Where Historians Disagree, Pgs. 734-735: The
Question of Pearl Harbor
Individual(s)/Work(s)
 Charles A. Beard, President Roosevelt
and the Coming of the War (1948),
Thomas Fleming, The New Dealer’s
War
Views/Arguments
United States deliberately forced Japanese
into position with no choice but to attack,
U.S. cut off raw materials for expansion
into China and stubbornly refused any
deals, American policy was deliberately
provocative and because U.S. had already
cracked Japanese code, should have known
of attack beforehand.

Basil Rauch, Roosevelt from Munich to
Pearl Harbor (1950)
Roosevelt administration did not know of
planned attack on Pearl Harbor, only of
attack somewhere, made subtle efforts to
“maneuver” Japan into firing first shot of
war.

Richard N. Current, Secretary Stimson:
A Study in Statecraft (1954)
Harry Stimson didn’t necessarily expect
Japanese attack on America, perhaps
instead on British or Dutch, make an attack
on those nations seem like attack on them
to persuade Congress to declare war.

Roberta Wohlstetter, Pearl Harbor:
Warning and Decision (1962)

Admiral Edwin T. Layton, staff officer
at Pearl Harbor in 1941, And I Was
There (1985)
Didn’t focus on whether Americans wanted
attack to happen or not, but of whether or
not they knew about it, concluded that U.S.
had warning of intentions and should have
seen attack as imminent, but government
officials failed to interpret evidence
correctly, with preconceptions about
Japanese intentions conflicting with their
evidence.
Argued that Japanese attack took place
because it was both very well
planned/executed and because of dramatic
breakdown in American intelligence
process, relating directly to conflicts
between high-level naval officers in
Washington.

Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept
(1981)
Concluded that administration made
disastrous blunders in interpreting Japanese
strategy, had possession of information to
predict attack but failed to do so, dismissed
arguments that president deliberately
maneuvered nation into war by allowing
Japanese to attack, emphasized skill and
daring Japanese used in attack that few
Americans thought possible.

John Toland, Infamy: Pearl Harbor
and Its Aftermath (1982)
Claimed discovery of new evidence
(confession of unidentified seaman) that
proves navy knew in advance of Japanese
carriers heading towards Hawaii,
concluded that Roosevelt knew of attack on
that location but allowed it occur to arouse
nation to enter war, however, Toland did
not have direct evidence of this, or offer
explanation why Roosevelt would
deliberately allow U.S. to enter war with
badly crippled Pacific fleet and humiliated
Navy.
Comments/Connections/Questions:
 “Remember ________!”
Reminds me of the cry “Remember the Maine!” (from Spanish-American War, American
battleship Maine blew up and Spanish were suspected), both were similar examples of
how attacks on U.S. could be used to bring about strong sentiments for war, though there
was definitely more proof that Pearl Harbor was a deliberate attack from the Japanese.
 My Opinion:
I think the main idea that people tend to disagree on with this topic is if Roosevelt knew
of the attack or not, because if he did know about it beforehand, it may have been
prevented. However, the U.S. might not have joined the war then, and from previous
information we could clearly see that Roosevelt viewed the Axis (especially in Europe) as
being dangerous to the safety of his nation, and wanted to help Allied powers fight them
but didn’t really have enough support or authority to declare war on them. With the events
of Pearl Harbor, there was widespread support for America intervening in WWII, but it
wasn’t just limited to Europe; they also had to fight the Japanese now in the Pacific. In the
end, based on if Roosevelt did know that the Japanese would specifically attack Pearl
Harbor, I think the question is: do the ends justify the means? Does America joining in on
WWII and assisting the Allies in their fight against the Axis, as well as bringing a faster
end to the Holocaust and ending the Great Depression in the U.S. justify the Roosevelt
administration not doing as much as they could have to prevent the attack on Pearl
Harbor?
Reasons why America joined WWII:

Pearl Harbor

Axis violating Treaty of Versailles, violating other nations’
sovereignties, as well as other international laws

Axis powers “beating” America’s closest trading allies

Moral: Democracy vs. Dictatorship, Facism