A little confused about American History?

Question

Hey, I was on iTunes and History Channel has a new show called "Conspiracy" As I was looking at the shows I came across one called "FDR and Pearl Harbor" Here's what the preview says:

Was a plot hatched in Washington to solve FDR's "problem"--convincing a reluctant country to fight the n***s? Did FDR send a secret cable just days before the attack ordering Pearl Harbor chiefs to stand down? Did US intelligence intercept a message from Tokyo asking its spies in Hawaii to map the harbor for an imminent air attack?

What im getting to is why in the world would a president want his own people to get killed? It just doesnt make sense. This is the same with the 9-11 attack, people saying Bush had a bomb strapped to a cargo plane

Answer 1

I've studied the attack now for almost 25+ years and have yet to come across anything that makes me think that FDR knew or forced Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor for the benefit of going to war against Germany.  Conspiracy theorist will twist facts so it appears that it supports their argument (something that's actually quite easy to do.

I could write several pages on this subject and still barely scratch the surface on this 'debate'.  

I will say that yes, there is a document, the 'eight points' where it is suggested that a cruiser is sacrificed to go to war against Japan in order to go to war against Germany.  The problem is there is no proof, or record of FDR ever reading the document.

There was no plot in 1941 and there was no plot in 2001.

Answer 2

FDR wanted to get the US into the war so we could actively fight Germany, because about this time England was close to losing the war leaving Germany in control of all western Europe. Because there was such a division over which side we should support and a very strong sense of isolationism, going to war was not a popular idea so FDR needed something to happen that would get the people behind a war. Whether there's anything to the conspiracy theory or not, Pearl Harbor definitely got the US into a war frenzy.

In case you can't believe a leader could sacrifice his soldiers like that, during the attacks on Britain by the German Luftwaffe, the British had broken the German codes and knew that Coventry was a prime target one night. Rather than do something drastic to protect Coventry (and give away the secret that the codes were broken) the decision was made to let the city take a beating. And this was an attack on civilians!

Answer 3

Some people say that FDR 'let' the attack on Pearl Harbour happen because he wanted the US to intervene in the war. This has basically been proven to be untrue, but it is true that FDR had supported US entry into the war for awhile. He faced tremendous opposition at home from people who said that the war was not the US's problem, so FDR had a hard time convincing people to enter the war. Not until the US was attacked by Japan in December 1941 (and then Germany declared war on the US) did the US enter the war. So, to sum up, FDR did strongly want to get involved in the war, but it is false to say he allowed Pearl Harbour to happen to do so.

As for the 9/11 thing, I think the conspiracy theorists are wrong on that account as well.

Answer 4

There is always a loony fringe, with paranoia that promotes "conspiracy theories".  It was even alive during the Middle Ages.

Answer 5

There is no shortage of idiots to come up with all these ridiculous conspiracy theories.  There are even those who say JFK is still alive.  (Probably having a Slurpee with Elvis at 7-11.)