Thanks for the ping.
Now that I have some time, have read through all these posts and they are excellent! Many hit the nail right on the head. Most of the points I would have argued with turned out to be nicely answered by others. I am very impressed.
And some of this has been mentioned before, but will list again references I recommend:
Making the case that Roosevelt not only knew in advance of the Pearl Harbor attack, but in some sense "provoked" it:
Robert Stinnett c2000 "Day of Deceit"
George Victor c2007 "The Pearl Harbor Myth"
Making the case that FDR did not know in advance:
Joseph Perisco c2001 "Roosevelt's Secret War"
Larry Schweikart c2008 "48 Liberal Lies About American History"
My opinion is that -- despite my high respect for Perisco and Schweikart otherwise -- those who argue "Roosevelt knew" make a stronger case than those who say he didn't. And the George Victor book especially puts the whole thing in proper context.
Stinnett makes at least three important points:
- Not just some, but virtually all of the Japanese codes had been broken long before Pearl Harbor.
- Messages revealing the locations of Japanese fleets were being sent to all major commanders EXCEPT Kimmel and Short -- even by their own cryptographers!
- It wasn't just the aircraft carriers which were sent away a few days before December 7. It was also EVERY modern warship (over 20 of them) then stationed at Pearl Harbor.
But George Victor spells out the context -- political, military & strategic which best makes sense of it all, imho.