I just heard this today from a substitute teacher that in WW2, the Americans knew that the Japanese were going to attck Pearl Harbor so they moved all the huge ships before they would attack. Then America purposely allowed Japan to attack Pearl Harbor so they could use that as an excuse so they can bomb Japan and end the war. This sound pretty convincing, but my real teacher says its not true. What do you think?
2007-11-06 12:45:57 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
It may sound convincing, but it isn't true. Just another conspiracy theory.
2007-11-06 12:54:35 · answer #1 · answered by Split Personality 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is possible the US suspected Japan was planning an attack, however, I doubt the US knew the date in advance. Some of the ships destroyed were among the biggest and most powerful battleships the US Navy had in the Pacific. It is true that there were no aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor the day of the Japanese attack. If the US had known the date of the attack, and withdrawn its ships, the attack on Pearl Harbor (even though it would have failed in its objective to destroy US ships) would still have been enough to warrant a declaration of war.
I do not have much time for these theories that assume official duplicity in disasters, especially in such a case where evidence does not exist.
2007-11-06 20:57:07 · answer #2 · answered by Seosamh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was suspected that the Japanese navy might attack somewhere in the Pacific the exact locations were not known. The aircraft carriers happened to be out at sea but many large ships were still in Pearl Harbor. If the first part of your question were true they would have moved them all.
Many thousands of men women and children died in the Pacific war and the war would have been avoided if it had been possible. There's no way the United States would have allowed itself to be goaded into a war that involved such loss of life for ulterior motives.
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2007-11-06 21:00:22 · answer #3 · answered by ericbryce2 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Not only is this untrue but it makes no sense on a multitude of levels.
In 1941, Americans weren't "fully" engaged yet in the Pacific war to be "tired of conflict" and want to "end the war," since we weren't even 100% in it yet. And the A-bomb wasn't anywhere near ready to deploy (the money, research, etc. would take four more years).
However, the attack on Pearl Harbor convinced the US - which had been "on the fence" - to commit to WW2.
No wonder your substitute teacher is not a *REAL* teacher!! ;-P
2007-11-06 20:59:55 · answer #4 · answered by Calliope 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
this theory has been around for many many years and has been generally accepted as false, but there are some people that still refuse to believe the truth.
since the bombing of Pealr harbor started the war and at that time there was no way to foresee the end of the war, and that fact that development of the A-Bomb had not even begun, the version that you heard is ridiculous
asconvincingas the throey might sound on the surface, if you stop and think about it, it doesnt make sense
2007-11-06 20:56:35 · answer #5 · answered by Mark 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I doubt it. Purposely letting all of those ships get blown up would have been INCREDIBLY expensive, a cost that would also need to include all the costs of war (soldier payment, bombs, jet fuel etc) which they would have planned out before hand. It would have been incredibly foolish to try to make the war cost more money, and also the horrible loss of life, and that makes me think this theory is incorrect.
2007-11-06 20:57:08 · answer #6 · answered by EileenF 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
True and not true.
It is true that we had intelligence of the Japanese Fleet moving south in the vector towards HI. Nevertheless, the intel was not deem important and it was not sheared with HI. As for the conspiracy theory, it comes from a book (I forget the name) about FDR and his trying to drag the US into WW2. He did drag us into that war, but that was actually one of the few good thing that he did in hindsight.
2007-11-06 21:01:21 · answer #7 · answered by sean e 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you google conspiracy you would find a pretty convincing conspiracy on every event in US history. The only one that actually kind of convinces me is the JFK assasination. If the school board or the principal of youre school found that she said that she may be fired because thats not what is in the text books, unless she was saying that there is a conspiracy instead stating it was a fact.
2007-11-06 21:27:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
For the people who lived it what happened at Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack. They have not all passed away yet and those who would rewrite history are calling it a Surprise Attack.
Please note, the Chinese have not forgotten.
2007-11-06 21:22:18 · answer #9 · answered by international_bicycle_thief 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
What huge ships? Six US capital ships were sunk! That's just revisionist horse hooey.
2007-11-07 12:28:38 · answer #10 · answered by exsft 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋