Prior to World War II, Japan already had numerous problems. She was dangerously dependent on outside sources for raw materials, especially oil. Conflicts with the Chinese in 1937 lead to the Sino-Japanese War, one of the bloodiest wars in world history. This war was seriously depleting Japan's resources and military forces. Desperate for raw materials, and following Germany's lead, Japan attempted to seize control of several Southeast Asian countries. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was strongly

In addition to the many warnings Roosevelt had paid no attention to, his actions also show that he had indirectly planned the attack. In early 1941, Roosevelt ordered the majority of the West Coast's military fleet transferred to its exposed position at Pearl Harbor. Admiral James O. Richardson protested that there was inadequate protection from an air attack, and no protection from a torpedo attack. Richardson had also suggested placing anti-torpedo nets in Pearl Harbor one year earlier. After he raised the issue with Roosevelt personally, he was discharged and replaced. Roosevelt cut off oil to Japan on July 26, 1941. He cut off military intelligence to Hawaii that same day. Roosevelt was a naval expert. Clearly, he knew the vulnerability of Pearl Harbor. On the weekend of December 7, he put the West coast and Panama oh highest alert. Hawaii received no status change. In early December, Roosevelt ordered the all the aircraft carriers out of Pearl Harbor. Note that aircraft carriers are extremely expensive and very hard to replace. He obviously knew they would be damaged. MacArthur claimed the attack on the Philippines military force had caught him by surprise, yet he had Japanese deciphering machines. Prior to the attack, he refused a request to recon Japanese activities in Camranh Bay, claiming he had higher orders. After the attack, MacArthur refused to attack Japanese forces in Formosa, even under direct orders from the war department. If MacArthur had made all these decisions completely on his own, than he had made the biggest mistakes in military history. Yet he wasn't reprimanded. Instead he kept his position and received his fourth star shortly afterward. Harry Hopkins, the only person with Roosevelt when he received news of the attack said he expressed "a sense of relief." At a cabinet meeting held later that day, Mrs. Francis Perkins, secretary of Labor, observed this about Roosevelt: "I had a deep emotional feeling that something was wrong, that this situation was not all it appeared to be...obviously, he had to play a role of some sort." She also noted on Roosevelt's peculiar expression at the time: "there have been times when I associated that expression with a kind of evasiveness." Roosevelt's wife wrote in her journal that, throughout the day, he became "in a way more serene." In addition to plotting against the United Stated, Roosevelt lied to the American people. The very people he was supposed to protect.

On December 8, 1941, Roosevelt "performed" his Pearl Harbor speech for Congress. "...The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." Suddenly and deliberately? How suddenly, when the first warning came almost a year prior to the attack? "...The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor..." At peace with that nation? Still in conversation? Is peace with a nation placing an oil embargo? Is conversation setting impossible, unfathomable demands and ultimatums? "During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace..." Clearly, it is not the Japanese that deliberately sought to deceive the United States. "Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and out interests are in grave danger." It is hard to tell if Roosevelt is speaking of the Japanese, or of his own betrayal.

In 1944, journalist John T. Flynn published a pamphlet entitled "The Truth About Pearl Harbor." His thesis was that the blame for the attack rested with "the maneuverings and miscalculations of the American government."(Mappen 189) The pamphlet was the opening for a critical interpretation of Pearl Harbor that has been come to be known as the "revisionist" school. Over time, vario

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