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I must disagree with Zatanna. FDR did want a war, he just didn't want it in 1937, for several reasons. The U.S. wasn't prepared militarily, the public wasn't prepared for a war (after the sinking of the Panay a poll showed most of the public wanted everyone, from diplomats to missionaries, out of China where the U.S. had nothing critical to national interests at stake), and it would threaten his New Deal programs that he feared the Supreme Court was going to nullify.



Read Day of Deceit by Robert Stinnet and you'll see Roosevelt was pushing Japan towards war since at least October 1940. He was constantly violating the Neutrality Act by acts such as issuing shoot on sight orders against U-boats, and should have been impeached for it. Germany wouldn't take the bait, Japan did. Rooosevelt and his military brass knew all about the Japanese task force heading to Hawaii and withheld information from the Hawaii commanders so they wouldn't be able to prevent the attack.



Roosevelt wouldn't have been able to slough this off if more men had been killed instead of two, and if one or more of the diplomats would have been killed. He would then have had no choice but to go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war against Japan, and use Alley's film uncensored to bolster his case.



The sinking of the Panay was a provocation by the Japanese, one of a series and would continue after this with the hijacking of the Hawaii Clipper 7 months later. They wanted see what we would do. Roosevelt did nothing but let them off the hook with an "apology" saying it was a mistake when he knew better after seeing Norman Alley's film, a government sponsored (as opposed to government supported) letter of apology writing campaign by Japanese citizens and a $2 million indemnity paid by the Japanese government.



This attack doesn't remind me of Pearl Harbor 4 years later, it reminds me of the attack on USS Liberty 29-1/2 years later by the Israelis. They too overflew the ship and knew it was American and deliberately attacked the ship, even trying to machine gun the survivors and the life rafts with patrol boats. They too claimed it was an "accident, a mistake" and they too got away with it.





- July 14, 2007FDR's intentions