How widely accepted do you think the Pearl Harbor Conspiracy Theory is?

I have no firsthand knowledge, nor have I done any research on the subject, but based on everything else I’ve looked at, I would say probably he or someone knew and allowed it to happen. (Sometimes the president isn’t informed to preserve plausible deniability.)

War is a Racket by Major General Smedley D. Butler USMC Retired

Among conspiracy theorists it’s almost 100% embraced.

or is that just exactly what they want us to think

Pearl Harbor did not get us into WWII. That was the Pacific side of the war. There were two parts. Japan had been screwing with China way before anything started in the Pacific and vice versa. WWII was a chain of events that took place. How could Pearl Harbor be an event that led us into WWII if WWII was already happening? I may give into the grassy knoll but that is one theory I refuse to buy.

There were some really good answers submitted here.

@jessturtle23, World War II started without us. The war in Europe began in 1939. The U.S. did not enter it until two days after Pearl Harbor, which was attacked on December 7, 1941.

I don’t know if FDR knew, although I expect either he or someone in his Administration did. However, I’m confident that Churchill did know and chose not to warn the US.

I find it hard to believe that the United States would choose to enter a 2 front war by allowing their pacific naval fleet to be decimated. If you want to wag the dog their’s much easier ways to do it than that. I mean this is just logical thinking.

I believe it. It makes perfect sense. In the long run, war equals money for the upper powers in America. Besides, it’s not like there was a real chance of invasion.

Let me put it this way.

In World War One, probably the main contributing factor as to why the USA joined was because of the sinking of the British ship, RMS Lusitania. It had American passengers on board. In the New York Times, in the days leading up to the ship leaving, the Germans themselves had put ads in the paper stating the ship would be attacked and they advised Americans not to board. And yet the government allowed American people (and the British for that matter) to get on the boat, and leave on schedule knowing very well the chances of being attacked were almost 100%.

I didn’t learn that from a conspiracy site, I got it from my history teacher.

This would be the exact same story if you just replaced a few of the words for World War Two. It really isn’t that far fetched.

Yes, and there was the Gulf of Tonkin incident which similarly got the US into Vietnam. Honestly, I doubt that the US has gotten into a war that didn’t have some behind-the-scenes stagecrafting going on to get the American people to support it.

I was just about the mention Vietnam, as Maverick did above.

I think it’s definitely possible that people knew of the attack was going to happen to Pearl Harbour, knowing the history of the United States and the multitude of false-flag operations. However…

@jessturtle23 , the reason, as far as I know, that Japan attacked the United States is because the US was selling munitions and other war supplies to both the Chinese and the Japanese. This was a dishonourable in the eyes of the Japanese to trade with their sworn enemy.

…and that is why the idea that the US wanted in the war seems odd too. They were selling to everybody involved on both sides of the war. So either they figured out that fighting a war would be more profitable, or the they didn’t know about the attack and honestly wanted revenge.

no FDR did NOT allow Pearl Harbor to be bombed, knowing that it would give us an excuse to enter the war. It’s bullshit.
1. He wasn’t that kind of man, by all accounts.
2. There was some intelligence that a U.S. military base in the Pacific would be attacked, but no one expected Pearl Harbor because it was so close to home and so far from Japan erg our surprise was genuine.
3. We would have gotten involved anyways due to lend-lease and other policies with Britain, we would have had to “protect our investment”.

The United States didnt sail 16 aircraft carriers across the pacific ocean and attack itself. Japan attacked us. There was some intelligence regarding incoming objects from the radar station in Wake Island but it was thought to be a returning flight of aircraft that were on patrol.
Had it been taken seriously, we would have been prepared and lost fewer ships. Either way we would have been at war.