"In a statement to the Congressional Committee on Pearl Harbor in 1946, Secretary [of War] Stimson described in stronger terms this conversation with President Roosevelt. He then said that he had told the President on November 28, 1941, that
'the desirable thing to do from the point of view of our own tactics and safety was to take the initiative and attack [the Japanese forces moving southward] without further warning. It is axiomatic that the best defense is offense. It is always dangerous to wait and let the enemy make the first move. I was inclined to feel that the warning given in August by the President against further moves by the Japanese toward Thailand justified an attack without further warning, particularly as their new movement southward indicated that they were about to violate that warning. On the other hand, I realized that the situation could be made more clean cut from the point of view of public opinion if a further warning were given.'
From President Roosevelt and the Coming of the Great War by Charles A Beard pg 526
What if Stimson swayed Roosevelt, embroiling the United States into a war without Japan, a war where the United States fired the first shots? What would this Pacific look like? Would Japan, now not facing the ire of the American population, have a chance at drawing out the war and gaining a favorable peace?