Short was incompetant. Kimmel was negligent almost to the point of incompetance. Neither of them had any concept of the true potential of carrier airpower. There was a conspiracy - it was plotted in Tokyo. Yes, FDR wanted to get involved in the war ia europe. He thought it was in the US's and the humanity's best interests. He was right. Yes, FDR probably thought that war with japan was inevitable. BUT, the idea that FDR knew that the japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor flies in the face of ALL logic. If you someone is going to attack you, you get ready for that attack and you prepare a surprise for him. Such as have all available fighters assigned to combat air patrols, send aout search planes in all dierctions to their max. range and flight time (or don't send any out at all and have all aircraft available for combat), don't bunch up your aircraft on the runways, cancel all personnel leaves the day before the attack, have all the ships at General Quarters BEFORE dawn, or - best of all - sortie the fleet the night before the attack and make sure that the carriers are with them. Let the guy stick out his neck, then cut it off. If FDR knew the attack was coming, he could have ordered any and all of these (and probably others I haven't mentioned). This would have destroyed the IJN's primary striking force, reducing US men and material needs in the pacific, and thereby increasing the forces available for use in europe. Ex: the 1st Marine Division was originally supposed to be part of the force used to invade North Africa. If you know an attack is coming why make it easy for the enemy ?

Purple was a Diplomatic code and didn't provide tactical intel on where an attack would come. JN25 was the fleet code that did provide the intel that would tell when and where the attacks would happen. These messages were intercepted. The problem is OP20G did not devote the resources necessary (they didn't have them) to decode it in a timely fashon till after the war started. This is the basis for any navy coverup. They didn't want to look incompetent for having intercepted buy not decoded the messages that gave the when and where. I agree with evlstu that had FDR or any other commander known they would have ordered a trap set. The war plan envisioned EastPac as a secure area and base for offenive operations, and they were right, except for day 1 of the war when they got bit hard. They next time the Japanese came into EastPac in force they got handed their heads. Kimmel made a military decision, keep my PBY's at a higher state of readiness for scouting before raids on the Marshalls or do a more extensive searchs around Hawaii. He was wrong on Dec 7, 1941 but given the data he had it was a reasonable decision. I have a little more problem with Short but he was given injuctions about alarming the local population and informed Marshall of the actions he took. If Marshall hadn't thought it was a reasonable decision or wasn't his intention he should have acted. There is enogh blame for all commanders in DC and Pearl. I think it is hightly ironic that decions made at Pearl got the commanders releaved and greater mistakes made at Manilla got Macarthur a CHM.

I agree that FDR was not completely in the know that an attack was coming. There are some rumors that the Brits had some intel, maybe one of you guys can talk to that. As far as Kimmel and Short, my biggest disappointment was the lack of readiness and effective patrols. How the Japanese were able to approach Hawaii UNSEEN has to be a major screw-up. Thank god the carriers were absent. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

Sidenote: I think MacArthur should have been sacked (and inprisoned) ten years before Dec. 7 then maybe the Phillipines would have been ready. Thats definately a case where the commander knew the attack was coming and did nothing about it. I'll stop know because I really hate this guy.

The US and Brits were trading codebreaking knowledge before Pearl, they had broken different portions of JN25 but probably not that much more. Most of the Pacific excanges were directly between Singapore and station Cast (Corregodore) directly. PacFlt was the only force capable of saving the Brits if Japan went for the East Indies/Malaya seeing it burn would be counterproductive. Remember from Dec 7 to Dec 11 the US was fighting Japan alone, we didn't declare war on Germany til after they declared on us. The Tripartite pact was defensive, Hitler did not have to declare war on the US and was stupid to do so. He probably could have gotten another year or two before the US would be willing to delare on him first.

I guess the lack of posts here means that almost everyone rejects the idea of a "Pearl Harbor" conspiracy. Unless we're talking about a jap conspiacy.

Well, if information were gathered and used colectively in 1941 then FDR and the high command would have know the attack was coming and the target was likey Pearl Horbor. This is how we gather information today. However, in 1941 information was gather and studied by each branch of the service so everyone had a piece of the puzzle. But, no one even in Washington had all the pieces. Washington had issued a War warning (attack likey in 24 to 72 hours) 10 or 14 days prior to Dec 7th but duing the preceding week Pearl was removed from the list of most likey targets. The US Army intell even had the siting of the attack fleet by a Russsian ship via the Britsh but the location offered several attack locations- Guam, Midway, Phillipines, Figi, Aluetions and Pearl. Pearl the least likey due to range, weather and refueling needs. Today, CNN would have televised the potential danger but in 1941 there was no single group putting all the pieces together. As for Pearl's commanders they were old school and hadn't caught up to the new way of thinking like Billy Mitchell and Yamamoto had done. H

You would make it easy for the enemy because an uncalled for and brutal attack on unprepared forces makes it A LOT easier to shift public opinion in favour of war. The reality is that FDR wanted into the war in the pacific and in Europe but that is kind of hard to do when the people dont want it. There are too many unanswered questions about pearl harbour. Why was nearly the entire US Pacific Fleet present but the important and ultimatly war-deciding ships - the carriers - were conviently off somewhere else? You would think that if you wanted to be prepared for an attack you would want the carriers present and ready for war. Why did the air force tow all the planes right into the middle of the runway wingtip to wingtip like a shooting gallary? The Japanese broke radio silence numerous times during the transit to Pearl Habour. Dont believe me? Pick up "Day of Deceit" by Robert B. Stinnett. You will. The American Fleet ignored reports of the approching aircraft more then once. What about the midget sub that was sunk before the attack even had begun? Did they just not care or something. You could argue that some reports could be lost in the chain of command but every single one? Who is the superpower of the world today? the United States. Who would have been provided there was no American entry into the war? Japan and Germany. FDR saw Pearl harbour as his doorway into the war and ultimatly to victory. He sacrificed 2000 American servicmen to destory his Pacific rival and gaurantee American control of world affairs for nealry 60 years.

Personally, I don't think FDR let Pearl Harbor be attacked. If he did want the United States to enter WWII all he probably have to have done is discover the Japanese fleet moving toward our mainland. That alone would have rallied the American people enough to enter WWII. Plus, information was easily hidden from the President, as well as Admiral Kimmel and General Short since Pearl Harbor did not have decoder. Those two could have been more ready if all the messages were sent to them.

True, and I guess we will never really know for sure. Information can be hidden from the higher-ups as we have seen throughout history. But we do know that someone had to have known what was going on and didnt tell anyone. American entry into the war was ineveitable and nesscesary and probably would have happened anyway at some point as has been suggested earlier.