The Whole FDR Planned Dec 7 Conspiracy True

So what would happen if a few days after Dec 7, 1941, a very credible source (maybe Hoover....nvm) releases to the world that FDR knew about the Japanese fleet heading towards Pearl Harbor, but didn't do anything about it. Not only that, he was expecting the Japanese attack all along?

So what would happen if the public, the axis, other ally nations, learned about this? The war would certainly not stop, but how will the Roosevelt Administration cope with this?

Note: I'm not a conspiracy nut so I don't believe this:rolleyes:
 
My best guess is that the Republicans and alot of the public would call of FDR's Impeachment, and they would probably get it. Wether or not it would have been sucessful is another thing.
Later on, I imagine this would breed greater distrust of the Executive Branch in particular and elected officials overall.
 
You'd probably see Congress impeaching FDR for starters. I don't expect either the Allies or the Axis doing much. Perhaps the Japanese exploiting it for propaganda value but generally the effects will probably be limited within the country.
 
I'd argue that nothing happens till after the war. I think by 1941 FDR was too big to be taken down. Sure proof can come forward, but during a war I can see people in 1940's America blaming enemies, not the government for such a thing. Afterwards it would be a very big deal, and perhaps force more checks upon the executive office, or we see an earlier call for congressional approval to us the army.
 
OK , this might be a bit controversial, and I don't think I'm a conspiracy nut, but I do think there was a conspiracy of sorts to get the USA into WW2.

I think there are several things that are beyond doubt:
1) FDR wanted into the war because he believed that the Germans were a potential threat to the USA.
2) He knew he couldn't get a declaration of war through Congress.
3) He had tried provoking the Germans in the N. Atlantic, but they wouldn't bite.
4) The US in negotiations with the Japanese presented them with humiliating terms, which there was no chance of them accepting.
4) When the Japanese rejected the terms and the embargo was imposed, FDR knew very well that it would lead to war.
6) The US military was expecting war with Japan (there was a 'general war warning' sent on 27th November, so the attack was very far from being a 'bolt from the blue'.)
5) The US knew that Japan was going to attack US interests on the 7th Dec because the declaration of war was intercepted and decoded the day before before it was presented by the Japanese ambassador.

Does the above amount to a 'conspiracy' though or is it just normal politics and foreign policy? Some people feel that if FDR knew about an attack and allowed it to happen without allowing the forces to take appropriate defensive measures that that's going beyond normal politics. So the question is did he know anything specific, and if so were commanders ordered not to prepare or was it just incompetence

The problem is that there was evidence available to the US that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked, it's impossible to say whether it was deliberately ignored or people just failed to put 2 and 2 together.

Personally, I think attacks were expected on the Philippines rather than Pearl Harbor.

As for the effect of the 'conspiracy' (if there was one) being exposed, IMO you would get a situation similar to the one in the USA over Iraq now, e.g. a massive divide between the people who believe the president is telling the truth and the people who don't. The 'proof' of a conspiracy would be unlikely to be cut and dried.

And you still get the reality that the country is at war, even if the President has possibly lied the country into it; and with it being a far more serious war with mass mobilisation etc there's not much the average person can do. I think they would knuckle down quite quickly.

There's a fairly balanced, but a bit of a mess, article on the subject on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_debate
 
Just as a note, the allies were notorious for their inability to realize the importance of intelligence until after the fact. for example, the high commands were informed of the invasion of France, Operation Barbarrosa, and the Ardennes offensive in advance, but the information was ignored.
 
Just as a note, the allies were notorious for their inability to realize the importance of intelligence until after the fact. for example, the high commands were informed of the invasion of France, Operation Barbarrosa, and the Ardennes offensive in advance, but the information was ignored.

That reminds me of a question.

Was the allies stupid at the begining of the war for not acting against the Axis powers before it was too late and the Axis were smart for their gamble. Then in the later years vice versa happens and the Axis becomes idiots for mere thought that they could even win or have a agreeable armistice to end the war:confused::confused::confused:
 
That reminds me of a question.

Was the allies stupid at the begining of the war for not acting against the Axis powers before it was too late and the Axis were smart for their gamble. Then in the later years vice versa happens and the Axis becomes idiots for mere thought that they could even win or have a agreeable armistice to end the war:confused::confused::confused:

I don't think the Allies were stupid, they were trying to be realistic. According to their best intelligence estimates, the German military was nothing they could take on in 1938 or 1939. The fact that they massively overestimated its capabilities is clear to us, but obviously they had no idea of it. Thus, at the beginning of the war they were playing for time to arm and prepare. They could not foresee the collapse of their defenses in France, so again they were not stupid to trust their ability to hold back the Germans, and their strategic thinking was sound: stop the German attack, attrite their force, blockade their supplies and work away at Italy and their tentative alliance with the Soviets to isolate Berlin. Bear in mind they had a bad set of cards - the USSR backing Hitler and the USA trying very hard to avoid any kind of clear involvement. By January '42 things looked different, of course, but from a geostrategic point of view everyone in London realised that they had won.

As to 'were the Axis crazy' - not in bulk, no. The Axis powers other than Germany did the smart thing, they ditched the loser as soon as it was safe and tried to come to some accommodation with the winner. Finland, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania all managed. Germany was the odd one out.
 
Top