FDR Conspiracy
This paper is going to look into the details, the hidden role that was played by Franklin D. Roosevelt the former US president and his advisors in relation to the Pearl Harbor bombing that led to massive killing of 2400 people and finally the secret behind the attack.
The Pearl Harbor attack
According to Melanie (pp 12) Pearl Harbor attack changed the views of most Americans and the general perception on war. During this period, America was one of the major powersactors in the World War II, Germany, Italy and Japan had to come together to oppose any move or attack carried by America or their allies such as Britain. In my opinion, the attack was generated by Roosevelt in order to change the general public perception on the idea of isolationism.
Before the Pearl Harbor attack, American population was not united and the attack was meant to bring out a new concept about war and patriotism. According to Maguire (pp 25) Franklin Roosevelt was a good schemer though a slow actor and he knew very well that by attacking Japan, which was a senior member of axis power, Germany and Italy would respond by defending Japan and this was the perfect way of ensuring that the United States soldiers and countrymen would take arms and fight the axis powers. By overlooking the general impact of the attack, Roosevelt became more relevant in both American political and economic systems since most Americans became united in war and Roosevelt could use the countrys resources to defend the country.
The Hidden Agenda
In my pursuit to discover the hidden secret behind the attack, there were considerable actions and meetings between the top military officials, advisors and Roosevelt. This suggested that the bombing attack was well programmed and the controversy on who was behind the attack could be properly investigated by the criminal investigation department. As a result, there was a failure on the intelligence unit leading to massive killing that could be easily prevented. There was a failure on the side of the Intelligence community to trace and prevent the attack that was being planned by the military officials and the president.
According to Sherby (pp 78) there was a possibility to prevent the attack since the former Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum who was a member of Naval Intelligence had already came up with eight steps that the American government could do to prevent the attack. He predicted that Japan was likely to attack America and on 8th October 1940, he gave the memo to Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt adhered to the steps that required the American army to equip themselves against the attack. However, one of the steps that brought a lot of controversy was the step to control all Japanese trade and economy forcefully. This was something that was not easy to come-by. McCollum gave several suggestions on how to prevent the attack. He advised the president to work together with Britain and Holland to stop the attack by acquiring weapons from Singapore and Indonesia to equip the military and to stop the axis powers from penetrating into America.
Despite the fact that proper advice was given to Roosevelt on how to prevent the attack, some were not easy to come by. For instance, McCollum advised Roosevelt to deploy cruisers and the submarines and orient a new team. This was not easy to come-by though Roosevelt tried to implement them to the letter. This was because Roosevelt never wanted to be predictable and instead kept the enemies guessing his next step. He then decided to build a double sided sword around Hawaii and particularly at Pearl Harbor. This allowed him to deploy the submarines though there was lack of military equipments to arm the soldiers and the location did not favor the soldiers. In Hawaii, there are mountains and valleys that hindered the vision of the soldiers vision to see the Japanese fleet coming. Military officers were also poorly trained lacked relevant ammunitions and insufficient fuel supplies hence could not move from place to place ensuring security of the civilians and themselves.
Justification of the Pearl Harbor attack
According to Richelson (pp 49) the attack at Pearl harbor was a preventable one from the historical archives, the Commander in Chief who was in charge of the fleet by the name Richard James, knew very well that Hawaii was not a strategic place to locate a military base, with the knowledge on the vulnerability of the harbor (Pearl) and the insecurity associated with the harbor, he decided to go against the views of the president and advised the president that the place was not a safe ground. Roosevelt was angered by his sentiments and viewed him as a person who was against the military preparedness. He was sacked from his position and was replaced by Admiral Husband Kimmel this was a sign of ignorance on the side of the President and Kimmel. Kimmel was very insensitive he took orders from the president without considering the dangers and problems that the fleet was exposed.
He was looked down upon by most soldiers for being inconsiderate and insensitive on issues to do with defense and security of the fleet. According to Sherby (pp 78) a good leader must always be analytical and considerate on the issues that deals with the well-being and security of hisher followers, the decisions of Roosevelt were not researched neither did he obey the advise of his followers. He was blind to detect the danger and was slow to act on issues to do with the security of his military, even though some of the advices that he was given by top military officials were practical and rational.
According to Melanie (pp 12) Roosevelt did not question the credibility of the advice and the dangers associated with the idea. McCollum was not rational enough to detect that by advising President Roosevelt to control trade and economic activities in Japan, could trigger the attack and lead to massive killing by the axis powers. Just like McCollum, Kimmel was not sensitive to economic issues and insisted that the Dutch must deny the Japanese government their oil supply and to stop the trade between the two countries.
To some extent, McCollum was rational to ensure that American economy remained stable, most of the goods that were being imported by America were transported via Pacific Ocean, according to Richelson (pp 49) he knew that the Ocean was being controlled by Japan and some of the valuable goods such as copper, tin and rubber were on demand by American government. He therefore advised the Roosevelt to channel donations to Chinese government since Japan had some influence in China and by giving grants to China they would win the loyalty of the Chinese government hence Japan could lose China as one of their allies and could weaken their economy by some percentage.
Their strategy to control China succeeded and China became an enemy to Japan and took over repossessed some of their assets from Japan. President Roosevelt who was the head of government and the military officials failed in a big way, they could not reveal the secret behind the Pearl Harbor attack and the general public was not aware of their ill plans. This resulted to conspiracy since the government failed to release certain relevant information on the attack (Maguire, pp 25).
According to Melanie (pp 12) it appeared as a national sacrifice of 2400 people and a state planned attack to destroy American war ships, planes and damages to the fleet, something that could have been prevented easily, if the general public were duly informed by the government. This led to massive killing of innocent lives that did not initiated the attack neither did they participate in decision making process. There is also a question that has raised a lot of controversy most people fail to understand why President Roosevelt is not directly linked to Pearl harbor attack and why most evidence of the attack are hidden from public reach or why no body has come out to declare that he was directly linked to the attack.
This forms the climax of my argument on the Pearl Harbor attack following the Cabinet meeting that was held on 5th December 1941 (Toland, pp 294), the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox questioned the president if he was aware of the location where Japanese fleet was. The president acknowledged that he was aware of the Japanese fleet. The Secretary of Navy Frank Knox said Well, you know Mr. President we know where the Japanese fleet is Yes, I know Well, you tell them what it is Frank, said Roosevelt (Toland, pp 294). From the argument, the President had prior information on the whereabouts of the Japanese fleet and just insisted that the fleet should stay at Pearl Harbor.
According to Perl (pp 42) Roosevelt responded to Knoxs question without proper knowledge on whereabouts of the Japanese fleet. Knox was pleased to deliver the information to the fleet and just before he could deliver the information President Roosevelt interrupted the talk and said We havent got anything like perfect information as to their apparent destination (Toland, pp 294). Despite his acknowledgement that he had no information on the where about of the Japanese fleet, his comment reflects that he had some information on the movements of the Japanese fleet towards Pearl harbor according to Raynor (pp 48) one of the major issues that raised controversy among the majority was why the President was reluctant to relay the information and why there was a conflicting information from him.
This is why he was and will always be accused of the merciless killing at Pearl Harbor. Even after being given a notification one day earlier, the declaration by the Japanese government contained an open statement, This means War (Toland, pp 318). With the open statement in the declaration, President Roosevelt could not respond to the danger, instead he deliberately and reluctantly called a meeting that night. Roosevelt along with top advisors, Harry Hopkins, Henry Stinson, George Marshall, Secretary of the Navy Knox, with aides John McCrea and Frank Beatty, sat throughout the night waiting for the Japanese fleet to arrive at Pearl Harbor.
The fact that the President could not act in time showed that he was indecisive and undecided on issues to do with the security (Ranum, pp 78). His advisors including the top military officials are part of his failures he was reluctant even to deliver the information to the fleet and maintained silence. His actions have continuously raised questions on whether he was doing this intentionally or whether he had some hidden agenda to fulfill. In my view, based on research, the former president of America wanted a way of getting involved in the World War II and making America a super power. Unfortunately, he did this by sacrificing innocent lives that were not part of his long-term ambitions and his unrealistic views on war.
In my evaluation, the president lacked the best approach to attack his rivals. He was insensitive to respond to crisis and in most cases ignored good advice from veteran military personnel such as McCollum. Roosevelt not only ignored the advice of his officers but was also a secretive leader who never wanted to be predictable both to his allies and his enemies. In my views, his hidden plot was based on his long term dreams of winning the Second World War and fighting his best enemies that included Adolf Hitler and Mussolini of Italy though his approach was negative and his advisors were not realistic on issues to do with war and prevention of attacks. There was a serious failure on the side of the Intelligence Community to update the civilians on the government plans.
Conclusion
It is worth noting that the Pearl Harbor attack was initiated and promoted by the ignorance of the former President Franklin Roosevelt together with his military officials, who were not in a position to respond to the challenges of the fleet in relation to the positioning of Military base at Hawaii, a place that was not strategically placed for defense. The fact that the President could not respond in time and act to the declaration letter by the Japanese government made it more possible for the Japanese fleet to raid, attack and kill 2400 soldiers and civilians that were not part and parcel of Roosevelts long term dream that excluded good advise and ignored the interest of the general public.
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