Originally Posted by
Digger Goreman
We only got into this one because our govt hates socialism. BUT, the citizens were viewing this as just another European war and, being an intolerant nation at that, didn't mind German policies. So, how to get them riled? Drag in the allied Japanese with oil embargoes and use their broke code to get them to attack at Pearl Harbor. The govt sicked the people on the "inscrutable alien yellow menace" and, by alliance, their German partners. Voilą!
Real history ain't in the movies or "popular" books....
Just another political holiday.
And, yeah, I was a real military historian, as in U.S. uniform and all that. Paid attention and learned A LOT!
While I think it's entirely possible FDR manipulated the intelligence in such a way as to force the US into a war many in the US didn't want a part of, there's no question in 75 years of hindsight that this was possibly the right move at the time. There's zero question that at some point we were going to be in a war with Japan for all the right reasons, just like we got involved in Europe because we needed to get involved when we did if GB was to survive. There is little doubt that Europe would not be what it is today - free, if GB had fallen. The US could not have defeated Germany otherwise. Japan and Germany were brutal regimes responsible for millions of dead. Millions more would be dead if the US had not acted as we did.