Ditto your point.
My point from the beginning has been that FDR knew more about a possible Japanese attack than was contained in the "war warning" sent to Kimmel and Short.
That "warning" actually mislead Kimmel & Short to take wildly inappropriate defensive measures, for which they were later crucified.
Precisely how much more FDR knew is not exactly clear.
However, there is evidence suggesting (only suggesting) that he knew a lot more.
Last time, I promise: The Myth of Pearl Harbor is probably unique in that the author is decidedly pro-Roosevelt, but does not flinch from looking at the available data.
Ditto your point.
My point was that, although I believe that FDR did feel that U.S. involvement in World War II was best for the future survival of the Free World, that FDR did NOT have actionable intelligence that pin-pointed specifically: Pearl Harbor, 7 December, 1941.
It is not enough to know from Japanese code intercepts that the Japanese were planning an attack on "AF" in June 1942. Only after intercepting the Japanese message "AF is short of water" after the U.S. sent a false, uncoded message that the Midway distillation plant was out of service did the U.S. know that the Japanese were planning an attack on Midway, SPECIFICALLY.
What. When. Where.
That is what is needed to react to a specific threat. Simply knowing that the Japanese are planning something is as useless as knowing that, right now, Osama bin Ladin has a plan to attack the U.S. some day, somewhere, somehow.
You can't be on full alert defending everything, everywhere, every day.
"He who defends everything, defends nothing." ...... Frederick the Great
Do you believe that FDR had the exact "What-When-Where" of the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack?
The conspiracy theorists believe so. I do not.
If FDR had know the the exact "What-When-Where" of the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, a Battle of Midway style ambush would have awaited the Japanese and FDR would had had BOTH his desired War and his desired Victory all on the same day.
Could things have been done better in regards to communications, preparations, etc.?
You betcha!
However, each new generation of "War Commander Rookies" tends to get their clocks cleaned in their first Real World test whether it be at First Bull Run or at Kasserine Pass.