Gen. MacArthur, who was Chief of Staff of the Army at the time, told
Roosevelt, "Mr. President, when the next war is lost, it will be
Roosevelt's War, not MacArthur's." Fortunately, MacArthur was able to
save the Army from the cuts.
In Sept, 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact. In
July, 1941, Roosevelt told Gen. Marshall to draw up war plans. With
his assistants, Gen. Wedemeyer and Gen. Gerow; they concluded that
Hitler was the enemy to be stopped Japan and Italy could come later.
It was Roosevelt who said, "In politics, nothing happens by accident!
You can bet it was planned!"
In July, 1941, Roosevelt again placed sanctions against Japan to keep U. S. oil, scrap iron and raw materials from reaching her shores. He issued several executive directives which made war between the U.S. and Japan inevitable. He froze all assets in the U.S. He closed the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping.
In August, 1941, Roosevelt placed an embargo on all goods except food. During the same month the United States cracked the Japanese code, after which he knew what Tokyo was thinking,
Japan reported that "Roosevelt's decisions had created a situation so horribly strained that we cannot endure it much longer."
Tojo immediately called another million reservists to the colors.
John Costello, a British historian, said that Roosevelt received a positive war warning on Nov. 26, and possibly as early as Nov. 6th that war would break out on Dee. 7th. He stated, "Roosevelt was not only expecting war, but knew exactly when it would break out." Even with the Japanese Fleet approaching Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt issued explicit orders to the military: "Do not initiate hostilities against Japanese under any circumstances!" It now seems that Roosevelt not only expected the "Day of Infamy," but needed it to get the support of the American people, to get them sufficiently aroused to fight a war. He also wanted to be sure that Japan would be branded "the aggressor."
That night the radio announced that the "Japanese have marched from Aparri (on the north coast of Luzon) to Tuguegarao and have activated the airfield." Now we could expect more frequent bombing.
"Tokyo Rose" was urging us to surrender, or, "Experience a certain death!" She continued: "All American aid is going to Europe! America is giving Lend-lease aid to Britain and to Russia, but there is none for the Philippines." She was right!