Replies

from post #69: "I did't see you on this thread yet. Here is a ping since this is an area of interest for you."

Thanks for the ping.
Now that I have some time, have read through all these posts and they are excellent! Many hit the nail right on the head. Most of the points I would have argued with turned out to be nicely answered by others. I am very impressed.

And some of this has been mentioned before, but will list again references I recommend:

Making the case that Roosevelt not only knew in advance of the Pearl Harbor attack, but in some sense "provoked" it:

Robert Stinnett c2000 "Day of Deceit"

George Victor c2007 "The Pearl Harbor Myth"

Making the case that FDR did not know in advance:

Joseph Perisco c2001 "Roosevelt's Secret War"

Larry Schweikart c2008 "48 Liberal Lies About American History"

My opinion is that -- despite my high respect for Perisco and Schweikart otherwise -- those who argue "Roosevelt knew" make a stronger case than those who say he didn't. And the George Victor book especially puts the whole thing in proper context.

Stinnett makes at least three important points:

Not just some, but virtually all of the Japanese codes had been broken long before Pearl Harbor.
Messages revealing the locations of Japanese fleets were being sent to all major commanders EXCEPT Kimmel and Short -- even by their own cryptographers!
It wasn't just the aircraft carriers which were sent away a few days before December 7. It was also EVERY modern warship (over 20 of them) then stationed at Pearl Harbor.

But George Victor spells out the context -- political, military & strategic which best makes sense of it all, imho.

Also, from Layton's (with Costello and Pineau) And, I Was There ...:

Page 342: "Wilkinson recounted how he had been accompained by Captain McCollum to the munitions building where he found General Miles and Colonel Bratton already present in the boardroom. His digest of the evidence of the morning of 19 December suggest that there was a certain degree of collusion and deliberate misstatement in what appears to have been a collaborative effort by army and navy to convery the impression that no intelligence had been withheld from Admiral Kimmel or General Short."

Also, Wilford's Pearl Harbor Redefined from his MA thesis in History (thesis has more detail) might be added to you list.