President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, a "day that will live in infamy." The remarkable Japanese "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet, killed 2,400 Americans and propelled the United States into World War II. Today, however, substantial new evidence has been uncovered that may lead future history books to also brand Dec. 7, 1941, as Roosevelt's "day of deceit."
The smoke had hardly lifted from the burning ships before fingers were pointed at FDR and certain of his Cabinet members and top military brass. The onset of the war, however, put a clamp on any follow-up to these so-called "reckless accusations."
The degree of Roosevelt's foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor is one of the major controversies of World War II. Now, it appears that a major breakthrough has been made that has renewed the "Devil Theory." Briefly, this theory accuses FDR and certain insiders of a deliberate plot to provoke Japan for the sole purpose of dragging an overwhelmingly isolationist United States into full participation in the war.
Such a "Devil Theory" simply could not be believed. However evidence has apparently been found, consisting of copies of cable after cable of previously classified U.S. military decryptions that only recently have been in place for public viewing at three National Archives regional branch depositories.
Myth No. 1 now destroyed: These decoded intercepts show that the attacking Japanese fleet did not maintain perfect radio silence. These ships were in constant contact via low-power radio to arrange for refueling with tankers, no easy matter with foul weather in the north Pacific at the time. Due to unusual solar effects, this low-power radio traffic allowed the Japanese ships to be clearly tracked across the north Pacific, including their turn to the south as they approached Hawaii.
Myth No. 2 now destroyed: U.S. code-breakers not only were reading the Japanese "Purple" diplomatic code (as is admitted today) but were also fully reading the Japanese "JN-25" military codes (still officially denied today). Even more, the British code-breakers were fully reading all Japanese codes since late 1939!
Myth No. 3 now destroyed: These recently discovered intercepts show clearly that all this information was regularly going to the White House and others in the highest chain of command.
Myth No. 4 now destroyed: Despite having knowledge of these intercepts, Adm. Harold Stark, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, HQ in Washington, D.C., ordered Pearl to cease patrolling the waters north of Hawaii and concentrate instead to the south. Stark also ordered the two valuable aircraft carriers that were at Pearl to go out to sea and deliver planes to U.S. island bases in the central Pacific, precisely as the Japanese fleet was "sneaking up" on Hawaii. The battleships at Pearl were old and obsolete and therefore expendable.
The student of World War II can see in a recent book reproductions of these damning intercepts that are still restricted or possibly criminally missing from the National Archives' main collections. It is "Day of Deceit," by R.B. Stinnett. The author is a U.S. Navy World War II veteran, a holder of 10 battle stars and an "embarrassed patriot" who attempts to apologize for FDR.
Two other books supplement this picture of the "Devil Theory" of FDR and maybe also of Winston Churchill. One is "Betrayal at Pearl Harbor" by J. Rusbridger & E. Nave. This book is the story of British Navy Capt. Eric Nave, a Far Eastern Japanese code-breaker.
He testifies that the British had broken all the codes by 1939 and that the Americans probably had done so also before Pearl Harbor. His story served as the basis of the claim that at least Churchill had full knowledge of the coming attack on Pearl and may have deliberately withheld such information from FDR.
The other book is the heavily discussed "Infamy" by John Toland. Toland is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who found a retired U.S. Navy Intelligence radio operator who swore that the entire Pearl Harbor operation was fully known to the top brass in Washington, D.C.
Of course, neither Eric Nave nor the U.S. radio man could prove their claims, as all their paperwork was seized at the end of the war. Whereas Toland's book was nit-picked to death by establishment historians, Nave's book has been largely ignored. If Stinnett's new book holds up to the coming scrutiny, then Nave's and Toland's books are fully vindicated.
Elliott Bernshaw is a lifelong student of World War II and the past editor of the Utah Military History newsletter.