Conspiracy theorists have been touting a so-called “Mccollum memo” that outlines a strategy to provoke Japan to attack the US, in order to force the us into WW2. Supposedly FDR read this memo and acted on it, even ignoring a suposed radio transmission picked up from Japan ordering the invasion. So did FDR and the upper echelons of the government purposely lead Japan to attack? Or are the memo and radio transmissions two misinterpreted bits of history? -brett
Well, this has been done to death. The matter has been researched by a number of Congressional committes, journalists and historians.
Exceptional claims demand exceptional proof. There is no exceptional proof that the attack onPearl Harbor was anything but what history has judged it to be, a well-executed coup de main.
Further the idea that FDR provoked a war is impossible to disprove as it is impossible to disprove a negative. I cannot prove FDR was *not * a space lizard.
While in hindsight war with Japan was provoked by American economic policies (which were brought on by the Japanese military policies), it is very unlikely that the opening gambit of the war was to throw away the battle fleet.
If you have proof to the counterwise, a Pulitzer Prize is yours for the asking.