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To: BroJoeK
Of course, I don't think President Roosevelt was in the least "oblivious."

Not so sure. it seems one failing of the US then, and even now, is that when a truly evil opponent lies right in your face you cant conceive of them actually having a secret evil plot. no, i dont think roosevelt thought the japanese would sneak attack. he probably thought they would declare war or there would be a provocation like sinking one of our vessels. one of the key lessons of the war, both pearl harbor for the US and Midway for the Japanese: prepare for what your enemy could do, not what you think they will do. that same mistake, btw, we are making with Iran today.

15 posted on 08/07/2011 10:01:29 AM PDT by beebuster2000
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To: beebuster2000
beebuster2000: "Not so sure. it seems one failing of the US then, and even now, is that when a truly evil opponent lies right in your face you cant conceive of them actually having a secret evil plot.
no, i dont think roosevelt thought the japanese would sneak attack."

There is no debate that FDR did send out "War Warnings" to all commanders in late November 1941.
These warnings mentioned the possibility of sudden Japanese attack in places like the Philippines and Singapore.
But there was no mention of Hawaii, nor had there been any specific warnings beyond sabotage to Hawaii's commanders.

As for background: any good history book -- including Homer's posts here -- clearly show FDR slowly tightening the screws, poking at the Japanese, and making demands on them (i.e., withdrawal from China) which he knew were impossible for Japan to meet.

What most of those books leave out are the "whys" of FDR's actions, and to learn those you have to turn to more controversial books, of which several have been frequently mentioned here.

Of course, those who wish to defend FDR's innocence vigorously attack such books, and even more their authors.
So it's still a big debate.

But I think there are a large number of data-points which when we "connect the dots", tell us that the President's inner circle and top intelligence people knew or suspected more than they let their commanders in Hawaii in on.

16 posted on 08/07/2011 10:36:16 AM PDT by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective....)
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