Pearl Harbor Mythology

"How long is America going to pretend that the world is not at war?"
--President Franklin D Roosevelt (Pearl Harbor)

Yesterday marked the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Like all my age, I learned the history book version. Surprise attack. 3,000 American killed. FDR's Day of Infamy speech. A declaration of war clearly justified because, as FDR said (see last para), the attack was unprovoked.

Those who cast objective eyes on this period know better. As Robert Higgs observes, the US government had been busy for more than a year trying to provoke either Japan or Germany into firing the first shot. The government needed this because most Americans had no taste for war following the carnage of WWI. Like all politicians, US government officials knew that the path to the public support is paved with crisis and fear. An 'unprovoked' attack would surely reverse public opinion and galvanize the citizenry behind the war effort, they reasoned.

Embargoes, weapons sharing, and cooperative combat operations were designed to draw out Japan and Germany. Stated differently, these actions were meant to provoke attack.

The diary entry of Henry L Stimson, US secretary of war stated it well. "The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much too much danger to ourselves." Stimson wrote that entry on November 25, 1941, approximately two weeks before Pearl Harbor.

Why did FDR and Co so desperately want war? As recounted by John T. Flynn, war was seen as a way to jumpstart an economy that, despite New Deal policies, was still floundering. FDR began steering federal funds toward defense sectors in 1938. He also commenced his strategy to provoke the enemy and get public opinion on his side.

The amazing thing is that evidence of what went on is clear to anyone who can turn pages and click mice. Yet, people and the media prefer the myth that FDR and the United States courageously fought The Good War.