Pearl Harbor??

Question

Did FDR know about Pearl Harbor before it happened? Explain

Answer 1

There is a story that the Japanese Ambassador and assistant were supposed to deliver an ultimatum to FDR or his associates about one to two hours before the bombing of Pearl Harbor began.
It is not clear if there was a misunderstanding because of the time differences in locations or the Japanese planners duped the Japanese Ambassador and purposely told them a later time than they would actually commence bombing.
In any event, by the time the Japanese Ambassador showed up at the White House to deliver his message, the bombing was already well under way and the Japanese Ambassador was disgraced.
There is no evidence that says the US had any other type of advanced warning.

Answer 2

No!


FDR had no prior knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
I'm sorry to the revisionist historians but there is no creditable evidence to support that claim.

The Fact are that the Military Intelligence Office had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and were reading about 50% of the messages sent also they had just broken the JN-25 Code for the Military but they hadn't started to decode the military messages. They were unable to decipher an idea of what was going on in because they had no full idea of what was going to happen. On Dec. 1 the US intercepted a message that stated that the Japanese Embassy was to stand by for a message in 14 Parts that would explain a new negotiation plan. They had 13 parts by 4:00 PM 6m DEC and the duty officer passed the copies of the messages to the army Chief of Staff the Army, The Chief of Naval Operations and the White House but the unanimous decision was to wait until the last part of the message but the idea was that the Japanese were going to strike at the Philippines, Malaysia, or the Dutch East Indies. The next morning the 14th Part of the message was ready and all that they could read was after this message destroy your code machine and codes and deliver the message at exactly 11:00 AM Washington Time tell no one about this message.

With no secretaries or typists the embassy had to use an aide who had rutimentry knowledge of English and no typing skills. As a result the diplomatic note was released at 1:00 PM Washington Time and the ambassadors knew about the attack. Churchill , the ,main person accused of having informed FDR about the attack in all his papers and the British Government report were as suprised as everybody else at the attack.

So I have never seen any evidence that FDR or Churchill had any prior knowledge of the exact time and place of the Japanese Attack at Pearl Harbor.

Though an attack on Pearl Harbor by aircraft from carriers early on a Sunday Morning was a common war exercise of the US Navy in the 30's the Navy was under the impression that Japan was incapable of making the attack. It was only after the attack that people put all the clues together and saw a point to an attack on Pearl Harbor. Sort of like the people putting all the clue together after Sept. 11 and seeing the plans for the Attack on the World Trade Center in NYC

Answer 3

NOT A CHANCE.

The Americans could only read one Japaneses code, The Diplomatic Purple Code. Not one of the Diplomatic Transcripts stated a Aerial Attack on the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. They only talked about dividing Pearl Harbor into Reference Zones for their Spies but no attack info. The 14 page that was a declaration of war did not even state Pearl harbor, Aerial Attack, and Today.

The Pacific Ocean is a big area with a lot of little islands all over the place. The Commander thought that Wake, Guam, Midway or the Philippians Islands. Pearl was a target too far to attack in their minds. They were wrong.

Their were moments that the US could have found out the day of the attack but it would have made no diffrence. The Japanese Diplomat in washington D.C. were too slow at decifering a their own code and typing it in English ,that were late at turning in the 14 page declaration. They were to turn it in 30 minites to an hour before the attack.

Answer 4

I've seen and read reports and studies that FDR knew but there is nothing conclusive. I think after all my studying that FDR knew an attack was coming, but not where.

Most ships in the Japanese navy could not make the trip from Japan to Pearl Harbor without refueling. At sea refueling was dangerous and not as common as it is in today's navies. I believe that only the two newest carriers (Zuikaku and Shokaku) could actually complete this journey.

Broken codes, yes the diplomatic code had been broken, but I have yet to find conclusive evidence that the military code had been broken before hand. I've heard that after the war the code breakers went back and deciphered all the messages before the war started and everything was there.

FDR might have wanted in the European war but if Japan attacks the USA then there is no real reason that Germany would declare war against the USA. I believe its Article III of the Japanese, German, Italian agreement that states if one is attacked then the others will come to their aid not if they attack.

Answer 5

There are many different views taken by many scholars. There have been whole books written, such as Roosevelts Secret War, that explains what he knew and what he did about it. On the other hand, others will argue that he did not know.

The bottom line, FDR had reports and speculations that an attack would occur on the United States. The question was, where and when? There were several different possible palces that could have been targets for the Japanese. So, to an extent FDR did know that an attack was going to happen but it was difficult to guess or even conceive the possibility that an attack would take place.

Answer 6

FDR was informed that when Japanese men took exams to enter into the military they were asked if they would attack the United States . This occured in the late1930's.
Pearl Harbor was in 1941 and I do not think FDR knew the time and place. The Japanese even sent ambassadors to Washington DC on December 7, 1941.

Answer 7

Japanese attacked pearl harbor because of reasons such as oil embargo imposed by US because Japan occupy China but unknown to anybody before the attack by Japan Imperial navy to Pearl harbor the Civilian leader of US and few selected Naval Commander or Mil Ldr have a pre-hand before the attack that s why their Aircraft carrier were not around during the attacked. The US knows in advance about time and when and strenght of JIN because they have already deciphered or decoded the radio or the US have access to their JIN communication between their civilian leaders and Military ldrs. The US has a best signal intelligence and human intelligence even when US at war with China, China will be defeated cuase their communication was already debugged by US long time ago. Now you cannot do this if not of the elite people or conglomerate businessman who has power even the leadership of China and mil ldrs are under in their sphere of influence including the US. My conclusion therefore is business if China does not behaved they are doomed for destruction.

Answer 8

Just watched a special on this on the history channel. You never really know what FDR knew and when but I know they had military encryption/code breaking machines that monitored Japanese broadcasts. They had these machines in Washington DC but there was only talk of interest in the Pearl Harbor fleet, not necessarily a planned attack or date.

Answer 9

No. There is a consiracy theory out there, but it's based on coincidence and stems from not really understanding the times and events involved. In the decades since World War 2, it has become popular to blame the government for anything that goes wrong, and that idea has been implemented retroactively to anything that people want to believe couldn't happen without prior knowledge.

Answer 10

FDR, no.

Sorry for the answer to the conspiracy crowd. There were members of the intelligence agencies of the day, that had ideas that Japan was going to attack. No specific dates, just thoughts and ideas.