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To: EyesOfTX

FDR did not like Germans. They had arrested three times in his youth. Germany was a threat. It was a threat to the Soviet Union. “In closing, America also bears some of the blame...” What is “America”? Is it the American people who were overwhelmingly opposed to the war, or was it the leadership who were worried about the future of the Soviet Union. The war was precipitated by an ultimatum to Japan delivered to Secretary Morgenthau by Harry Dexter White, a Soviet agent. The ultimatum originated in Moscow. The Japanese diplomatic code was broken. It all went according to plan, delivering half of Europe to the Soviets.


71 posted on 12/09/2020 4:16:30 PM PST by Vehmgericht (12)
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To: Vehmgericht
"The war was precipitated by an ultimatum to Japan delivered to Secretary Morgenthau by Harry Dexter White, a Soviet agent.
The ultimatum originated in Moscow.
The Japanese diplomatic code was broken.
It all went according to plan, delivering half of Europe to the Soviets. "

Most of that is pure fantasy.
Japan's diplomatic messages did not contain specifics on their upcoming attacks, which included not just Pearl Harbor but also Wake, Guam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dutch New Guinea and many smaller islands.
None of this was known in advance from Japan's diplomatic messages.

As for a Soviet ultimatum supposedly delivered to Morgenthau for Japan... FDR's pre-war terms for restored good relations with Japan were a Japanese withdraw from recently conquered countries.
Those terms did not originate with the Russians, but we're FDR's idea and resulted in Japan deciding to attack Pearl Harbor.

It's true that FDR seemed to like "Uncle Joe" Stalin, and took no actions to suppress Communists in his administration.
But FDR understood better than most that the loss of Tsarist Russia in the First World War helped prevent the Allies from thoroughly defeating the Kaiser's Germany, and FDR was determined not to repeat that mistake in the Second World War.

There's no evidence I've ever seen to suggest that "Uncle Joe" was calling FDR's strategic shots through ultimatums to Morgenthau or anything else.

87 posted on 12/11/2020 9:12:10 AM PST by BroJoeK ((a little historical perspective...) )
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