The Pearl Harbor Conspiracy

The Pearl Harbor Conspiracy

Within days of the devastating attack by Japan at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 an investigation on Washington, D.C., and the high levels of the War Department took place. This supposed misguidance, although mostly circumstantial has been argued by many politicians and historians as the greatest conspiracy ever to take place. Dubbed as the "mother of all conspiracies" many people believe Franklin D. Roosevelt had full knowledge an attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent. With the country in an anti-war mood and not caring about non-domestic affairs F.D.R. needed a way to persuade the country into war. After meeting with FDR at the Atlantic Conference on Aug. 14, 1941, Churchill noted about the "astonishing depth of Roosevelt's intense desire for war." But the only problem was that America thought of it was Europe's war and needed a way to get the American people into it.

The mood of the country before the attack on Pearl Harbor was a problem. In F.D.R.'s eyes Hitler was his main target. By disrespecting the Japanese and making it seem like they weren't a threat he provoked them into an attack in the Pacific. By doing this Roosevelt expected Hitler to abide by the Tripartite Pact and declare war on America. He also hoped that Hitler's decision would be "facilitated by a display of America's vulnerability." According to Day of Deceit by John Stirnett, 88 percent of Americans wanted to stay out of the war in 1940. This American mindset caused all of the elected representatives to deny support for entry into the war. Roosevelt knew this, and knew the only way in which United States countrymen would take arms and fight in Europe's War was to be an overt action against the United States by a member of the...