FDR had every intention of trying to goad the Japanese into firing the first shot. Lincoln did the same with the South. FDR followed Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum’s eight-step plan. Richard Maybury’s book “World War II” goes over the chronological order of FDR following the plan and says “the chronological order is very important. Many of these events have been written about extensively, but as far as I know, no one has ever listed them in sequence so that the reader can clearly see the development.”
It’s too long for me to quote the rest, but here are some other interesting excerpts from the book on this idea:
I know it is hard to believe a President would deliberately sacrifice American lives. How do we know Roosevelt was really willing to do this? Journalist and navy World War II veteran Robert B. Stinnett is an expert on the Pearl Harbor attack. Stinnett points out that on September 7, 1940, President Roosevelt “called for sending cruisers into Japanese territory to antagonize the Japanese militarists so they would take over the civilian government. President Roosevelt called them pop-up cruisers. ‘I want them popping up here and there, but I don’t want to lose five or six cruisers. I don’t mind losing one or two.’ Well, if you lose one or two cruisers, you’re losing 900 men each,” writes Stinnett. “That was about 1,800 men he was prepared to lose to put this provocative action in place.”
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Here is an interesting fact to ponder. We have all seen hundreds of photos and newsreels of the attack on Pearl Harbor. One of the most famous pieces of motion picture film is of the battleship Arizona exploding. Shot in color (although usually shown in black and white) this film of the explosion is shocking. You can see color photos of the Battleship Arizona here.
The photos and films of Pearl Harbor were immediately shown around the country. Young men saw them and went straight to the nearest recruiting centers. Your grandfather tells of lines of men stretching hundreds of yards around the block at the recruiting center near his home.
These photos and films completely erased any serious opposition to the USG getting into the war. In every city and town, Americans were outraged and looking for revenge.
The strange thing is that in 1941, portable motion picture cameras were rare, and portable motion picture cameras shooting color film were almost unknown. The convenient videotape cameras did not come into wide use until the 1980s.
I have never heard anyone ask the question, how long after the attack began did the Arizona blow up?
I checked into it.
Logs of other ships in the harbor report that the explosion was 12 minutes after the attack began. The Arizona was one of the first ships hit.
So when the attack began, there on the scene within sight of battleship row, at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, was a photographer with a movie camera loaded with color film.
…The Solace was a hospital ship moored in a central location in Pearl Harbor with a view of battleship row. This was the safest spot in the harbor. Hospital ships are not considered legitimate military targets; the Solace was not hit and was not damaged in any way. At 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, a photographer with a movie camera shooting color film was standing on the deck of the Solace. The photographer got clear pictures of the attack, including the destruction of the battleship Arizona. Was his presence there a coincidence, or did someone know the attack was coming and tell the photographer to be there?
