I have a lot of books, and read usually about 40 a year. I mention this, because when I begin to write about the folly of FDR getting us into WW II, it is a terribly complex and controversial thing to write about, but I’ll try. FDR is a folk hero to most Democrats and even Americans, and I realize that. I just happen to firmly disagree. I have several excellent books on the subject, and if you are curious, the titles are: (1) “Day of Deceit,” (2) “Roosevelt’s Road to Russia,” (3) “The Roosevelt Myth,” (4) “At Dawn We Slept,” and (5) “Roosevelt and the Coming of the War 1941.” I have read them all over the years, and find them very enlightening. For this part six, I will point out that Roosevelt planned it, knew in advance that it was going to happen, was responsible for its happening, and did it as a last resort to get America out of the depression, which all of his gimmicks and spending had failed to do. Most of this will be quotes from a couple of the books.
From “The Roosevelt Myth,” page 157: “Here he was with a depression on his hands – eleven million men out of work, the whole fabric of his policy in tatters, his promise only a few months old to balance the budget still fresh in the minds of the people and yet the pressing necessity, as he put it himself, of spending two or three billion a year of deficit money and most serious of all, as he told Jim Farley, “No way to spend it.” Here now was a gift from the gods – and from the gods of war at that. Here was a chance to spend. Here now was something the federal government could really spend money on – the military and national preparations.” From page 151: “The First World War War began with the invasion of Serbia by Austria, and the Second World War began with the invasion of Poland by Germany and Russia. But the invasion of Serbia was no more the cause of World War One than the invasion of Poland was the cause of World War Two. In each case, the rape of a small country was merely the last step in a long series of accumulating causes that made this last step inevitable.”
“For 70 years all Europe had been developing along the same lines: (1) Extending social services beyond the capacity of the State to support. (2) Using militarism as a means of employing men in the army, and in the factories to supply the army. (3) Paying for all this with vast government debts. (4) The gradual extension of radical socialist ideas throughout Europe. Hitler did what all other governments were doing – develop the Welfare State with jobs for all, security for all and an army that would provide a million jobs in the ranks and two million in the factories to produce arms, uniforms and food for the army. What Hitler did in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Metaxas in Greece and various other dictators, was to set up the Welfare State. It cannot work under a democratic government because it must have a dictator to enforce its harsh policies. The Welfare State cannot operate without the police state.” Do we see the above here and now with welfare, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc?
From page six of Day of Deceit: “Originating in the Office of Naval Intelligence and addressed to two of FDR’s most trusted advisors, it suggested a shocking new American foreign policy. It called for provoking Japan into an overt act of war against the United States. It was written by Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum, head of the Far East desk of the Office of Naval Intelligence.” The date was October, 1940.
“A. Make an arrangement with Britain for the use of British bases in the Pacific, particularly Singapore. B. Make an arrangement with Holland for the use of base facilities and acquisition of supplies in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia.) C. Give all possible aid to the Chinese government of Chiang Kai-Shek. D. Send a division of long range heavy cruisers to the Orient, Philippines or Singapore. E. Send two divisions of submarines to the Orient. F. Keep the main strength of the US Fleet in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands. (This was an integral part of what happened.) G. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demands for undue economic concessions, particularly oil. (In other words, don’t sell them any.) H. Completely embargo all trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.” Roosevelt did just about everything suggested, plus on October 8, 1940, the State Department told Americans to, “Evacuate the Far East countries as quickly as possible.”
Admiral Kimmel was hurriedly and mistakenly placed in charge, and the blame was placed on him, but in a book he wrote in 1954, Kimmel said, “The Roosevelt strategy of maneuvering the Japanese into striking the first blow at America was unknown to us.” In a campaign speech FDR said, “Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars. Of course we’ll fight if we are attacked. If somebody attacks us, then it isn’t a foreign war, is it?” A Gallup Poll taken in September 1940 found that 88% of Americans wanted no part of Europe’s wars. Keeping the fleet in Hawaii was against any and all sensible strategies. Hawaii wasn’t even a state. “There were no fundamental training facilities, no large scale ammunition and fuel supplies, no tugs or repair ships, Men didn’t want to be far away from their families, and there were no overhaul facilities such as dry-docking and machine shops.” (From page 18.)
“America had broken the Jap codes, and before the attack, the communications crew had intercepted over 1,460,000 coded messages from the Japanese, and they were fully aware of the progress being made. Dutch code breakers intercepted the same messages and forwarded these intercepts to their government-in-exile. These messages, as decoded, are still among America’s most secret documents.” (From page 58.) “By the closing of 1941, America was intercepting and breaking – within a matter of hours – most every code that Japan could produce. When December began, the cryptologists who had labored over the codes were not surprised to learn that some of them originated on American soil: They had long known that there was a spy operating in their midst.” (From page 83.) The above mentioned and quoted from books could fill hundreds of pages of my columns, and they are not debatable as to truthfulness. Photos of documents pervade the books, as well as day by day, hour by hour happenings, which prove beyond doubt that FDR knew it was coming, and did it deliberately to get us into a tragic war, which many say “was the last good war.” No war is good, and WWII, cost us over 400,000 dead, doubling of prices, and millions injured. America didn’t want to go to war, and was pleased to let Europe self-destruct if it so chose..
The very idea that the US Fleet was deliberately kept in Hawaii, when it should have returned to America long before, was criminal. Just waiting to be bombed. FDR got America out of the depression OK, by deliberately fomenting, tormenting, cutting off supplies, freezing assets, denying use of the Panama Canal, cutting off oil and steel supplies, etc of Japan. The Japanese had raped China in 1937, and the Chinese still hate the Japs, but it was none of our business. We are separated from the rest of the world by two mighty oceans. As Ken Burns’ new series on PBS shows, WW II was horrible, and affected every street in every town in America. While American losses were trivial compared to the rest of the world, we had no need to get involved. What is going on now, and did on 9/11, is no excuse for Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither Afghanistan nor Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, which as far as I am concerned was an inside job.
I am well aware that FDR is still looked upon as a giant in American history, and that’s because he initiated and got passed the welfare state, which we suffer from today, and it will only get worse. Politicians refuse to do anything which will cost them votes, and they would all be thrown out of office if they as a united front, ceased, deceased, and voted all welfare off the books. It’s too late now. We can only protect ourselves, and realize how we got this way. No, I’m not nearly finished yet. Monday, the results of FDR’s War. Have a great weekend!