Conspiracy Theories: FDR WWII Conspiracy by Jay Cunningham

The man who rallied a nation together in revenge against Japan may have been the one who started it. Franklin D. Roosevelt, otherwise known as mister president at the time, oversaw a country that was suffering from overspending and drought after the economic boom that came from WW1. “…the man who coined December 7, 1941, ‘a day that will live in infamy’ may have been the cause of the Pearl Harbor tragedy (Dallek 1). As the President he had the duty to lead the country out of this depression. As the holiday season of 1941 began an opportunity presented itself in the pacific. Today people still don’t believe what happened that winter when, “Roosevelt was complicit in the United States’ entry into World War II by ‘manipulated events in the pacific provoking Japanese attack’” (1). These actions were followed by the rallying of troops and the pledge to get revenge against those who would dare harm us.

The Relative to the well-known Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt was considered, “charming, gregarious and fun loving, always eager to sail, party and (Murrin et al 675). Roosevelt presented himself as the decisive candidate in all his political races and won the governorship of New York when he was 39. He was not complacent in his work and went on to be elected for president in 1933. His first order of business was to begin work on a New Deal that would save an economically depressed America. This painted a picture to the American people that their president was dedicated and devoted to them. This policy helped poor farmers all the way to profitable bankers. Franklin could trace his lineage all the way back to the mayflower and up to his nuclear family in Hyde park. His early struggle with health issues and being a sickly kid led him to have a compassion for the less fortunate and more challenged population that would later help improve his image. During his 2-year confinement with polio and subsequent paralysis, Roosevelt became more and more determined to succeed and grew a strong bond with his wife Eleanor. During Roosevelt’s time as President America hit the Great Depression, leading people to distrust the government and banks. President Roosevelt came up with the great idea to address the people on a personal level on the radio. These “fireside chats” would rally the American people and restore patriotism in America to a new high. With this attachment to the people and his country the president knew that he would need to watch the east because of Hitler and he Nazi parties' advancements further north. In the late 1930’s many of the economic reforms Roosevelt spent all that time on lost funding and America slowly started to slip back into a depression. Along with that Roosevelt looked increasingly weaker compared to all the newly emerging world leaders. He tried his best to stand even if he had to use crutches just so that he did not look weak compared to the competition. When WWII began Roosevelt felt a strong conviction to run to the aid of the fellow ally countries, but a staggering 80% of Americans did not want to participate in the war happening across the pond. On his 3^rd presidential campaign in 1941 he promised, “I have said this before and I shall say it again and again, your boys are not going to be sent to any foreign wars.” He knew that it was not smart to enter a war without the support of his country. He let it be known to his fellow allies that it would take an attack on American soil to provoke America into joining the war.

Franklin Roosevelt was a committed man that never strayed from what he believed in and never let anything stop him. “As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.” He would never let his country burn without vengeance being the first thing on his mind. He ran his campaigns with the promise of not sending of young American men to war, yet he talked of the necessity of joining it in other conversations. He subsided his wants because that he knew he couldn’t join the war without the support of the American people because it would be hard to fight a battle on 2 fronts as we would learn with the Vietnam war. Citizens recently answered to a poll to evaluate the level of responsibility American Leadership shared, if any, within the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. By a landslide of 60% the ones polled consider the best assault on American soil ever to arise became a entire wonder on the a part of the American authorities. Meanwhile, 40% of respondents were inclined to consider Franklin Roosevelt, in a few manners, knowingly put in action moves that resulted in an assault in an effort to antagonize brewing American feeling towards foreign competition and push Americans eagerly into WWII. By reviewing the activities of that fateful December, those supporting FDR’s innocence may be willing to apprehend some movement which will be taken into consideration. Though in the past, lots of FDR’s economic interventions had formed a new America all through the Great Depression proved to undue a lot of his work. Across the ocean, Japan was growing in power. At warfare with China and trying to unify with Germany and Italy, Japan needed to show a strong front. By the spring of 1940, Roosevelt enacted sanctions in regard to Japan that antagonized a country keen to flex its power. America had exceptional stores of delicate oil that Japanese had a need for in their war vessels. FDR loosened the Japanese maintain on China whilst he blocked oil distribution to Japan. Though this turned into a financial measure, FDR knew the mood he would incite by means of poking himself into Japan’s fight. The relationship between the US and Japan by mid-1941 was at a boiling point (Murrin et al. 705). By December of 1941 any sane person would have all defenses on high alert. President Roosevelt had proven himself to be a very smart man many times over yet that first week of December at Pearl Harbor was no Different than if the world was not at war. An event was coming that President Roosevelt knew would force America into war and allow the President to keep the people’s support. That first week of December proved to be deadly to nineteen ships, 220 planes and killing 2,200 servicemen. It was the most critical intelligence error in American history because even though we had knowledge of an attack on American soil even if we weren’t sure where we knew when. We knew all of this, yet no high alert was ever put into action. Within the next few days President Roosevelt got his war and it was off to the races. To this day very few people have ever stopped to think about the weeks leading up to that fateful day because of all the tragedy that shrouds its truths. Even then when people come across this information, they sometimes don’t even question the morals instead opting to think about the necessity of getting into the war regardless of the cost.

Though the technology of the time was unable to completely recognize Japanese codes, the evidence will continue to cast a shadow on FDR’s responsibility in failing to get Pearl Harbor on high alert in late 1941. The result is history, however the loss suffered with the most catastrophic assault ever to arise on American soil is so horrible that it allows the causes to go unnoticed. The failure was at minimum a monumental mistake and at worst a deliberate conspiracy to nudge Americans into the second great war. While the crimes against humanity worldwide needed a response the ways we used to get there raise questions in itself.