FDR initiated the oil embargo on Japan in a deliberate effort to provoke them into attacking
close. The oil embargo was so that the US would no longer supporting the genocide of China. in response, Japan started eyeing the aisles to the South to secure oil to continue their campaign. FDR passive-aggressively moved the fleet to Pearl harbor, in range of Japan, as a threat to keep Japan from pulling the trigger. this should have been the point where we joined the war, but he needed a propaganda victory to make the US look sympathetic, so he had the fleet just sit in pearl harbor waiting to get bombed.
was Japan the asshole? absolutely. was the attack "sudden" as FDR said it was in the speech? absolutely fucking not. was the United States maintaining peaceful relations with Japan as FDR claimed in his speech? the military posturing says no.
If you really want to go deeper, look at how American Communists in Japan in the 1930s pushed and prodded Japanese policy towards invading Southeast Asia, instead of Siberia, for their resources. Siberia would've been a natural extension of their ground war in Manchuria, and would not have drawn the wrath of the US. Instead, many Communists in the State Department, and the Institute of Pacific Relations, wanted Japan to fight the US, instead of the Soviets.
close. The oil embargo was so that the US would no longer supporting the genocide of China. in response, Japan started eyeing the aisles to the South to secure oil to continue their campaign. FDR passive-aggressively moved the fleet to Pearl harbor, in range of Japan, as a threat to keep Japan from pulling the trigger. this should have been the point where we joined the war, but he needed a propaganda victory to make the US look sympathetic, so he had the fleet just sit in pearl harbor waiting to get bombed.
was Japan the asshole? absolutely. was the attack "sudden" as FDR said it was in the speech? absolutely fucking not. was the United States maintaining peaceful relations with Japan as FDR claimed in his speech? the military posturing says no.
If you really want to go deeper, look at how American Communists in Japan in the 1930s pushed and prodded Japanese policy towards invading Southeast Asia, instead of Siberia, for their resources. Siberia would've been a natural extension of their ground war in Manchuria, and would not have drawn the wrath of the US. Instead, many Communists in the State Department, and the Institute of Pacific Relations, wanted Japan to fight the US, instead of the Soviets.