Was Pearl Harbor FDRs Fault?

Question

All crap aside (i.e. FDR knew about pearl harbors attack and didnt tell anyone) do you think(support it) that FDR was responsible for the attack on Pearl harbor?

Japanese messages 736-902 showed that war was impending and that the japanese were about to cut ties with the US-->the japanese ceased negotiations the day before pearl harbor-->Roosevelt said "We will be at war tomorrow" to his family/friends/advisors on dec. 6(day before)-->I expect that quote to be refuted by saying something like "that was metaphorical" what would be a possible refutation for the preceding counter-argument?

support it, please...no conspiracy crap

teamchief...if you had taken time to comprehend what I wrote you would have seen that I never said FDR knew about the pearl harbor attack...he knew the japanese were about to sever ties, he knew that there was going to be an attack, but he never actually knew it was going to be specifically at Pearl Harbor...before you call out my contradictions take time to comprehend what i wrote, and what i'm asking...

Also, the reason why I added the quote about being at war the following day is because this is certainly a prominent argument anyone saying it was his fault could make...however in my situation, this is a debate so a counter-argument could be made against that quote saying something along the line of "that was metaphorical for ________" so i threw that in there to see what kind of refutation someone might ocme up with to discredit that counter-argument

Answer 1

Everybody senior and important in the U.S. government and military knew perfectly well that Japan was about to declare war. Specifically, the telegram to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, which instructed the ambassador to hand the Secretary of State a declaration of war shortly before the attack, had been decoded and translated several hours beforehand.

But even if all the senior political and military figures of the day had sat down to discuss what the first Japanese act of war might be, not a single one would have suggested a mass attack on Pearl Harbour, either immediately or later on. It was just too far-fetched, too unlike anything the Japanese had done before, too off-the-wall. This is well documented in several of their memoirs.

So, the facts do not support any conspiracy crap. The Japanese had an improbable but stunningly effective idea, and they carried it through successfully.

Answer 2

NO, FDR wasn't responsible in any way for the attack on Pearl Harbor.I doubt if anyone, including the British, could have prior knowledge of it.I do think, however, that after it happened, Winston Churchill was in a room all by himself jumping up and down and screaming for joy, because he knew that the US was going to be coming to his aide, and there is no army on earth that can beat a fully mobilized and pissed off United States army.You can kick sand in our face, call us names, refuse to pay debts you owe to us, but DON'T make us mad.It is funny, in a way, that when the admiral for the Japanese fleet that attacked us realized that they had failed to damage any of our aircraft carriers, he reported to Tokyo that "the mission was a failure.All we have done is awaken the sleeping giant" Sadly, President Bush gets blamed for the attack on 9/11.I don't care who is president, head of the CIA, Secretary of Defense, or the captain of NYPD, if some one wants to blindside you, and they have the time, money and brains to think of how to do it, it can be done.My best friend has a $250,000 home, and it has state of the art security systems in place.About 3 months ago, while he was at work, he was robbed blind.Was it his or his wifes fault?NO.It doesn't matter on what scale it is, you can have the best security systems in place, and sooner or later some one will figure out a way around it.

Answer 3

You say "no conspiracy crap," yet you state that FDR not only knew about the attack in advance but didn't tell anyone...seems to be a double-standard at work there, if you ask me.

To answer your question of "do you think FDR was responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor," the answer is no. FDR had as much control and say-so over what the Japanese did as we had about what they did- which was zero.

You seem to already have your mind made up that FDR was in on the attack, so why waste the time asking the question?

Answer 4

I think you've got to blame the Navy brass more than anybody. Even if they didn't have FDR specifically telling them to do certain things, they could have taken more precautions and been in a more heightened state of alert. Of course, that's easy to say now looking back 60+ years on it.

Answer 5

I do believe he knew about, and Truman ended it.

Answer 6

You think we would have learned back then. We had plenty of intelligence that 9-11 was going to happen and we would not even share the info. That is why Homeland Security was created. Maybe are more prepared now!!!

Answer 7

FDR knew all about it? Amazing. You have solved the mystery of the ages. Crap!
Where does this crap come from. Crap is always coming out like this crap. Crap if I can crap out any crap like American Presidents killing Americans and all that crap.\
Crap, I am at least grateful, no crap, about the current President not being accused of this crap. The crap he is accused of is crap.I guess LBJ knew all about the JFK assassination crap. And surely Nixon approved students being killed at Kent state. crap.

Some more crap: FDR did not have and atomic bomb. The first one was not detonated until after his death. And not used for many months after his death.

How can you say no crap and spew it at the same time?

Answer 8

I think he knew of an attack but not of the specifics.

Answer 9

American radarists saw the incoming blips and told their superiors who ignored their warnings. I blame them.

Answer 10

Some Would Say Yes . Some Would Say No.