Did President Roosevelt
already know about the
attack at Pearl Harbor
before it happened?
already know about the
attack at Pearl Harbor
before it happened?
The three website I used in my research are:
1. The New American
This website is credible because it has the contact information of the author, James Perloff. The website also has three working hyperlinks within the article and it was created one year ago on December 7, 2014.
2. Wikepedia
This website is credible because it was last updated May 8, 2015. The website also has three hyperlinks within the article and it ends in a .org which means that the website is a non-profit organization.
3. The Examiner
This website is credible because it has the contact information of the author, Sherwood Brooks. The website also has three working hyperlinks within the article and it was created one year ago on December 8 and 10, 2012.
My Findings:
Website 1
History books do not give great detail on the attack at Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese secret attack to the Americans. However, it was not a surprise to President Roosevelt, or FDR. FDR “was determined to engage America in the war” (Website 1). From day one of his presidency, he promised to keep our soldiers out of any foreign wars, but he did the exact opposite. Even though, “A pre-war Gallup poll showed 88 percent of Americans opposed U.S. involvement in the European war” (Website 1), FDR had a secret alliance with Winston Churchill, the leader of Britain. In the beginning of World War II, FDR made provocations to Germany by freezing its assets: shipping 50 destroyers to Britain and depth-charging U-boats. Hitler did not argue with them. Hitler remembered how America entered World War I, which ended in Germany having to pay reparations. Germany did not want to repeat history.Therefore, FDR switched his focus to Japan since he knew Germany wasn't his first priority, who had just signed a pact with Germany and Italy. “Roosevelt knew that if Japan went to war with the United States, Germany and Italy would be compelled to declare war on America — thus entangling us in the European conflict by the back door” (Website 1). FDR was so determined for America to enter the war because he “believed that our best entrance into the war would be by way of Japan" (Website 1). He wanted to provoke Japan into attacking America. This plan was inspired by the head of the Far East desk of Naval Intelligence’s memorandum. It consisted of eight steps to provoke Japan. FDR followed these steps and did much more. “..our government provoked that country in various ways — freezing her assets in America; closing the Panama Canal to her shipping; progressively halting vital exports to Japan until we finally joined Britain in an all-out embargo; sending a hostile note to the Japanese ambassador implying military threats if Tokyo did not alter its Pacific policies...” (Website 1). On November 26, just 11 days before the attack on pearl harbor, FDR sent an ultimatum in order to resume trade; Japan would have to withdraw from China and Indochina and to repeal her position in the Axis Powers with Germany and Italy. After this, FDR knew that Japan would attack. The bait that was given was the Pacific Fleet. FDR was permanently moving the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor, but Admiral J.O. Richardson argued that “Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack, being approachable from any direction; it could not be effectively rigged with nets and baffles to defend against torpedo planes; and in Hawaii it would be hard to supply and train crews for his undermanned vessels” (Website 1). After this, Richardson knew that FDR was fully determined to be part of the war. Richardson was soon replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. Kimmel felt the same way as Richardson did, but he accepted FDR’s decision. Therefore, he trusted Washington to notify him if there was any info leading to an attack. Unfortunately, Kimmel mistrusted Washington who “watched Japan preparing to assault Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel, as well as his Army counterpart in Hawaii, General Walter C. Short, were completely sealed off from the information pipeline” (Website 1). The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not a surprise attack. President Roosevelt baited the Japanese to attack them and he did not even warn America. He moved the Pacific Fleet out to the most obvious target for Japan. He purposely placed the Pacific Fleet out in Hawaii so that the attack would be away from the mainland. Naval base at Pearl Harbor could of fought back if they were warned when Washington gathered the info about the attack, but Washington never warned them.
History books do not give great detail on the attack at Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese secret attack to the Americans. However, it was not a surprise to President Roosevelt, or FDR. FDR “was determined to engage America in the war” (Website 1). From day one of his presidency, he promised to keep our soldiers out of any foreign wars, but he did the exact opposite. Even though, “A pre-war Gallup poll showed 88 percent of Americans opposed U.S. involvement in the European war” (Website 1), FDR had a secret alliance with Winston Churchill, the leader of Britain. In the beginning of World War II, FDR made provocations to Germany by freezing its assets: shipping 50 destroyers to Britain and depth-charging U-boats. Hitler did not argue with them. Hitler remembered how America entered World War I, which ended in Germany having to pay reparations. Germany did not want to repeat history.Therefore, FDR switched his focus to Japan since he knew Germany wasn't his first priority, who had just signed a pact with Germany and Italy. “Roosevelt knew that if Japan went to war with the United States, Germany and Italy would be compelled to declare war on America — thus entangling us in the European conflict by the back door” (Website 1). FDR was so determined for America to enter the war because he “believed that our best entrance into the war would be by way of Japan" (Website 1). He wanted to provoke Japan into attacking America. This plan was inspired by the head of the Far East desk of Naval Intelligence’s memorandum. It consisted of eight steps to provoke Japan. FDR followed these steps and did much more. “..our government provoked that country in various ways — freezing her assets in America; closing the Panama Canal to her shipping; progressively halting vital exports to Japan until we finally joined Britain in an all-out embargo; sending a hostile note to the Japanese ambassador implying military threats if Tokyo did not alter its Pacific policies...” (Website 1). On November 26, just 11 days before the attack on pearl harbor, FDR sent an ultimatum in order to resume trade; Japan would have to withdraw from China and Indochina and to repeal her position in the Axis Powers with Germany and Italy. After this, FDR knew that Japan would attack. The bait that was given was the Pacific Fleet. FDR was permanently moving the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor, but Admiral J.O. Richardson argued that “Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack, being approachable from any direction; it could not be effectively rigged with nets and baffles to defend against torpedo planes; and in Hawaii it would be hard to supply and train crews for his undermanned vessels” (Website 1). After this, Richardson knew that FDR was fully determined to be part of the war. Richardson was soon replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. Kimmel felt the same way as Richardson did, but he accepted FDR’s decision. Therefore, he trusted Washington to notify him if there was any info leading to an attack. Unfortunately, Kimmel mistrusted Washington who “watched Japan preparing to assault Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel, as well as his Army counterpart in Hawaii, General Walter C. Short, were completely sealed off from the information pipeline” (Website 1). The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not a surprise attack. President Roosevelt baited the Japanese to attack them and he did not even warn America. He moved the Pacific Fleet out to the most obvious target for Japan. He purposely placed the Pacific Fleet out in Hawaii so that the attack would be away from the mainland. Naval base at Pearl Harbor could of fought back if they were warned when Washington gathered the info about the attack, but Washington never warned them.
Website 2
Everybody has learned that the Americans were unprepared and surprised when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. According to Website #2, “U.S. civil and military intelligence had, amongst them, good information suggesting additional Japanese aggression throughout the summer and fall before the attack” (Website 2). Public Press reports stated the aggression in the Pacific was growing and they should be expecting a war. All Pacific Army and Naval Commands were earned separately they they would expect a war in the near future. No intel had shown where they would specifically attack. By 1941, U.S. signals intelligence, through the Army's Signal Intelligence Service and the Office of Naval Intelligence's OP-20-G, had intercepted and decrypted considerable Japanese diplomatic and naval cipher traffic, though nothing actually carrying significant information about Japanese military plans in 1940-41” (Website 2). Because of the lack of manpower and resources, not all of the information was not able to get distributed to Washington. The information that was given to Washington was raw and had no supporting analysis. They were not able to make any decisions or conclusions because “Nothing in it pointed directly to an attack at Pearl Harbor, and a lack of awareness of Imperial Navy capabilities led to a widespread underlying belief Pearl Harbor was not a possible attack target” (Website 2). There was not enough information to show that Pearl harbor was going to be attacked, so they all became complacent and took the benefit of the doubt. Many were aware that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, there was no any sufficient information for it to be proven true. “In 1924, General William L. Mitchell produced a 324-page report warning that future wars (including with Japan) would include a new role for aircraft against existing ships and facilities”(Website 2). Mitchell even predicted that there would be a possibility of an air attack. His predictions were ignored. Also, others thought that there would not be any torpedo attacks to Pearl Harbor since the water was so shallow. However, American commanders found that experiments showed that an aerial torpedo attack was possible in shallow water. “At the time of the attack, Army and Navy were both on training status rather than operational alert” (Website 2). Even though they were warned that Japan would attack in the near future, they still were not ready for any type of attack. The Japanese caught the Americans in the right moment when they had limited aircraft. “And as a result of limited numbers of long-range aircraft (including Army Air Corps bombers), reconnaissance patrols were not being made as often or as far out as required for adequate coverage against possible surprise attack; they improved considerably, with far fewer remaining planes, after the attack”(Website 2). This websites suggests that America had enough adequate information for them to conclude that Japan will attack them in the near future. Therefore, President Roosevelt did know that Japan would attack, he just did not know when. This means that all Pacific fleets should be ready for an attack at all times even if they believe that they are not likely to be attacked. Since they believed that Pearl Harbor would less likely be attacked at all due to no mention of Pearl Harbor in their data, their naval air station was unprepared for an attack.
Everybody has learned that the Americans were unprepared and surprised when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. According to Website #2, “U.S. civil and military intelligence had, amongst them, good information suggesting additional Japanese aggression throughout the summer and fall before the attack” (Website 2). Public Press reports stated the aggression in the Pacific was growing and they should be expecting a war. All Pacific Army and Naval Commands were earned separately they they would expect a war in the near future. No intel had shown where they would specifically attack. By 1941, U.S. signals intelligence, through the Army's Signal Intelligence Service and the Office of Naval Intelligence's OP-20-G, had intercepted and decrypted considerable Japanese diplomatic and naval cipher traffic, though nothing actually carrying significant information about Japanese military plans in 1940-41” (Website 2). Because of the lack of manpower and resources, not all of the information was not able to get distributed to Washington. The information that was given to Washington was raw and had no supporting analysis. They were not able to make any decisions or conclusions because “Nothing in it pointed directly to an attack at Pearl Harbor, and a lack of awareness of Imperial Navy capabilities led to a widespread underlying belief Pearl Harbor was not a possible attack target” (Website 2). There was not enough information to show that Pearl harbor was going to be attacked, so they all became complacent and took the benefit of the doubt. Many were aware that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, there was no any sufficient information for it to be proven true. “In 1924, General William L. Mitchell produced a 324-page report warning that future wars (including with Japan) would include a new role for aircraft against existing ships and facilities”(Website 2). Mitchell even predicted that there would be a possibility of an air attack. His predictions were ignored. Also, others thought that there would not be any torpedo attacks to Pearl Harbor since the water was so shallow. However, American commanders found that experiments showed that an aerial torpedo attack was possible in shallow water. “At the time of the attack, Army and Navy were both on training status rather than operational alert” (Website 2). Even though they were warned that Japan would attack in the near future, they still were not ready for any type of attack. The Japanese caught the Americans in the right moment when they had limited aircraft. “And as a result of limited numbers of long-range aircraft (including Army Air Corps bombers), reconnaissance patrols were not being made as often or as far out as required for adequate coverage against possible surprise attack; they improved considerably, with far fewer remaining planes, after the attack”(Website 2). This websites suggests that America had enough adequate information for them to conclude that Japan will attack them in the near future. Therefore, President Roosevelt did know that Japan would attack, he just did not know when. This means that all Pacific fleets should be ready for an attack at all times even if they believe that they are not likely to be attacked. Since they believed that Pearl Harbor would less likely be attacked at all due to no mention of Pearl Harbor in their data, their naval air station was unprepared for an attack.
Website 3
This website focuses more on what was happening before the attack at Pearl Harbor and the events that led to the event. It also explains what America did in order to provoke Japan to focus on America instead of China. Before the attack at Pearl Harbor, Japan had invaded China and China was America’s ally. “Japan, an island nation with virtually no natural resources, bought much of its oil and metals from the U.S.; since Japan refused to withdraw from Korea and China, FDR cut off their oil” (Website 3). When the Japanese refused to move out of the Asian mainland, FDR moved the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese wanted no trouble getting into Eastern Asia, however, America wanted them out of their ally’s land. Japan's plan was to attack Pearl Harbor, so that they were not able to defend their bases in the Philippines and the western Pacific. Since America was viewed as “soft and spineless” (Website 3), “The U.S., Tojo thought, would then sue for peace and would be forced to accept Japanese hegemony in Asia." (Website 3). However, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in Japan used to live in America and knew that the Americans would not go down without a fight. In order for Japan to do a lot of damage to Pearl Harbor, they used the world’s most advanced naval combat plans at the time. A Japanese submarine was spotted outside the harbor entrance and “Commanders at Pearl didn’t take the encounter seriously and word of the attack didn’t reach Adm. Kimmel until over two hours after it happened.” (Website 3). The attack could of been different if the commanders did look over this important evidence of foreign attack. Due to their complacency, many innocent people died. U.S. Signal Corps scanned the sky the morning of the attack and found, at 7 am, the incoming attack. A lieutenant told them that it was nothing to worry about and that they were U.S. planes coming in from California, but they did not know this for sure. They could have checked the information again to ensure that it was the U.S. planes. Since FDR moved Pearl Harbor right after Japan refused to get out of China, he knew that they would attack and he picked the closest spot so that he would know exactly where they would attack, but he did not warn anybody enough for them to seriously prepare for it. There was a lot of assumptions before the attack which led to them being unprepared and losing many ships, plans, and people.
This website focuses more on what was happening before the attack at Pearl Harbor and the events that led to the event. It also explains what America did in order to provoke Japan to focus on America instead of China. Before the attack at Pearl Harbor, Japan had invaded China and China was America’s ally. “Japan, an island nation with virtually no natural resources, bought much of its oil and metals from the U.S.; since Japan refused to withdraw from Korea and China, FDR cut off their oil” (Website 3). When the Japanese refused to move out of the Asian mainland, FDR moved the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese wanted no trouble getting into Eastern Asia, however, America wanted them out of their ally’s land. Japan's plan was to attack Pearl Harbor, so that they were not able to defend their bases in the Philippines and the western Pacific. Since America was viewed as “soft and spineless” (Website 3), “The U.S., Tojo thought, would then sue for peace and would be forced to accept Japanese hegemony in Asia." (Website 3). However, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in Japan used to live in America and knew that the Americans would not go down without a fight. In order for Japan to do a lot of damage to Pearl Harbor, they used the world’s most advanced naval combat plans at the time. A Japanese submarine was spotted outside the harbor entrance and “Commanders at Pearl didn’t take the encounter seriously and word of the attack didn’t reach Adm. Kimmel until over two hours after it happened.” (Website 3). The attack could of been different if the commanders did look over this important evidence of foreign attack. Due to their complacency, many innocent people died. U.S. Signal Corps scanned the sky the morning of the attack and found, at 7 am, the incoming attack. A lieutenant told them that it was nothing to worry about and that they were U.S. planes coming in from California, but they did not know this for sure. They could have checked the information again to ensure that it was the U.S. planes. Since FDR moved Pearl Harbor right after Japan refused to get out of China, he knew that they would attack and he picked the closest spot so that he would know exactly where they would attack, but he did not warn anybody enough for them to seriously prepare for it. There was a lot of assumptions before the attack which led to them being unprepared and losing many ships, plans, and people.