[OVERVIEW]

December 7, 1941. To many that date means something. To others, they may have no idea what happened that day.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This caused America to fight in World War II as before then America was neutral and refused to pick a side.

With this event came theories years later. In 1941 not many people questioned the government like they do today. There aren't many theories about Pearl Harbor but there are three major theories that we will talk about.

[AMERICA KNEW ABOUT THE ATTACK]

The Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is the argument that U.S. Government officials had advance knowledge of the attack.

In September 1944, John T. Flynn, a co-founder of the non-interventionist America First Committee, launched a Pearl Harbor counter-narrative when he published a forty-six page booklet entitled The Truth about Pearl Harbor.

Several writers, including journalist Robert Stinnett, retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Alfred Theobald, and Harry Elmer Barnes have argued various parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may even have let it happen or encouraged it in order to force America into the European theatre of World War II.

Evidence supporting this view is taken from quotations and source documents from the time and the release of newer materials.

The U.S. government made nine official inquiries into the attack between 1941 and 1946, and a tenth in 1995. They included an inquiry by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox (1941); the Roberts Commission (1941-42); the Hart Inquiry (1944); the Army Pearl Harbor Board (1944); the Naval Court of Inquiry (1944); the Hewitt investigation; the Clarke investigation; the Congressional Inquiry (Pearl Harbor Committee; 1945-46); a top-secret inquiry by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, authorized by Congress and carried out by Henry Clausen (the Clausen Inquiry; 1946); and the Thurmond-Spence hearing, in April 1995, which produced the Dorn Report. The inquiries reported incompetence, underestimation, and misapprehension of Japanese capabilities and intentions; problems resulting from excessive secrecy about cryptography; division of responsibility between Army and Navy (and lack of consultation between them); and lack of adequate manpower for intelligence (analysis, collection, processing).

Investigators prior to Clausen did not have the security clearance necessary to receive the most sensitive information, as Brigadier General Henry D. Russell had been appointed guardian of the pre-war decrypts, and he alone held the combination to the storage safe. Clausen claimed, in spite of Secretary Stimson having given him a letter informing witnesses he had the necessary clearances to require their cooperation, he was repeatedly lied to until he produced copies of top secret decrypts, thus proving he indeed had the proper clearance.

Some authors argue that US President Roosevelt was actively provoking Japan in the weeks prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. These authors assert that Roosevelt was imminently expecting and seeking war, but wanted Japan to take the first overtly aggressive action.

One perspective is given by Rear Admiral Frank Edmund Beatty Jr., who at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack was an aide to the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and was very close to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inner circle, remarked that:

Prior to December 7, it was evident even to me... that we were pushing Japan into a corner. I believed that it was the desire of President Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Churchill that we get into the war, as they felt the Allies could not win without us and all our efforts to cause the Germans to declare war on us failed; the conditions we imposed upon Japan-to get out of China, for example-were so severe that we knew that nation could not accept them. We were forcing her so severely that we could have known that she would react toward the United States. All her preparations in a military way - and we knew their over-all import - pointed that way.

Another "eye witness viewpoint" akin to Beatty's is provided by Roosevelt's administrative assistant at the time of Pearl Harbor, Jonathan Daniels; it is a telling comment about FDR's reaction to the attack - "The blow was heavier than he had hoped it would necessarily be. ... But the risks paid off; even the loss was worth the price. ..."

"Ten days before the attack on Pearl Harbor", Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of War at the time "entered in his diary the famous and much-argued statement - that he had met with President Roosevelt to discuss the evidence of impending hostilities with Japan, and the question was 'how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.'"

On October 7, 1940, Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence submitted a memo to Navy Captains Walter S. Anderson and Dudley Knox, which details eight actions which might have the effect of provoking Japan into attacking the United States. The memo remained classified until 1994 and contains the notable line, "If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better."

Sections 9 and 10 of the memo are said by Gore Vidal to be the "smoking gun" revealed in Stinnett's book, suggesting it was central to the high level plan to lure the Japanese into an attack. Evidence the memo or derivative works actually reached President Roosevelt, senior administration officials, or the highest levels of U.S. Navy command, is circumstantial, at best.

Theorists challenging the traditional view that Pearl Harbor was a surprise repeatedly note that Roosevelt wanted the U.S. to intervene in the war against Germany, though he did not say so officially. A basic understanding of the political situation of 1941 precludes any possibility the public wanted war. Thomas Fleming argued President Roosevelt wished for Germany or Japan to strike the first blow, but did not expect the United States to be hit as severely as it was in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[BRITAIN KNEW ABOUT THE ATTACK AND WITHHELD]

Some authors say that America didn't know about the attack, but another country did.

These authors allege that Churchill knew that the Japanese were planning an imminent attack against the United States by mid-November of 1941. They furthermore claim that Churchill knew that the Japanese fleet was leaving port on November 26, 1941 to an unknown destination. Finally, they claim that on December 2nd, the British intercepted Admiral Yamamoto's signal indicating December 7th as the day of an attack.

When America refused to help the allies Churchill knew there was a chance they would have lost. So when he heard about the attacks he didn't tell America in fear they would stop the Japanese but still not enter the war. The only way for America to enter the war was if the Japanese were successful in their attack.

[JAPANESE NEVER ATTACKED US]

This theory is that Pearl Harbor was an inside job.

FDR needed a reason to enter the war but he never got one, so they came up with one and blamed it on Japan.

Many eye witnesses have said that the planes that the Japanese flew didn't look like normal Japanese plans and some of them didn't have a big red circle like Japanese planes do.

Another thing they point to is the fact they 'ignored' the fact planes were coming. They could see on their radars planes were coming towards them but they decided not to even attempt to figure out why or who they were. People found it very suspicious especially since they knew WWII was going on around them. Many argue that it was because America was too cocky for its own good and though no one would be brave enough to attack them but people don't believe that.

And another thing is that the night before they left certain planes on hangers when these certain planes weren't normally outside. People found that odd as well.

[JOKE]

Just to be clear, there is a map outlining the earth and saying that America was an inside job,

This is a joke towards flat earthers. So don't take that seriously. If you believe in the inside job theory do not use that map as an example of why. Just wanted to point that out just in case someone comments something about a map.

[THOUGHTS]

Do you think America and/or Britain knew about the attack?

Do you think America attacked themselves, blaming it on Japan, just to enter the war?