# Did FDR know about the attack on Pearl Harbor beforehand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072 "2000-06-01T02:41:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/21 "2000-06-01T18:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Conversely, Japan’s lack of material resources meant that the longer Japan pushed off war, or the longer that war would take, the less chance Japan would have of winning. Ergo, once Japan realized that war with the US was inevitable and that the US had begun re-arming, it was to Japan’s advantage to start the war as quickly as possible. If the US decided to roll over and play dead, well, great; but that wasn’t the objective. Thanks for the answer (warinner too). [hijack] If Japan figured, “Heck, we’re in for it anyway…better now than later,” why didn’t they occupy Hawaii? I think the invasion fleet they sent was large enough and actually included troop transports (or am I confusing Midway with Pearl Harbor?). If I’m wrong and there weren’t troop transports then why not? Seems to me they could have _easily_ (in the military sense of the word) taken Hawaii giving them a HUGE advantage in the pacific (or at least removing a ‘HUGE’ advantage from the Americans). The end result may still have been the same (open to debate) but it certainly would have been harder for the U.S. to prevail under those circumstances and been well worth the Japanese effort. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/22 "2000-06-01T19:03:34Z")
John Corrado wrote: > [@](#): > > I’ll try to find my references tonight (why do I always end up needing my references while I’m here at work?), but the message saying (not in so many words) “We’re going to war with the US and attacking Pearl Harbor” was transmitted by telegram to the Japanese embassy in Washington. A thirteen part message in response to a Nov. 28th diplomatic proposal by the US was transmitted to the Japanese embassy which contained the Japanese ultimatum (which they didn’t expect the US to accept) also contained orders to destroy secret materials and cipher machines. This, of course, was a dead giveaway. I think you are missing the big picture here. As I said, the US and FDR was aware of as of Nov. 25th (the Pearl Harbor task force sailed Nov. 26th) and tracking the progress of some of the invasion units that ultimately attacked Malayasia. It’s not surprising that FDR should focus on these forces but they represented a worst case scenario of the US. Those forces were in a position to attack a number of targets, the Philippines included. Suppose the Japanese did not attack Pearl Harbor, could FDR made a casus belli of an attack on Dutch colonial possessions? Probably not. Could FDR made a casus belli of an attack on British colonial possessions? Maybe. It is entirely understandable that all attention was focused on the visible threat. It would have been easy to be miss preparations for attack on Pearl Harbor given the wide scope of attacks being planned. Pearl Harbor wasn’t the only place attacked that day: - December 7: Malaya invaded, Hong Kong attacked (surrendered 12/25), Clark Field and other military installations in the Philippines attacked, air raid on Wake Island. - December 8: Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk - December 9: Tarawa surrenders - December 10: Makin surrenders - December 11: Guam surrenders - December 15: Borneo invaded Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/23 "2000-06-01T19:15:26Z")
We knew the Japs were planning AN attack. We knew one of their main carrier groups( and most of the reat of their fleet) was out to sea, and unaccounted for. It seems like we figured they would hit somewhere in the South Pacific, either Singapore, Indochina, Indonesia, or even the Phillipines. Since we knew we could not hold the Phillipines, it is possible that FDR & Marshall “wrote them off”, figuring that the nastiness of a surprize attack would wake the American people up. There is no way they figured on Pearl Harbor, as they would never have let us get caught flatfooted there on purpose. (and yes, we should have known something was up, at the LAST minute, but that is a bit too late to hatch complicated conspiracys) And all this “saving the most important ships, the carriers” is bunkum. As warinner pointed out, the Enterprize SHOULD have been there, and thus sunk. Also, very few actually thought that the carriers were more important than Battleships. We thought the carriers were good for scouting & plane delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/24 "2000-06-01T19:38:51Z")
**aschrott** wrote: > [@](#): > > From what I know of the subject, FDR almost certainly courted hostility from the Japanese in order to sway American public opinion in the direction of war. Well, if by “courted hostility” you mean he firmly and vocally opposed the Japanese invasion and subjugation of Manchuria, then yes, I suppose he “courted hostility”. If you mean that Roosevelt supported an oil and steel embargo, designed to prevent Japan from waging a brutal war on Manchuria, then yes, again, I suppose Roosevelt “courted hostility.” As far as the idea that “Roosevelt wanted war” is concerned, I doubt very seriously that Roosevelt wanted war in the Pacific. I think he would have been quite content if Japan had simply ceased hostilities against its neighbors. What Roosevelt _did_ want was to be able to provide more active assistance to Britain in its war with Germany. How in the heck would allowing Japan to attack our Pacific fleet have furthered that goal? There’s no way that Roosevelt could have counted on Germany declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor. In fact, he was greatly surprised when they did so. If Germany had elected _not_ to declare war, it would have been very tough for Roosevelt to use Pearl Harbor as an excuse to make war in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/25 "2000-06-01T22:04:55Z")
Japan’s greatest mistake was not attacking Pearl Harbor again. A second attack on the oil storage tanks the submarine base and the repair facilities would have set us back years. They could have blockaded the West coast with submarines and really put the U.S. on the defensive for sometime. ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/26 "2000-06-01T22:13:33Z")
Danielinthewolvesden wrote: > [@](#): > > We knew the Japs were planning AN attack. We knew one of their main carrier groups( and most of the reat of their fleet) was out to sea, and unaccounted for. Their carriers were unaccounted for but I don’t think there was agreement that they were at sea. In fact, the intelligence center at Corregidor placed the Japanese carriers in home waters, see [http://www.metalab.unc.edu/pha/ultra/nwc-01.html](http://www.metalab.unc.edu/pha/ultra/nwc-01.html) according to an intelligence analyst there at the time. The US knew that the Japanese carriers were maintaining radio silence, which is suspicious in itself, but doesn’t indicate a target either. > [@](#): > > Since we knew we could not hold the Phillipines, it is possible that FDR & Marshall “wrote them off”, figuring that the nastiness of a surprize attack would wake the American people up. Then why reinforce the Philippines with most of our newly produced strategic superweapon, the B-17? The US invested quite a few scarce weapons in the defense of the Philippines prior to 12/7/41. Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/27 "2000-06-01T23:30:03Z")
Historian Gordon Prange deals pretty well with this in the end of [At Dawn We Slept](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140157344/qid=959902113/sr=1-1/103-3145437-8098208) ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/28 "2000-06-02T01:39:54Z")
Warinner: Your own site says that analysts at Both Corregidor & Pearl Harbor thuoght there were 2 large tasks forces heading toward the Phillipines. As for the B17’s: compared to battleships, they ARE cheap & disposable, AND we though we could fly them off, possibly loaded with gold, if we needed to run out of there in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/29 "2000-06-02T02:16:40Z")
[http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/pha/invest.html](http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/pha/invest.html) Who was blamed? It’s a cover up pure and simple. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/30 "2000-06-02T03:59:21Z")
The conspiracy theory that FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attack, but clammed up, is absurd for one simple reason: Sure, FDR wanted to enter the war, but he also wanted to WIN! I have little doubt that FDR hoped for some kind of… “TOnkin Gulf Incident,” if you will. He wanted SOME excuse to enter the war. But Pearl Harbor was a disaster (and bad as it was, it could have been far worse). It put a serious crimp in our ability to fight. If FDR knew that some sort of skirmish was likely, he MIGHT have been cynical and duplicitous enough to let it happen and use it as a pretext to declare war on Japan. But he did NOT want our fleet at the bottom of the Pacific! ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/31 "2000-06-02T04:24:13Z")
Danielinthewolvesden wrote: > [@](#): > > Warinner: Your own site says that analysts at Both Corregidor & Pearl Harbor thuoght there were 2 large tasks forces heading toward the Phillipines. Ain’t my site, McGee. I said there was no agreement among analysts on the position and intent of the Japanese carriers: > [@](#): > > At Station HYPO (Pearl Harbor) (Joseph) Rochefort’s best analysts disputed the meaning of the lack of information. Lieutenant Thomas A. Huckins agreed with Rochefort and [fleet intelligence officer Edwin] Layton that the disappearance of the carrier call signs meant the ships were tied up in Japanese ports awaiting orders. Lieutenant John A. Williams argued that the lack of traffic meant the Japanese had adopted radio silence and something was up. It was certainly true that summer, when Japan had moved into southern Indochina, a lack of carrier call signs had indeed meant those warships were operating under radio silence. They had subsequently turned up in Indochinese waters. No one could tell in December (1941), unless the Japanese carriers turned up off Diamond Head, as they were practically to do. > > John Prados, “Combined Fleet Decoded”, 1995 > [@](#): > > As for theB17’s: compared to battleships, they ARE cheap & disposable, AND we though we could fly them off, possibly loaded with gold, if we needed to run out of there in a hurry. Were they going to fly off the spares, maintenance crew and stores? Were they going to fly off naval bases at Cavite and Subic Bay that supported the Asiatic Fleet? > [@](#): > > This plan (to retire the army to Bataan and defend Manilla Bay from Corregidor according to war plans ORANGE and RAINBOW 5) and attitude changed after General MacArthur became Commander United States Army Forces Far East in July 1941. The General convinced authorities in Washington that, if properly reinforced before ware broke out, and if the clash could be postponed until the spring of 1942, his army and the United States Asiatic Fleet could keep the Japanese out of Luzon until the Pacific Fleet arrived. His opinion was based on the hope, and expectation, that his command would receive at least one hundred B-17s. The performance of these Flying Fortresses was so outstanding that the ‘citadel type of defense’ of the Philippines, as envisaged by the ‘Rainbow 5’ war plan, be changed to a dynamic and offensive plan. MacArthur’s enthusiasm was infectious; General Marshall told him to go ahead with new plans, which provided for an offensive strike by B-17s on the Formosa airfields when and if it came to war with Japan. The Chief of Staff (Marshall) at a press conference in Washington on 15 November 1941 told selected correspondents that we were on the brink of war with Japan, that our position was ‘highly favorable’ in the Philippines, where we had 35 B-17s - ‘greatest concentration of heavy bomber strength anywhere in the world’ - which would counterattack, set the ‘paper cities’ of Japan afire, and make the Philippine garrison independent of sea power. > > Samuel Eliot Morison, “The Two-Ocean War”, 1963 Best laid plans and all that. Andrew Warinner ---
**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/32 "2000-06-02T04:47:41Z")
I really do believe you people are putting to much into these antiquated BB’s that were caught at Pearl Harbor. as I said before the next generation of Battleships were already being built. Th USS North Carolina and USS Missouri et al. I find it amazing and a bit sad that many mentioned the sacrifice of the ships but not the sacrifice of the men. FDR knew that the US **HAD** to enter the war. The world needed our industrial strenghth. But the American people were not going to allow that to happen with some great wartime tragedy. Look at the sinking of the Lusitania during WW1…(that is another thread I’m sure)…even that did not work to push us into that war…well…didn’t work quickly anyway. So it had to be something much bigger than the Lusitania to push us into the war. Surely our government has done things along this line before? Anyone remember The Maine? Granted the government didn’t plan that…but they sure played it up. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/33 "2000-06-02T05:28:33Z")
(personally, I doubt it) But I did want to chime in on some of the side issues raised in this fascinating thread… > [@](#): > > \*\* > The Japanese were almost as surprised as the U.S. at how well things went. Had they thought they’d do as good as they did they could/should have taken possession of Hawaii outright. U.S. would have had a MUCH tougher go at Japan had that happened (Japan could have launched attacks on the U.S. mainland from Hawaii). > > Just out of curiosity–Did Japan really underestimate the U.S. will and expect the country to roll over and forgive the attack on Pearl Harbor? I remember being told that Japan hoped the American public would yell at FDR for provoking Japan into the attack and force FDR/Congress to lay off the embargos. Is that how it was? > \*\* As I recall, Japan hoped to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet. I’m not really sure what their long term goals were, but I’d guess that they were aiming at some sort of “leveraged settlement” as it were. They badly underestimated the U.S. resolve and our capability to rebuild/repair our fleet. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Japan’s greatest mistake was not attacking Pearl Harbor again. A second attack on the oil storage tanks the submarine base and the repair facilities would have set us back years. They could have blockaded the West coast with submarines and really put the U.S. on the defensive for sometime. > \*\* I don’t believe that Japanese could have blockaded our west coast with their submarines–I don’t think their submarine fleet was large enough to do the job. However, I absolutely agree that the Japanese could have, and should have, followed up on their attack. Not with an attack months later, but with follow up bombings the same day. Attacking the oil storage tanks and repair facilities could have impeded us significantly, as \*\*Icerigger \*\* points out. If I recall correctly, failure to do this allowed us to refloat a few of the sunken battleships before the war was even over. Why didn’t they? Because the Japanese fleet commander, Nagumo didn’t want to press his luck. To be fair, he was also concerned about the absence of the U.S. Aircraft carriers and did not want to be taken by surprise in turn. As I understand it, the Commander of the Naval forces, Admiral Yamamoto, was greatly disturbed by the failure to destroy the repair facilities, the oil storage tanks, and the aircraft carriers. If memory serves, however, he believed it was a mistake to attack the U.S. in the first place, feeling it was an unwinnable war (I believe he’d studied in America and knew of our superiority in resources). “Awakening a sleeping giant”, is, I believe, the phrase he used. > [@](#): > > \*\* > And all this “saving the most important ships, the carriers” is bunkum. As warinner pointed out, the Enterprize SHOULD have been there, and thus sunk. Also, very few actually thought that the carriers were more important than Battleships. We thought the carriers were good for scouting & plane delivery. > \*\* Based on my recollection of what I read, I agree. Both the American and the Japanese naval commanders didn’t completely anticipate the ascendency of the aircraft carriers (possibly some did, but it wasn’t a widely held belief that they’d be superior to battleships in short order). Again, my recollection is that Yamamoto may have had some suspicions that aircraft carriers might have soon ruled the day, but this was NOT univerally shared among his countrymen: The Japanese spent a great deal of time and effort in developing their superbattleships, the \*\* Yamato \*\* and \*\* Musashi \*\*. Incidentally, it’s very possible that the fatal mistake made by the Japanese high command at Midway was to split up their aircraft carriers, committing only four of the six to the attack on Midway island. But the Americans cracking the Japanese military code, was also, of course, a major factor. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/34 "2000-06-02T14:42:30Z")
I think some people may be forgetting that the war Roosevelt wanted the U.S. to get in to was the war against the Nazis in Europe. FDR had no way of knowing that Hitler would make the monumentally stupid move of declaring war against the U.S. after Japan attacked. It is entirely possible that had Hitler not done so, all U.S. resources would be focused on Japan, depriving Britain and Russia of Lend-Lease material, possibly _favoring_ Nazi victory in Europe! ---
**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/35 "2000-06-02T17:02:46Z")
wevets The axis powers had the same agreement as did Poland and England…you go to war, I do too. FDR knew that ana attack by Japan would bring the US into the conflict. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/36 "2000-06-02T17:19:02Z")
Asmodeus: not quite. The Axis treatys between Italy and Germany were worded thus, but the treaty between Germany and Japan was specific in its wording: Germany was obligated to declare war if Japan was attacked, Hitler was under no obligation to declare war on the US when _Japan_ attacked. Why did he do so? Because he was a political/oratorical genius who was convinced that he was the most brilliant military strategist ever, a delusion that he shared with Winston Churchill. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/37 "2000-06-02T17:25:42Z")
Let me just back up and review the allegations here. Roosevelt wanted to put the United States in a war against Germany. Germany and Japan had a mutual alliance that said “my enemy is your enemy.” Through the use of embargoes and diplomatic pressure, Roosevelt manipulated the Japanese into planning war. Believing that anti-German sentiment wasn’t strong enough that a Lusitania-type incident would be provocation enough, Roosevelt felt that nothing less than an attack of the Phillipines or Hawaii would do. Fortunately for Roosevelt, the Japanese cooperated by throwing almost all of their resources into a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor. Once Roosevelt learned of the specific time and place a Japanese attack would come, he ordred it covered up, so a surprise attack would completely devastate the Pacific Fleet, so the populace would rise up in anger against Japan, so Roosevelt could declare war against Germany. Damn! This guy was GOOD! ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/38 "2000-06-02T17:31:37Z")
> [@](#): > > What Roosevelt _did_ want was to be able to provide more active assistance to Britain in its war with Germany. How in the heck would allowing Japan to attack our Pacific fleet have furthered that goal? There’s no way that Roosevelt could have counted on Germany declaring war on the US after Pearl Harbor. In fact, he was greatly surprised when they did so. If Germany had elected _not_ to declare war, it would have been very tough for Roosevelt to use Pearl Harbor as an excuse to make war in Europe. Interesting point. I was under the impression that an attack from any one of the Axis powers would have been sufficient to give Roosevelt increased leeway to assist in the war. Perhaps that was not the case. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/39 "2000-06-02T17:38:25Z")
> [@](#): > > The axis powers had the same agreement as did Poland and England…you go to war, I do too. FDR knew that ana attack by Japan would bring the US into the conflict. Proof that this is not so can be found in the fact that Japan and the Soviet Union were not at war until 1945. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072/40 "2000-06-02T17:41:12Z")
In fact, aschrott, I think it would have been _very_ tough for Roosevelt to have Congress declare war upon Germany after Pearl Harbor- there would have been the sense of “Why open up a second front for ourselves when we’re already at war with Japan? Let’s just throw everything we’ve got at Japan, and let the Brits pull out of the East and deal with Germany.” I think most of the pre-Harbor isolationists would have fallen into _that_ point of view, and enough of the internationalists would have felt that way to make it next to impossible for a declaration of war against Germany to pass through Congress- at least, until Germany did something aggressive against us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-know-about-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-beforehand/21072.md?page=3)