President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The History Channel showed their documentary about Pearl Harbor and President Delano Roosevelt yesterday afternoon. The program questions if the president knew that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked in advance of the attack.
There were representatives from both sides who expounded their views on the subject. Those believing the president knew think he and/or his staff knew about the impending attacks and prevented those who needed to know about the attacks from receiving the intelligence they needed to prepare for a defense against the attacks.
Different Views On Japanese Codes
Those believing the president knew said that the Japanese code had been broken by the American military intelligence so the president would have had that news available to him.
The other side stated in the program that the Japanese code had not been broken so it was not possible for the president to know of the attack in advance.
Little Support For U.S. Involvement In World War II
The American people were not interested before the attack in getting involved in foreign intanglements even though Germany and Japan were on a quest to take over as many countries as possible.
Roosevelt’s accusers thought that he kept the intelligence to himself so that when Japan attacked he could have the support of the American people if he and Congress declared war on Japan and Germany.
Unlikely Scenario
However it is difficult to think an American president would let over 2,000 die at Pearl Harbor die so he could pursue his agenda of involving the United States in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II.
It would be treason if Roosevelt did in fact know the Japanese fleet was on the way to Pearl Harbor with fighter planes aboard the ships.
FDR Not Likely To Sacrifice Lives At Pearl Harbor
Roosevelt may have very well wanted the United States of America to enter World War II but I find it difficult to believe an American president would sacrifice American lives to enter the war. If he did indeed know about the attacks it could have resulted in a trial where he would be tried for treason and sentenced to life in prison or face execution.
I am not a fan of Roosevelt’s presidency but on the other hand I don’t believe in making charges that could damage his reputation unless there is concrete evidence connecting him with the crime of treason.
It has been 68 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor and it seems like if there was any smoking gun evidence it would have surfaced by now.
Pacific Commanders Apparent Scapegoats
If there was a conspiracy to prevent the Pacific commanders Admiral Kimmel and General Short from knowing in advance that Pearl Harbor was the target for the Japanese on December 7, 1941 it explains why they were charged with not being prepared for the attacks. They seem to be scapegoats for the Pearl Harbor attack even though they apparently had very limited intelligence.
The following interview of Kimmel shows he clearly felt that the president intentionally withheld the intelligence information the Pacific commanders needed so badly:
http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v11/v11p495_Manion.html
The internet is full of information of what happened prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. However there is still not a smoking gun that proves the president knew in advance of the attack.
If Pearl Harbor had been attacked in this era the media would have made an exhaustive study of what happened on that day the days prior to the attack regarding intelligence. If Roosevelt had been aware of the attack he probably would be facing trial in this era.
We may never know exactly how much Roosevelt knew about the attacks since anyone 30 years old back then would be close to 100 years old now. Even a 20 year old at the time of the attack would be 88 years old now.
