Does the book make the case that FDR was surprised, or that he was not? Wendell Willkie had evidence that FDR knew about the Japanese prepartions for the attack, and that he should thus be impeached. Willkie was persuaded not to present this evidence in his 1944 Presidential campaign by the Army (the war was still on), since it would reveal that the Japanese code system had been cracked, and so he did not.
FDR, as a Navy man (Asst. Secy of the Navy), I think he would be quite the sonofab*tch to do that in advance to all those boys on the USS Arizona and the other Navy boys there that day at Pearl. I would find it unfathomable for a man with a Navy past to know to that detail in advance and allow it. But, it has always been a historic contention, hasn’t it?
Apologies just now to bring up the Pearl Harbor thing, I dont want the thread to wander, so let us just leave it at that, and I will start a thread somewhere about “FDR Knew?” and cover it there. Lets get back to North Korea. Sorry. My bad.
>>”Does the book make the case that FDR was surprised, or that he was not?”<<
The author makes it clear that FDR not only knew but enabled the attack. It is an excellent book.