Did FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) know of, but do nothing to stop the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor because he wanted the United States to enter WWII? FDR emphatically wanted the United States to enter the war, but knew that he would need the public’s support. To get the public’s support he knew that a crisis like Pearl Harbor would unite the country in an act of revenge and war. Even though to do this he would be sacrificing thousands of men. Some say that FDR, one of the greatest presidents of the United States would never do such a thing, he must not have known about it. And if he did know about it, wouldn’t he try to prevent thousands of deaths from happening?
FDR, the thirty second president, was the only president ever to serve more than two terms in office. He served four terms in office consecutively, but during his fourth term, died at the age of sixty-three of a cerebral hemorrhage (a stroke). He was elected for four terms for a couple of reasons. One reason is because back when FDR was president, it was allowed to run for more than twice for office. And another reason was because he was doing such a great job lifting the United States out of the Great Depression, and through WWII. After FDR died, they pushed through a constitutional Amendment limiting the President to a maximum of two terms.
On October 7, 1940, Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum, wrote an eight-step action memo which outlined eight different steps the United states could do that he expected would lead to a Japanese attack on the United States. FDR applied these steps directly after receiving them. After all these steps had taken place, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. McCollum also suggested having two divisions of submarines and another division of long-range cruisers deployed to the orient. Pearl Harbor lacked many crucial military needs, such as lack of training facilities, lack of fuel supplies, large-scale ammunition, lack of repair ships, dry-docking and machine shops. With this absence of supplies, Commander in Chief Admiral James O. Richardson, was furious when he was told by President Roosevelt of his plans on keeping the fleet in Hawaiian Waters. Richardson was so furious because he knew the United States vulnerability and problems at Pearl Harbor. The safety of his men and fleet were in danger. A little while after his discussion with President Roosevelt, the president removes him as Commander in Chief. President Roosevelt then appointed Admiral Husband Kimmel. Kimmel was looked down upon because he didn’t consider the safety of his fleet; he simply just took orders from President Roosevelt. Some say that this shows that President Roosevelt knew when and where the Japanese were attacking and that it was his back door into the European war.
Another raised question is, why would President Roosevelt want to enter another World War? This is because he wanted to stop the tyranny of Hitler. President Roosevelt knew that Hitler would not come to the United States and wage war, so in some way he needed to take action.
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