POTUS (PART III OF III - DAY OF INFAMY)

So far I have had a good response with my blog posts and I would like to thank you all for reading it. It is something fun that I have never made the time to do and I am passionate about history. I enjoy researching these mysteries and sharing them. Some of the mysteries are common and have been recycled over and over again for a long time, while others are a bit more obscure and they are fun to research.

Many areas of history hold many mysteries and one such period fraught with these mysteries happened only in the last century. It was a dark page in the annals of human history. The true nightmare of it began in September 1939 and ended between May and September of 1945.

But we, as a human race have never truly let that dark chapter out of the recesses of our mind. This is in large part due to the conspiracies that remain. From whether Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew of the attack on Pearl Harbor in advance and let it happen, to whether Hitler actually died in Berlin at his own hands.

When we learn about World War II, we learned in our history books that the Allies were the heroes that vanquished evil across the board. We took out the Nazi Regime and their Final Solution (which I am not arguing was truly evil by every definition), to the defeat of the Imperial Japanese.

If you were to read a history book from the vanquished, you would see something much different because history is always decided by the triumphant. In fact, until early in the 21st century the Holocaust wasn't taught in German schools.

I would like to peel back the layers of victor vs. vanquished and address a mystery that has implications many have a hard time processing. There are many mysteries and conspiracies from this time period, but I want to visit the idea that Franklin Delano Roosevelt possibly knew of the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, and that he let it happen.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably one of the best presidents in the history of the United States of America. He was the president in office that pulled America out of the Great Depression, and pulled us victoriously through World War II. He has been revered as a hero by many historians, and most likely, that is rightly so.

Now, being a president has to be a highly stressful and thankless job filled with impossible decisions that affect millions of people. It is a job where the president is in a fishbowl for all to see. They are loved by some and hated by others. They never have average lives again. Those who are not president and that are highly outspoken seem to have the pretense that they know more and could do a better job.

We have seen this most recently with former President Obama and currently President Trump. The backlash President Obama got for his healthcare bill and President Trump with his ban on immigration from Muslim countries has been heard far and wide and has been dissected over and over again. These are big decisions made by the most powerful men in the world that have come under intense scrutiny.

Now imagine, as a citizen of the United States of America that your president, your leader, your commander-in-chief just allowed an unprovoked, terrorist attack on America. How would you feel? How would you react? When put this way, many would probably have harsh words toward the president and be appalled with the decision. People would no longer trust their leader. But, what if there were a necessity to this impossible decision?

As I write this, I need it to be known that I am merely writing about a conspiracy or mystery that has revolved around Pearl Harbor, and it in no way reflects my opinion about what I think happened in history.

In the morning hours of December 7, 1941, those on the Hawaiian island of Oahu were lazily arising for a day of rest and relaxation. The bases at Pearl Harbor were also lazily going through their procedures, knowing that they would have a fairly low-key day as on Sunday's past.

The U.S. had militarized even though they were not participating in the war other than sending aid to Britain and other Allies. The soldiers of the various branches of the military weren't afraid of much and seemingly had a fairly easy task with their peace time duties and had little to fear. Though war was raging in Europe and Asia, America was oceans apart and the idea of war, though on their minds, didn't seem much of a reality or worry. That was about to change in a violent and terrifying way.

On the morning of December 7, 1941 at approximately 7:38 am Hawaiian time, 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers and torpedo planes came from six aircraft carriers in two waves.

They mercilessly attacked Pearl Harbor and in this brutal attack, all eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged and four sank. Three cruisers, three destroyers, one anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer were also damaged or sunk. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed and the casualties were astoundingly 2,403 Americans killed and 1,178 wounded.

The Japanese had attacked because they didn't want America interfering with their conquest of the South Pacific. This effectively brought the U.S. into World War II. On December 8, 1941 Japan declared war on the U.S. and just three days later on December 11, 1941,

Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. Due to the lack of a formal warning or declaration by Japan during our negotiations, Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy". The attack was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime after the war due to an unprovoked attack without any declaration of war preceding it.

This brings us to the conspiracies of this particularly infamous event. Let the countdown begin!

5. The Japanese attacked only Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

Many have thought over the years that the single target of Japan that infamous day was Pearl Harbor, lending itself to strengthen the conspiracy that the attack was known before hand and allowed to transpire. 

The fact is that Pearl Harbor wasn't the only American territory to be attacked that day. In fact, there were several attacks including; the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand and Midway. In all of these attacks, save for Pearl Harbor and Midway, the territories fell to the Japanese.

4. The U.S. military responded too quickly

Many think that the U.S. military was able to respond too quickly to not have been forewarned about the attacks by the Japanese. In fact, the first major U.S offensive wasn't able to be mobilized until February of 1942. The fighting before that with the Japanese was defensive and intense. 

Before February of 1942, the only U.S. offensive move against the Japanese happened several hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor when the USS Ward encountered a two-man submarine and sank it resulting in two Japanese casualties. 

3. Only Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps

Many think that the only American citizens that were sent to internment camps were those of Japanese descent. 

The truth of the matter is that within 48-hours of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, over 1,000 Americans of Japanese, German and Italian descent were detained by the FBI. The Japanese were the majority of those interred, but a significant amount of both Germans and Italians were interred as well.

2. Pearl Harbor was the reason America entered the World War

Many think that Franklin Delano Roosevelt used Pearl Harbor as an excuse to get involved in the war not only with Japan, but Germany and Italy as well. 

The truth is that the response written to FDR following the attacks on Pearl Harbor stated that the U.S. would declare war on the entire Axis, but this was later revised by FDR to only declaring war on Japan. The attack did bring America out of its isolationist stance, but did not immediately enter the country into war with the entire axis. That didn't happen until war was declared upon the U.S. by Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941.

1. FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attack before December 7, 1941 and let it happen

Japan had been showing its aggression for quite some time, including sinking an American Naval Vessel in the Yangtze River. Many warnings had been sent from Washington to military commanders warning of potential aggression days before December 7, 1941. 

Many communiques had been intercepted from Japan by the War Department indicating a likely attack on Sunday, November 30, 1941 and an article in a Hawaiian newspaper headlined the probably attack. Roosevelt received a 26-page document that had many details about Japanese espionage on December 4, 1941. History has viewed this over and over again and has determined that these were merely warnings and nothing up until the attack on Pearl Harbor warranted immediate action.

These myths over the last 75 years have largely been dispelled for most, but some still cling to them as gospel truth. The truth is that no one could know what they would do if they were president and what decisions would have to be made. Is there any event so big that would allow for the sacrifice of all those Americans in Pearl Harbor if the information was known before hand? This is an ethical question to ask yourself as you ponder one of History's Mysteries.

I'd like to cite www.washingtonpost.com and their article "The Five Myths about Pearl Harbor" that allowed for my five top conspiracies. 

I have tried hard to make sure that I am using all photographs by permission. If I have used a photograph or other images that are not permissible, please let me know and I will take them down immediately.