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Mr. Toland said he had turned up evidence to conclude that Roosevelt had known in advance of Japan's impending attack but failed to inform the naval command in the Pacific in the hope of rousing America from its isolationism.

With all the charges by Democrats about Bush, encapsulated in the New York Post headline: "BUSH KNEW" (about 9/11), perhaps the time has come to revisit the question of what FDR knew about Pearl Harbor -- a question that has already led to nine official and congressional investigations and the exoneration of Kimmel and Short. We know that the Japanese broke radio silence, and that we broke their naval codes, intercepted over 16,000 naval messages, observed the departure from Japan and tracked the Yamamoto fleet to within 200 miles of Hawaii, and moved our newest ships including two aircraft carriers out of the harbor before the attack. In addition, General George Marshall failed to brief Kimmel and Short on what he knew. When the remaining top secret documents are declassified and released, we may learn more.

Toland is supported in his conclusion by Robert Stinnett in his excellent and well documented book "Day of Deceit" which discussed the newly discovered 1940 memo by Lt. Cmdr. Arthur McCollum to FDR that set forth eight actions, if taken by the US, would entice Japan to attack the US. All proposals were implemented by the Roosevelt administration. In retrospect, one could persuasively claim that FDR's "end justified the means" in that more lives were saved by an earlier US entry into the war than were lost at Pearl Harbor. Comments?

We do? I don't think so. Rather difficult to "break radio silence" when critical occillators are removed from all radios from ships in Kido Butai. Neat trick. It was part of the Japanese communication plan. Now...if you can explain to me why The Japanese would break radio silence before a impending attack on Pearl Harbor I would be please to hear it. Th radio traffic heard was standard maritime weather code used by commercial ships to transmit local weather conditions. Not even a code really. A kind shorthand for meteorolgists. RDF fixes on the transmission put it 1,100 miles behind Kido Butai. Toland made the mistake of asumming this was Kido Butai and failed to check the Lats and Longs. derived from the RDF intercepts. He came a cropper as a result. He went for the brass ring of History. " FDR Knew"..many have tried. Toland's attempt was particularly sad. He was an old man swinging for the fence.In his zeal, he lost the historian's natural skepticism and failed to take the elemental precautions to insure the integrity of his work. He failed to submit his book for peer review prior to publication. He could have saved himself a great deal of grief. After his book he was like a haunted spectre among his colleagues. They were soliticous, kind, and sheltering. When that happens a historin is done. It is like treating a horribly wounded colleague. Did FDR know?...He may have. Is there compelling evidence to support the assertion. No... Not yet. Is there lots of time worn speculation presented as fact? Tons of it.

Crock..

ON December 7, 1941 were were reading ZERO Japanese OPerational Naval Messages. Either in whole or in part. Why?..because they had changed the additive books on their naval codes on December 1 The also changed the code from JN-25A to JN-25B.

Broke radio silence?...not according to the Japanese Naval Communications who ran their communications plan and its corrollary decpetion plan. They were transmiting like sumbitches. But it wasn't Kido Butai doing the transmitting. They aren't stupid.

Stinnett's book is a joke and has been roundly bashed by crypanalysts. Read the review by Budiansky in Cryptologia. Stinnett didn't know his fanny from a frequency.