On Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 2:32:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:

I want to preface what I'm about to say in that I believe most conspiracy theorists are effing insane..

However: I do believe that Roosevelt and the U.S. military knew an attack was imminent. Roosevelt was elected on a non-intervention platform that was extremely popular at that time, particularly since WWI was still in recent memory. The anti-war movement in America was quite large and vocal. By the time 1941 rolled around, it was clear that Nazi Germany would likely defeat England and we'd be fighting them eventually, and mostly by ourselves.. The Lend-Lease act was helping England but without direct help from the U.S., it wouldn't be enough. The only way Nazi Germany could be defeated was with an expansion of the war (sounds silly, doesn't it?).

Roosevelt did not want to declare war on the Axis without direct provocation, and the "surprise" attack by Japan provided that. The sneak attack changed America's perception of the war overnight and recruitment offices were flooded the next day and continued on.

But I also want to be clear in that I believe that no one in the U.S. military or Roosevelt himself could have possibly foreseen the devastation that that attack on Pearl delivered. The only thing "surprise" about the Dec 7th attack was the brilliance planning and execution of it.

John
Wolcott, CT

Agreed on most of this. That Japan attacked Pearl may not have been have been a complete surprise. I expect that the war department was more focused on the Philippines than Pearl. I expect that some suspected a possible attack on the West Coast, or Pearl, but neither so large nor with so much of the Japanese fleet.

At the same time, the Japanese high command recognized that if the US was aroused *and* at full strength from the very beginning, their chances were nil and the devastation to the home Island would have started much earlier. A knock-out blow was their only chance - and one that did not risk the fleet was equally at issue.

What is equally remarkable is how small a role Battleships actually played in the Pacific war. Carriers did the grunt work, submarines did fleet and commerce harassment ((The Japanese lost 1,178 Merchant Ships sunk for a tonnage total of 5,053,491 tons. The Naval losses were 214 ships and submarines totaling 577,626 tons. A staggering five million, six hundred thirty one thousand, one hundred seventeen tons, (5,631,117 tons), 1,392 ships. All to US submarines)) Not until late in the war were there enough large surface vessels to provide invasion/landing support, and by then the Japanese fleet was either destroyed or bottled up in the home islands.

Shadows of things to come. Th

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA