rights of local districts, municipals, counties, and State officials.
Senate Bill 1936 was passed by the 77th United States Congressional Session and enacted into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 27, 1942.
The United States confronted espionage activities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncloaking the Duquesne Spy Ring in 1941 and Operation Pastorius in 1942. The Imperial Japanese Navy conducted attacks on the West Coast of the United States. The air attack on Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii killed 2,403 people and almost wrecked the United States Pacific Fleet. Three months later on March 4, 1942, two Japanese reconnaissance aircraft undertook a limited operation to disrupt repairs of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Oahu, dropping a couple of bombs on the slopes of Tantalus Peak and near the Roosevelt High School.
Throughout the rest of the war, it was the continental Pacific coastline that encountered the Imperial Japanese forces with the battle of Los Angeles, the bombardment of Ellwood, the Aleutian Islands campaign, the bombardment of Fort Stevens, and Lookout Air Raids.
The Empire of Japan discovered a gas balloon could travel thousands of miles if navigated by the Earth's air current or jet stream. In 1933, Imperial Japanese Military commenced the design and development of the Fu-Go balloon bomb launching nine thousand hydrogen balloons from 1944 to 1945 to firebombing the Western United States.[1] [2]