Stinnett mentions an October 7, 1940 memo written by Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence...which was endorsed by two of FDR's closest military advisors, Walter Anderson and Dudley Knox (google "McCollum Memo" and you can find scanned versions of the original online)....in it McCollum outlines the danger of the Axis and notes it is not believed that in the present state of political opinion the United States government is capable of declaring war against Japan without more ado; and it is barely possible that vigorous action on our part might lead the Japanese to modify their attitude. Therefore, the following course of action is suggested...
Then McCollum details an 8-point plan to provoke the Japanese into committing an overt act of agression (every point of which was implemented in the next year)...in fact, the memo explicitly states:
If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better. At all events we must be fully prepared to accept the threat of war.
Don't be naive