The U.S. Navy was aware of the traditional planning of the Imperial Japanese Navy for war with the U.S., as maintained throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. The Japanese made no secret of it, and in the 1930s American radio intelligence gave U.S. war planners considerable insight in Japanese naval exercises.
... and when Woke Wiki chimes in:
One perspective is given by Rear Admiral Frank Edmund Beatty Jr., who at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack was an aide to the Secretary of the NavyFrank Knox and was very close to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inner circle, remarked that:
Another "eye witness viewpoint" akin to Beatty's is provided by Roosevelt's administrative assistant at the time of Pearl Harbor, Jonathan Daniels; it is a telling comment about FDR's reaction to the attack – "The blow was heavier than he had hoped it would necessarily be. ... But the risks paid off; even the loss was worth the price. ..."[27]
... then there are fairly high odds that there were certain shenanigans involved. As it was 'steal the gold' Roosevelt involved as well ... well there it is. These are not our friends.
In "Stalin's War" the author makes a good case that Roosevelt's Foreign Minister Hopkins was a Soviet agent, who actively provoked war bewteen US and Japan, so as to distract Japan from a resumption of its 1939 war with Russia. That freed Stalin to focus on his war to the West, which was rather spannered by France's swift capitulation and Germany's easy victory: not the WW1 bloodbath rematch he'd planned for.
ReplyDeleteHopkins greatly increased the severity of terms communicated to the Japanese, from those briefed to him, which he intended to leave them no alternative.
FDR was no better: he saw the war as the ideal opportunity to destroy the European powers and assume their place.
Tim
ReplyDelete"European powers"? Oh, FDR (and all subsequent American 'elites') had no problem with any of the other powers, just The Empire.
The fact we had to bribe them with global bases to even get involved (other than supplying Germany I mean) and subsequently pay for every bit of 'help' they supplied (unlike every other country, including the supposed enemy) tends to be an 'overlooked' item of information for every "we saved you" American to date.
I'll also remind you of Suez, when America (yet again, what a surprise) started dumping currency to bankrupt us as a way to blackmail a withdrawal whilst claiming it was 'anti-colonialist' and then they (typically hypocritically "It's different when we do it") went on to refuse to hand over the Panama canal (killing a few hundred protesting students in the process).
America, rather than being Britain's best friend and ally has always been almost female in its behaviour towards us (ie. smile and fawn to your face, but rob you blind and stab you in the back). With friends like those ...
Anon
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstand me.
By "European powers" I meant the British and French empires, with some of the rounding errors too: e.g. the Belgian's and their Congo (but no big Navy)
I did not intend to imply the WW1 meaning of "Central European Powers" i.e. Germany and Austro-Hungary.
To quote Blackadder: "The Germany Empire is one sausage factory in Tanganyika!" and that was before Versailles.
And yes, I agree with your comment on American money extraction and canal hypocrisy. And Morgenthau made sure the Germans could see no future after a surrender, so fought to the last. We were lucky he didn't get his way, just a tragedy that he wasn't shown the door earlier, with the Soviets still further East.
Alas.