[quote=Jacarandoso]I don’t agree with the “bullied” part either, in hindsight they must have been on sake.

The massive appropriations were going to the Army. Maybe they were contingencies, or from there they were going , “lend lease” or to the war with American men. The war happened. What direction we were committed prior to is probably still mostly sealed somewhere right? I know the McCollum memo is not. What do you think of that? (I know what conservapedia has on the topic)[/quote]

Russ: You’re talking about the memorandum referenced in “Day of Deceit”, right? That’s the book that postulates that FDR was aware of the impending Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and allowed it happen as pretext for getting America into the war. Yeah, I’ve read the memo and the book. McCollum himself disputes the position that the book’s author ascribes to him and says that the memo itself did not reach the upper levels of Navy brass, let alone FDR.

However, the US had broken the Japanese code (“Purple”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_(cipher_machine)) as early as 1940 and we knew that Pearl Harbor was a likely Japanese target. I do believe that ONI honestly felt that the Dutch East Indies were a more likely target, especially since the Japanese were desperate for oil.

Not as fun from a conspiracy standpoint, but more believable.