Amnesty Intellectual: "the Pearl Harbor attack was "something that had to be endured in order to stop a greater evil - the Nazi invaders in Europe..."

Editorial Reviews
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It was not long after the first Japanese bombs fell on the American naval ships at Pearl Harbor that conspiracy theories began to circulate, charging that Franklin Roosevelt and his chief military advisors knew of the impending attack well in advance. Robert Stinnett, who served in the U.S. Navy with distinction during World War II, examines recently declassified American documents and concludes that, far more than merely knowing of the Japanese plan to bomb Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt deliberately steered Japan into war with America.

Stinnett's argument draws on both circumstantial evidence--the fact, for example, that in September 1940 Roosevelt signed into law a measure providing for a two-ocean navy that would number 100 aircraft carriers--and, more importantly, on American governmental documents that offer apparently incontrovertible proof that Roosevelt knowingly sacrificed American lives in order to enter the war on the side of England. Although obviously troubled by his discovery of a systematic plan of deception on the part of the American government, Stinnett does not take deep issue with its outcome. Roosevelt, he writes, faced powerful opposition from isolationist forces, and, against them, the Pearl Harbor attack was "something that had to be endured in order to stop a greater evil--the Nazi invaders in Europe who had begun the Holocaust and were poised to invade England." Sure to excite discussion, Stinnett's book offers what may be the final word on the terrible matter of Pearl Harbor.

--Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Historians have long debated whether President Roosevelt had advance knowledge of Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Using documents pried loose through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides overwhelming evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The heart of his argument is even more inflammatory: Stinnett argues that FDR, who desired to sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, instigated a policy intended to provoke a Japanese attack. The plan was outlined in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo of October 1940; Roosevelt immediately began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan's economy), all of which, according to Stinnett, climaxed in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, substantiates his charges with a wealth of persuasive documents, including many government and military memos and transcripts. Demolishing the myth that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence, he shows that several Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers in the 10 days before December 7, confirmed that Japan intended to start the war at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett convincingly demonstrates that the U.S. top brass in Hawaii--Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short--were kept out of the intelligence loop on orders from Washington and were then scapegoated for allegedly failing to anticipate the Japanese attack (in May 1999, the U.S. Senate cleared their names). Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific, actively searching for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters ordered him to turn back. Stinnett's meticulously researched book raises deeply troubling ethical issues. While he believes the deceit built into FDR's strategy was heinous, he nevertheless writes: "I sympathize with the agonizing dilemma faced by President Roosevelt. He was forced to find circuitous means to persuade an isolationist America to join in a fight for freedom." This, however, is an expression of understanding, not of absolution. If Stinnett is right, FDR has a lot to answer for--namely, the lives of those Americans who perished at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett establishes almost beyond question that the U.S. Navy could have at least anticipated the attack. The evidence that FDR himself deliberately provoked the attack is circumstantial, but convincing enough to make Stinnett's bombshell of a book the subject of impassioned debate in the months to come. (Dec.)

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

SOURCE - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743201299/104-2111392-7959957?v=glance

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Citations (learn more)
This book cites 27 books:

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Citations (learn more)
This book cites 27 books:

* The campaigns of the Pacific war by United States Strategic Bombing Survey
o page 46, Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), Back Matter (3), Back Matter (4), Back Matter (5), and Back Matter (6)
* And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway Breaking the Secrets by Edwin T. Layton
o Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), Back Matter (3), Back Matter (4), Back Matter (5), Back Matter (6), and Back Matter (7)
* Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack: Report of the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack Congress of the United States Pursuant to S. Con. Res. 27, 79th congress by Us Congress Joint
o Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
* DAY OF DECEIT : The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor by Robert Stinnett
o Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Cover
* Betrayal at Pearl Harbor by James Rusbridger
o Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
* Ten years in Japan,: A contemporary record drawn from the diaries and private and official papers of Joseph C. Grew, United States ambassador to Japan, 1932-1942 by Joseph C Grew
o Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
* A Different Kind of Victory: A Biography of Admiral Thomas C. Hart by James. Leutze
o Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
* Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy by Dorr Carpenter
o Back Matter
* American Black Chamber by Herbert O. Yardley
o Back Matter
* Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boats Codes, 1939-1943 by David Kahn
o Back Matter
* World War I (World War I) by John Hamilton
o Back Matter
* The Papers of George Catlett Marshall : "The Soldierly Spirit," December 1880 - June 1939 (The Papers of George Catlett Marshall) by George Catlett Marshall
o Back Matter
* The president's house: A history by William Seale
o Back Matter
* Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P Lash
o Back Matter
* Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert E. Sherwood
o Back Matter
* Admiral Harold R. Stark: Architect of Victory, 1939-1945 (Studies in Maritime History) by B. Mitchell Simpson
o Back Matter
* Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence by Warren F. Kimball
o Back Matter
* At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon William Prange
o Back Matter
* Aircraft Carriers of the U.S. Navy by Stefan Terzibaschitsch
o Back Matter
* Double Edged Secrets by Wilfred J. Holmes
o Back Matter

More Citations: 1 2 Next

* To Have and Have Not: Southeast Asian Raw Materials and the Origins of the Pacific War by Jonathan Marshall
o Back Matter
* The Man Who Broke Purple: The Life of Colonel William F. Friedman, Who Deciphered the Japanese Code in World War II by Ronald William Clark
o Back Matter
* Investigations of the Attack on Pearl Harbor : Index to Government Hearings (Bibliographies and Indexes in Military Studies) by Stanley H. Smith
o Back Matter
* Perpetual war for perpetual peace;: A critical examination of the foreign policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and its aftermath by Harry Elmer Barnes
o Back Matter
* Fleet Admiral King (Politics and Strategy of World War II) by Ernest King
o Back Matter
* Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack: Report of the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack : Congress of the United States Pursuant to S. Con. Res. 27, 79th congre by Congress of the United States
o Back Matter
* Road from Isolation: The Campaign of the American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression, 1938-1941 (East Asian Monographs No. 25) by Donald J. Friedman
o Back Matter

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