I guess progressive presidents are prone to do this:
FTA: With diplomatic negotiations with Japan breaking down, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers knew that an imminent Japanese attack was probable, but nothing had been done to increase security at the important naval base at Pearl Harbor. It was Sunday morning, and many military personnel had been given passes to attend religious services off base. At 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at the time, they were told to sound no alarm. Thus, the Japanese air assault came as a devastating surprise to the naval base.
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
He knew and did nothing to increase security at Pearl Harbor.
FTA: President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull knew a Japanese attack was imminent. Having received intelligence reports of intercepted coded messages from Tokyo to the Japanese ambassador in the United States, the president anticipated Japanese reprisals for his government’s refusal to reverse economic sanctions and embargoes against Japan. The Roosevelt administration had remained firm in its demand that the Japanese first withdraw from China and French Indochina, which it had invaded in 1937 and July 1941, respectively, and renounce its alliance with fascist Germany and Italy.
Well done, too few of our people remember.
Thanks, NEO. Sadly, I believe its plain ol’ apathy and ungratefulness that makes people turn a blind eye to the necessity and sacrifices of war.
I think you’re right, and it’s very unfortunate.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-reacts-to-news-of-pearl-harbor-bombing
FTA: For weeks, a war with Japan had appeared likely since negotiations had deteriorated over the subject of Japan’s military forays into China and elsewhere in the Pacific during World War II. FDR and his advisors knew that an attack on the U.S. fleet at the Philippines was possible, but few suspected the naval base at Pearl Harbor would be a target.
Is Pearl Harbor ancient history?
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/caruba/121206
FTA: Pearl Harbor has a special place in American history because it marked the U.S. entry into World War II. The war had been raging in Europe since 1939 and, frankly, a lot of Americans did not want to get involved in a second European conflict since memories of World War I which had ended in 1918 were still relatively fresh in people’s minds. Pearl Harbor changed all that.
Men lined up to enlist to fight World War II. They volunteered in the thousands because they understood the threat to freedom the regimes of the Nazis and the Japanese Empire represented. Similarly, after 9/11 there was a surge of enlistments to fight the rising tide of Islamic aggression.
Great post, NEO!
http://nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/pearl-harbor-day/