In reading about that there were four possibilities of where the attack would come and Pearl was just one of the four.
The Soviets DID spot the IJN during their Hawaii approach and they did radio that discovery back to Moscow.
The Soviets didn’t warn the US, but no one knows why.
I think it really was a surprise.
We suspected they might pull something like this but not exactly when.
Good article.
His kicking the Constitution to the curb for a fistful of programs and power grabs should be enough for him being in the Presidential hall of shame.
One in three Americans believe America was too harsh with Japan by dropping A-Bombs to end the will of Japan to fight. There is always the one-third ready to condemn America and Americans first
November 27, day after Japanese fleet left for Pearl Harbor, message went out from War Department
Operative phrases = “Consider This message a war warning.
Execute appropriate defensive measures”
Kimmel and Short did neither …….
I was visiting my parents at their nursing facility yesterday, and as a young nurse came by my father commented to her that it was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Her reaction: “What’s Pearl Harbor?”
Stalin had lots of supporters in the FDR administration. It was important to get into the war to help Stalin.
After the Jap mini-sub was sunk, a call to battle stations might have been appropriate.
With the broken code, his efforts to instigate war for years (theres a reason the Grier was used), and the movements/actions of that day, there is no way FDR didn’t know and want this event to take place.
Wasn’t Teddy Roosevelt’s granddaughter put in charge of Red Cross and stationed in Los Angeles the day before - Dec.6th? I’m pretty sure that is on the record and she let’s slip she found it all too coincidental and believed there was foreknowledge.
And it was the icon of the Democrat party FDR who interred the Japanese Americans in 1942.
While I do believe that FDR was trying to maneuver this country into war, primarily because of England and Europe, his policies did finally squeeze the Japanese. When Oil and Scrap Metal, among other things, were cut off by the U.S., Japan decided on War.
It was only a matter of time till some kind of hostilities started and FDR knew this, but he had no advance knowledge of a specific target, my take anyway.
I am no admirer of Roosevelt. He was a left winger in the extreme. Roosevelt recognized the need of the USA entering the war against Germany. At this time the USA was isolationist and it was politically impossible for Roosevelt to enter the war against Germany and Japan.
I myself have always suspected he welcomed this attack as the USA then became on a war footing against Japan and Germany with our total industrial might to defeat both.
At the successful conclusion of the war when we had the atomic bomb and total supremacy on the field of battle, Roosevelt gave it all away to the Soviets. He gave away Eastern Europe and allowed the Soviet Union to become a great power for evil. Soon followed after his death Mao in China. I do not think he did this in ignorance. The Soviets were evil and Roosevelt was their handmaiden by choice. He was also evil.
At best Roosevelt was a fool, I do not think he was a fool and thus just plain damn evil.
I recently read a book which stated that the fuel from the above ground tanks at Pearl Harbor was pumped into underground tanks before the attack.
I think the pivotal word is “surprise” attack.
In military history, most of the time it’s only a “surprise” because the attack does not make sense strategically.
L8r
Probably not. Certainly I despise FDR’s socialist domestic policy. But looking at the geopolitical situation in 1941, everywhere fascist countries were popping up- in South America, the Middle East, and Axis forces were still ascending against the Soviets and had Great Britain on the ropes. If Britain were defeated, the Reich would possess much of the world- including Canada. He also knew that our country was isolationist and would not go to war unless provoked. I think he certainly knew our embargo would provoke Japan, but I also think the disaster at Pearl was more due to on-site errors by an unwatchful military than a deliberate act of FDR’s hanging them out to dry.
Roosevelt LOVED the US Navy. And in his younger years he was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. No way would he have deliberately put the Navy in harm’s way.
FDR made many serious mistakes as president. But to blame him for Pearl Harbor would be like blaming Eisenhower for the Battle of the Bulge.
Both Pearl Harbor and the Bulge were well-planned sneak attacks. Yeah, maybe they could have been avoided had the leadership been perfect geniuses.