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Day Of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor
In Day of Deceit, Robert Stinnett delivers the definitive final chapter on America's greatest secret and our worst military disaster.
Drawing on twenty years of research and access to scores of previously classified documents, Stinnett proves that Pearl Harbor was not an accident, a mere failure of American intelligence, or a brilliant Japanese military coup. By showing that ample warning of the attack was on FDR's desk and, furthermore, that a plan to push Japan into war was initiated at the highest levels of the U.S. government, he ends up profoundly altering our understanding of one of the most significant events in American history.
Drawing on twenty years of research and access to scores of previously classified documents, Stinnett proves that Pearl Harbor was not an accident, a mere failure of American intelligence, or a brilliant Japanese military coup. By showing that ample warning of the attack was on FDR's desk and, furthermore, that a plan to push Japan into war was initiated at the highest levels of the U.S. government, he ends up profoundly altering our understanding of one of the most significant events in American history.
416 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1999
116 people are currently reading
924 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Stinnett
4 books3 followersRobert B. Stinnett was an American journalist and author. A veteran of World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946, where he earned ten battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.
After leaving the Navy, Stinnett worked as a journalist and photographer for the Oakland Tribune. In November 1982, he took the famous photograph of "The Play" during the last-second during the college football game between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears. He left the Tribune in 1986 to engage in the research that led to his 1999 book Day of Deceit.
Having served as a consultant on the Pacific War for the BBC and for Asahi and NHK Television in Japan, Stinnett passed away at the age of 94 on November 6, 2018.
After leaving the Navy, Stinnett worked as a journalist and photographer for the Oakland Tribune. In November 1982, he took the famous photograph of "The Play" during the last-second during the college football game between the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears. He left the Tribune in 1986 to engage in the research that led to his 1999 book Day of Deceit.
Having served as a consultant on the Pacific War for the BBC and for Asahi and NHK Television in Japan, Stinnett passed away at the age of 94 on November 6, 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 14, 2013
Lot of rehashing of information from chapter to chapter, but it makes a very very good case.
So real quick let me sum up the book:
FDR initiated a plan to force Japan into war with the US. We had broken all the Japanese codes. We knew they were on the way. The Admiral for the Pacific Fleet was not recieving key information that others recieved. The Governement instructed the fleet that all ships were to stay out of the Northern Pacific, the regular shipping route, two weeks before the attack. Recon planes were told to reduce their radius and cut the number of flights. Newer ships were moved to the south leaving only old World War I vessels in the harbor. And on and on.
FDR got what he wanted a unified America willing to join in the war.
So real quick let me sum up the book:
FDR initiated a plan to force Japan into war with the US. We had broken all the Japanese codes. We knew they were on the way. The Admiral for the Pacific Fleet was not recieving key information that others recieved. The Governement instructed the fleet that all ships were to stay out of the Northern Pacific, the regular shipping route, two weeks before the attack. Recon planes were told to reduce their radius and cut the number of flights. Newer ships were moved to the south leaving only old World War I vessels in the harbor. And on and on.
FDR got what he wanted a unified America willing to join in the war.
June 3, 2013
I was a schoolchild during WWII and remember well the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. Many of us wondered at the time how could the Navy have been surprised so completely. Stinnett has done some yeoman's work in researching this book. He has been stonewalled by the political and military bureaucracy for more than a decade trying to get the true information. He has put together some pretty convincing facts from people who have the truth. Some of the data has been classified as Secret to prevent him getting ironclad proof of the duplicity of Roosevelt and some senior military commanders. It has been over a half century since the attack. I am pretty sure the secrecy is no longer required on the data. It now obvious that the truth is being withheld from the people.
I have always been dubious of previous reports that Roosevelt knew in advance but Stinnet has now convinced me that Roosevelt lied to us. With more than 60 years of coverup by the government on this attack I have very little faith that we will ever get the true story of the Benghazi attack from this Obama administration during my lifetime.
I recommend this book to everyone who think that historians report everything accurately.
I have always been dubious of previous reports that Roosevelt knew in advance but Stinnet has now convinced me that Roosevelt lied to us. With more than 60 years of coverup by the government on this attack I have very little faith that we will ever get the true story of the Benghazi attack from this Obama administration during my lifetime.
I recommend this book to everyone who think that historians report everything accurately.
May 31, 2010
A very interesting book that reveals some interesting (but not completely convincing) evidence that FDR and his inner circle were given clear intelligence that clearly forewarned the Pearl Harbor attack. The research is fascinating, but the presentation is fractured and riddled with editorial errors. In one place a reference to a document or event has one date, in other places it is ascribed to a year before or after. Stinnett engaged in a massive review of hundreds of thousands of documents, and for that his efforts are most impressive. He takes some liberties with filling in the gaps -- gaps in the documentation from wartime censors as well as continuing bans on classified information. This is most notable when it comes to his treatment of certain still classified aspects of Japanese Naval codes and the information they appear to reveal about what the President and his advisers knew and when they knew it. This is a tricky business which tantalizes any interested reader with the thrill of a good conspiracy, but doesn't go quite far enough to present enough credible evidence to overcome the burdens of historical proof.
July 25, 2020
Updated review July 25, 2020:
The attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the defining events of 20th century American history. It was the event that, almost single-handedly, set the nation on the course to superpower status that it has maintained for nearly eight decades now. It is perhaps unsurprising that there would be questions about what led to the Japanese attack and what those in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew before it happened. Robert Stinnett offered up some intriguing answers with this 1999 book.
Stinnett, himself a veteran of the Pacific Theater of World War II, provides a compelling case that the attack on Pearl Harbor, that "day which will live in infamy," was less than a surprise. Indeed, if anything, it was the result of more than a year's worth of provocations on the part of FDR's administration. Provocations that aimed for precisely what the Japanese delivered: a first strike that unified the country behind a war, a war it had been reluctant to enter into otherwise. A plan laid out by Naval Intelligence officer Arthur H. McCollum in October 1940 and carried out to the letter by FDR. Here, Stinnett is at his most convincing.
It's elsewhere that Stinnett, and his book, remains compelling but not as convincing. Throughout the book, Stinnett makes the case that America's codebreakers and signals intelligence (SIGINT) intercepted and could read enough of the Japanese encoded messages to know an attack was coming. Warnings that were either ignored or not passed on, the result, Stinnett charges, of a conspiracy. One that smeared the reputations of Pearl Harbor's commanders, Admiral Husband Kimmel and Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short, to hide foreknowledge.
First coming across the book in 2007, I found that argument convincing. Coming back to it nearly thirteen years later, I find it less so. Did we know the war was approaching, possibly even an attack aimed at Pearl Harbor? At some level, yes. What's clear, even within Stinnett's words, was that enough warnings were coming to Kimmel and Short from their intelligence people in Hawaii, nevermind Washington, that preparation for war beyond what they ordered should have been necessary. Kimmel and Short were not deserving of scapegoating, but neither were they the victims of a grand conspiracy in Washington. After all, the likes of Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines failed to prepare for the Japanese invasion that came hot on the heels of the Pearl Harbor strike force. The difference being that MacArthur found redemption and fame on the road to eventual victory, whereas Kimmel and Short did not.
What perhaps happened wasn't so much a conspiracy as a combination of factors. On the one hand, a set of provocations that afforded a president the chance to bring an entrenched isolationist nation into a war whose presence was required to bring about victory. On the other, a failure of imagination, to imagine that the provoked country could and would launch such a devastating attack at the heart of American naval power in the Pacific. After all, early in the book, Stinnett points out FDR saw that the loss of a cruiser or destroyer could be a foreseeable consequence of provocations. Could he, as the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, have imagined the loss of an almost entire fleet? One thinks not.
Whereas Stinnett doesn't make as strong a case for conspiracy as he thought (and is often claimed), he certainly raised plenty of questions. Questions that the book tries to answer, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. Day of Deceit may not quite get to the sub-titular "truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor," but it remains an intriguing and thought-provoking read more than two decades on from its first publication.
Original Review published on Goodreads July 24, 2011 (based on 2007 reading):
A fascinating book that offers evidence that FDR provoked the Japanese and then allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. There are some amazing revelations made that shake the very foundations of what we know about the attacks. A must read for anyone interested in World War II, World / American history, or how America goes to war.
The attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the defining events of 20th century American history. It was the event that, almost single-handedly, set the nation on the course to superpower status that it has maintained for nearly eight decades now. It is perhaps unsurprising that there would be questions about what led to the Japanese attack and what those in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew before it happened. Robert Stinnett offered up some intriguing answers with this 1999 book.
Stinnett, himself a veteran of the Pacific Theater of World War II, provides a compelling case that the attack on Pearl Harbor, that "day which will live in infamy," was less than a surprise. Indeed, if anything, it was the result of more than a year's worth of provocations on the part of FDR's administration. Provocations that aimed for precisely what the Japanese delivered: a first strike that unified the country behind a war, a war it had been reluctant to enter into otherwise. A plan laid out by Naval Intelligence officer Arthur H. McCollum in October 1940 and carried out to the letter by FDR. Here, Stinnett is at his most convincing.
It's elsewhere that Stinnett, and his book, remains compelling but not as convincing. Throughout the book, Stinnett makes the case that America's codebreakers and signals intelligence (SIGINT) intercepted and could read enough of the Japanese encoded messages to know an attack was coming. Warnings that were either ignored or not passed on, the result, Stinnett charges, of a conspiracy. One that smeared the reputations of Pearl Harbor's commanders, Admiral Husband Kimmel and Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short, to hide foreknowledge.
First coming across the book in 2007, I found that argument convincing. Coming back to it nearly thirteen years later, I find it less so. Did we know the war was approaching, possibly even an attack aimed at Pearl Harbor? At some level, yes. What's clear, even within Stinnett's words, was that enough warnings were coming to Kimmel and Short from their intelligence people in Hawaii, nevermind Washington, that preparation for war beyond what they ordered should have been necessary. Kimmel and Short were not deserving of scapegoating, but neither were they the victims of a grand conspiracy in Washington. After all, the likes of Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines failed to prepare for the Japanese invasion that came hot on the heels of the Pearl Harbor strike force. The difference being that MacArthur found redemption and fame on the road to eventual victory, whereas Kimmel and Short did not.
What perhaps happened wasn't so much a conspiracy as a combination of factors. On the one hand, a set of provocations that afforded a president the chance to bring an entrenched isolationist nation into a war whose presence was required to bring about victory. On the other, a failure of imagination, to imagine that the provoked country could and would launch such a devastating attack at the heart of American naval power in the Pacific. After all, early in the book, Stinnett points out FDR saw that the loss of a cruiser or destroyer could be a foreseeable consequence of provocations. Could he, as the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, have imagined the loss of an almost entire fleet? One thinks not.
Whereas Stinnett doesn't make as strong a case for conspiracy as he thought (and is often claimed), he certainly raised plenty of questions. Questions that the book tries to answer, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. Day of Deceit may not quite get to the sub-titular "truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor," but it remains an intriguing and thought-provoking read more than two decades on from its first publication.
Original Review published on Goodreads July 24, 2011 (based on 2007 reading):
A fascinating book that offers evidence that FDR provoked the Japanese and then allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. There are some amazing revelations made that shake the very foundations of what we know about the attacks. A must read for anyone interested in World War II, World / American history, or how America goes to war.
April 4, 2013
Some might come away from this book thinking that FDR had knowledge that Japan would be attacking the USA. However, as with many accusations of a conspiracy, this is merely looking at the signs of an attack after the event has occurred. Putting the pieces together after the event are very easy if you know exactly what to look for. It's a very different thing to determine if an attack is imminent if the event has yet to happen.
Also, contrary from derived from the title of this book, I do not think the author's intention was to illustrate undeniable evidence that the administration at the time of the attack had implicit information that they could have acted upon.
As with any large organization, all it takes is one person to set aside a message that is that one piece of the puzzle that will allow the decision makers to choose a prudent course of action. The effectiveness of a chain of command is usually determined by it's weakest links. The ability to get all of the pieces together in one place was not done in this case.
As such, I could say that this book demonstrates the incompetence of the US administration at the time rather than evidence of a conspiracy (which is, much easier to believe).
Also, contrary from derived from the title of this book, I do not think the author's intention was to illustrate undeniable evidence that the administration at the time of the attack had implicit information that they could have acted upon.
As with any large organization, all it takes is one person to set aside a message that is that one piece of the puzzle that will allow the decision makers to choose a prudent course of action. The effectiveness of a chain of command is usually determined by it's weakest links. The ability to get all of the pieces together in one place was not done in this case.
As such, I could say that this book demonstrates the incompetence of the US administration at the time rather than evidence of a conspiracy (which is, much easier to believe).
September 18, 2013
Worthless is the kindest thing I can say. I don't find anything new or valuable which the author has actually proven. There are so many logical leaps based on such scant evidence. He also fails one important logical test, was there a simpler answer to the questions posed? Did what happened require a vast, well hidden conspiracy to have happened? I would say emphatically, NO. I had to read this as I've read so much of the Pearl Harbor literature. The author doesn't show much of a grasp of the subject nor appreciation of the work of other authors. Don't bother. Really, don't bother with this one.
April 30, 2019
This is a tough book to read. It flips constantly between the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the investigations that have happened since, the evidence that has been deliberately withheld, and the details of radio counterintelligence. So the narrative flow is tough to follow.
The author appears to have compiled a lot of hard information showing how much the US government knew, or should have known, about the attack beforehand. Unfortunately I don't really feel qualified to evaluate the extensive copies of records in the book. However there are a few key facts that stuck out to me that don't appear to me to be easily explainable:
1) A memo detailing key steps to take to provoke Japan to start a war. All of the steps were made.
2) FDR removing the Pacific fleet commander because he did not agree with the policy of basing the fleet at Pearl Harbor instead of San Diego (p 33). How many Americans know that Pearl Harbor was NOT the main naval station? And why exactly WAS the fleet in such an exposed location?
3) The author repeatedly stresses that Admiral Kimmel and General Short were cut out of the loop on key intelligence information.
4) What I read as a schoolboy in the 1980s(!) was that American intelligence suddenly broke Japanese radio codes just before the decisive battle of Midway. This was a lie. If true, why had the US been intercepting Japanese radio communications since the 1920s? They were just listening to gibberish for 20 years?
5) The "Vacant Sea" order two weeks before the attack, routing all civilian and military shipping out of the North Pacific, and ending naval patrols that might have spotted the Japanese attack fleet. This included ending war games that launched aircraft to bomb Pearl Harbor from the EXACT LOCATION the Japanese used just weeks later. Pages 144 - 151.
6) Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort's statement that the attack was a "pretty cheap price to pay for unifying the country." Rochefort was the Navy's top cryptanalyst on Oahu and should have been feeding all of his radio intercepts to Admiral Kimmel. P 203.
The list goes on.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Chemtrails are not a threat, and we really did land on the moon. But I also don't believe we know the real story behind America's involvement in WWII. I believe FDR and the military wanted to enter the war, but the average American was against it. Pearl Harbor was exactly what was needed. But I doubt Americans will face the truth about the "Good War" for another generstion or two.
The author appears to have compiled a lot of hard information showing how much the US government knew, or should have known, about the attack beforehand. Unfortunately I don't really feel qualified to evaluate the extensive copies of records in the book. However there are a few key facts that stuck out to me that don't appear to me to be easily explainable:
1) A memo detailing key steps to take to provoke Japan to start a war. All of the steps were made.
2) FDR removing the Pacific fleet commander because he did not agree with the policy of basing the fleet at Pearl Harbor instead of San Diego (p 33). How many Americans know that Pearl Harbor was NOT the main naval station? And why exactly WAS the fleet in such an exposed location?
3) The author repeatedly stresses that Admiral Kimmel and General Short were cut out of the loop on key intelligence information.
4) What I read as a schoolboy in the 1980s(!) was that American intelligence suddenly broke Japanese radio codes just before the decisive battle of Midway. This was a lie. If true, why had the US been intercepting Japanese radio communications since the 1920s? They were just listening to gibberish for 20 years?
5) The "Vacant Sea" order two weeks before the attack, routing all civilian and military shipping out of the North Pacific, and ending naval patrols that might have spotted the Japanese attack fleet. This included ending war games that launched aircraft to bomb Pearl Harbor from the EXACT LOCATION the Japanese used just weeks later. Pages 144 - 151.
6) Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort's statement that the attack was a "pretty cheap price to pay for unifying the country." Rochefort was the Navy's top cryptanalyst on Oahu and should have been feeding all of his radio intercepts to Admiral Kimmel. P 203.
The list goes on.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Chemtrails are not a threat, and we really did land on the moon. But I also don't believe we know the real story behind America's involvement in WWII. I believe FDR and the military wanted to enter the war, but the average American was against it. Pearl Harbor was exactly what was needed. But I doubt Americans will face the truth about the "Good War" for another generstion or two.
August 12, 2012
I have long believed that our government lies to us and then lies to us about lying to us....this book convinced me my suspicions were correct. Although at time the book saddened me it was exceptional with regards to the subject matter. If you are interested in how the war really began and what roll Washington had in hiding the details then this is a book you wont want to miss.
March 1, 2019
Great book. Easy to follow. Great explanations, names, dates, and events to help explain the author's position. Recommended to all Americans as part of real History, not the revised history that's been part of our public schools and culture/society for the past 100 yrs. Yes, there are a few people still willing to share the truth out there, and back it up with facts, and I'm thankful for them. Many of these facts are verifiable online today. Through my personal studies of the past 20 yrs, I've come across much of this same information, so it's not new to me, but I am glad to see it all in one place. There are some naysayers out there who are trying hard to trash this book. I say let them. Anyone interested in the true facts can do their own research, rather than just rely on one or two people's words, or books. Anything worthwhile requires sacrifice, and truth in history is certainly worthwhile, so the sacrifice of doing in-depth research and studying for oneself on the matter is worth it, I think. I am beginning to really feel disdain toward anyone who just wants information via video/movies/tv/MSM, and doesn't care to take the time to put in the sacrifice to learn for themselves. These quickly become the "Useful Idiots" that Karl Marx refers to and which Socialism loves to snag into its tangled wed. (stepping off soapbox for now. haha!)
Reminder: I rarely award 5 stars to books, so 4 is usually my highest and "really good book worth reading" recommendation. A 5 star rating from me would be "out of this world fabulous" kind of book. There are a few of those out there for me. ;)
Reminder: I rarely award 5 stars to books, so 4 is usually my highest and "really good book worth reading" recommendation. A 5 star rating from me would be "out of this world fabulous" kind of book. There are a few of those out there for me. ;)
January 1, 2014
There is so much detail in this book that I tried repeatedly to skim it, but I could not. I am not an avid reader of military history, but I found this one thoroughly engrossing. The main questions and conclusions are clear from the beginning, so this reader's delight was not in the story but in Robert Stinnett's exhaustive research. I would not wish the job of editing his personally typewritten manuscript on anyone, and the reader must tolerate some organizational problems and redundancies, but I think I would have enjoyed simply poring through all the author's research notes. What a treasure!
My active duty experience began two decades later, but my exposure to naval communications and intelligence made the meticulous log-keeping quite real. Same for the nature of summary reports to the flag level.
My father was in Army Intelligence during WWII and retired as IG of NSA after 40 years in the intel community. Sure do wish he were still around to talk to after reading this book!
My active duty experience began two decades later, but my exposure to naval communications and intelligence made the meticulous log-keeping quite real. Same for the nature of summary reports to the flag level.
My father was in Army Intelligence during WWII and retired as IG of NSA after 40 years in the intel community. Sure do wish he were still around to talk to after reading this book!
December 1, 2015
A detailed account of how Franklin Roosevelt and his top military advisors manipulated the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor so that he could enter America into the war in Europe against Nazi Germany. That over 2,400 American servicemen were sacrificed, along with the careers of Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lieutenant General Walter Short was apparently not too small a price to pay for FDR to have his war. Another book that confirms my contention that America has never fought in a just war, at least as defined by Christian just war doctrine.
May 30, 2013
An interesting perspective on the attack, this limits its scope to the signals intelligence that has been suppressed and/or unavailable to historians and researchers in previous examinations of the Pearl Harbor attack. He provides a somewhat compelling case that certain military and civilian officials were engaged in a systematic effort to force Japan into the first overt act of war based on an 8-point plan written by a naval officer 14 months before the attack. He documents the creation and development of radio intercept stations, their capabilities and records, as well as analyses provided by operators trained to predict Japanese movement and intentions.
Much of his information is new (at the time of publication), and shows how it is possible that information withheld from Short and Kimmel in Hawaii could have helped them make better decisions and be more prepared for the attack. He also demonstrates that policy-makers in Washington who did have access to that information should have provided more specific direction to Kimmel and Short, especially regarding the text of intercepts that clearly demonstrated Japanese intentions to start a war with the United States.
Unfortunately, he does not balance his analysis with adequate explanations as to why personnel manning intercept stations in Hawaii did not provide enough information to their superiors. This is a problem because he seems to imply that they were a part of the conspiracy to force Japan into the first overt act of war, but he does not provide any evidence that they were knowing conspirators, as opposed to persons whose actions simply enabled the attack to be more successful than it should have been. There is little to no documentation that specific actions performed at intercept stations in Hawaii and the rest of the Navy's Pacific network were deliberate, or were simply taken advantage of by policy-makers in Washington, DC.
This is a pretty good book if you're looking for an alternative explanation as to why the Pearl Harbor attack was successfully carried out by the Japanese. It dispels some myths about how much awareness the US government had before the attack was carried out, and sheds some light on who had access to information that would have changed the course of history. Still, it has some gaps that prevent it from really driving home its point, and only time and more records access will tell us whether his assertions are accurate.
Much of his information is new (at the time of publication), and shows how it is possible that information withheld from Short and Kimmel in Hawaii could have helped them make better decisions and be more prepared for the attack. He also demonstrates that policy-makers in Washington who did have access to that information should have provided more specific direction to Kimmel and Short, especially regarding the text of intercepts that clearly demonstrated Japanese intentions to start a war with the United States.
Unfortunately, he does not balance his analysis with adequate explanations as to why personnel manning intercept stations in Hawaii did not provide enough information to their superiors. This is a problem because he seems to imply that they were a part of the conspiracy to force Japan into the first overt act of war, but he does not provide any evidence that they were knowing conspirators, as opposed to persons whose actions simply enabled the attack to be more successful than it should have been. There is little to no documentation that specific actions performed at intercept stations in Hawaii and the rest of the Navy's Pacific network were deliberate, or were simply taken advantage of by policy-makers in Washington, DC.
This is a pretty good book if you're looking for an alternative explanation as to why the Pearl Harbor attack was successfully carried out by the Japanese. It dispels some myths about how much awareness the US government had before the attack was carried out, and sheds some light on who had access to information that would have changed the course of history. Still, it has some gaps that prevent it from really driving home its point, and only time and more records access will tell us whether his assertions are accurate.
November 29, 2019
A student of history quickly concludes that things are rarely what they seem. This is emphatically true for the usual record of Pearl Harbor. Thankfully the author, Robert Stinnett, has brought to light the results of thousands of pages secured more recently through the Freedom of Information Act. He has further organized the evidence in a clear and forthright manner that leaves the reader without doubt that we knew.
Before the attack, our cryptographers had decoded all five of the types of Japanese communications and provided irrefutable evidence that they were organizing the First Air Fleet in northern Japan, had set sail for Hawaii, that Pearl Harbor was the target, and that their spy in Honolulu had sent detail maps of the harbor identifying the name and location of all ships. Contrary to official testimony and popular history, there was consistent communication between Japanese forces including the day before the attack - hundreds of which were decoded and distributed to US and Allied leaders. However, for unknown reasons, this strategic intelligence was shared with Roosevelt, Churchill, MacArthur, and other key naval leaders - but not Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short - our two commanders in Hawaii.
As Stinnett reports, when the head if Naval Intelligence at Pearl Harbor, Joseph Rochefort, said in his post-war assessment of Pearl Harbor, "It was pretty cheap price to pay for unifying the country, we gain a keen insight into the complicated 10-point strategy to bring America into World War II as a response to a pre-meditated provocation for Japan to attack us.
We knew . . . and they did. . . and the rest is history, but not as told by the American myth of Japanese aggression. For those who prefer to know more of the truth of our history, this is a refreshing and sad story of deceit at the highest levels of our government that cost the lives of thousands of servicemen.
Before the attack, our cryptographers had decoded all five of the types of Japanese communications and provided irrefutable evidence that they were organizing the First Air Fleet in northern Japan, had set sail for Hawaii, that Pearl Harbor was the target, and that their spy in Honolulu had sent detail maps of the harbor identifying the name and location of all ships. Contrary to official testimony and popular history, there was consistent communication between Japanese forces including the day before the attack - hundreds of which were decoded and distributed to US and Allied leaders. However, for unknown reasons, this strategic intelligence was shared with Roosevelt, Churchill, MacArthur, and other key naval leaders - but not Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short - our two commanders in Hawaii.
As Stinnett reports, when the head if Naval Intelligence at Pearl Harbor, Joseph Rochefort, said in his post-war assessment of Pearl Harbor, "It was pretty cheap price to pay for unifying the country, we gain a keen insight into the complicated 10-point strategy to bring America into World War II as a response to a pre-meditated provocation for Japan to attack us.
We knew . . . and they did. . . and the rest is history, but not as told by the American myth of Japanese aggression. For those who prefer to know more of the truth of our history, this is a refreshing and sad story of deceit at the highest levels of our government that cost the lives of thousands of servicemen.
September 22, 2008
Perhaps the most important book written about World War II as it defines the betrayal of our sailors and soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor by the president of the USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt, as he kept secret his knowledge of the translations of decoded messages from Japan's Navy and Diplomatic corps.
Robert Welch, the founder of The John Birch Society, had revealed the treason of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1954 in a letter to friends that was later published at "THE POLITICIAN," and Robert Stinnett's excellent book, entirely vindicates Robert Welch's assessment of Pearl Harbor and the betrayal behind FDR's prior knowledge and lack of warning to our general and admiral stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Understanding that President FDR wanted badly to draw America into war with Adolf Hitler and hadn't been able to, so found a back door approach by goading the Japanese into attacking our Pacific fleet and keeping Admiral Kimmel in the dark about the approaching attack, is important for all Americans if they are to understand our involvement in World War II. Knowing that a single man, a president of the USA, would betray his own armed services in order to allow a "surprise attack" on our naval base, so he could supply Congress with a reason to declare war on Japan and Germany, and having proof, is most important to understanding the machinations of powerful men who sit in the White House and get away with murder. FDR should be stripped of all acolades by all future generations of Americans.
This book is also,perhaps unintentionally, a warning to Americans about cover-up in high places, secrecy, and the media not getting it right.
Robert Welch, the founder of The John Birch Society, had revealed the treason of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1954 in a letter to friends that was later published at "THE POLITICIAN," and Robert Stinnett's excellent book, entirely vindicates Robert Welch's assessment of Pearl Harbor and the betrayal behind FDR's prior knowledge and lack of warning to our general and admiral stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Understanding that President FDR wanted badly to draw America into war with Adolf Hitler and hadn't been able to, so found a back door approach by goading the Japanese into attacking our Pacific fleet and keeping Admiral Kimmel in the dark about the approaching attack, is important for all Americans if they are to understand our involvement in World War II. Knowing that a single man, a president of the USA, would betray his own armed services in order to allow a "surprise attack" on our naval base, so he could supply Congress with a reason to declare war on Japan and Germany, and having proof, is most important to understanding the machinations of powerful men who sit in the White House and get away with murder. FDR should be stripped of all acolades by all future generations of Americans.
This book is also,perhaps unintentionally, a warning to Americans about cover-up in high places, secrecy, and the media not getting it right.
January 22, 2014
There have been inquiries, congressional committees, investigations and questions concerning the issue of how much or government [Franklin Roosevelt] knew in advance about the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This author provides a complete case in this book amd suggests that not only did he know in advance, but encouraged it in order to solidify the then isolationist U.S. population in support of the war. My conclusion after reading the book is that there was so much evidence that we were forwarned that if our government did not know, they had the much more severe crime of being negligent or stupid. One of the authors contentions defends the president by indicating that he was well aware of the attack, but defends his actions on the basis that there were so many atrocities happening in Europe and the Far East and that Great Britain was just hanging on and effectively fighting the war alone.
August 13, 2019
I was so impressed with the diligence and tons of research required by the author to be able to write about the history of Pearl Harbor. Although this book was written twenty years ago, there were still so many missing, secured or redacted documents that could not be read and many of the key people involved had already died. However, the author was able to piece together many of the key events and provided an absolutely fascinating look at the sequence of events from the point of view of the U.S. code breakers. It made me want to sit down and have a chat with the author about his journey in writing the book but I discovered that he has since passed away. This book will give you pause to reflect on the story yet untold and will stay with you well past the last page. Highly recommend!
December 19, 2014
Here Stinnett is alleging that the Roosevelt administration deliberately provoked and allowed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in order to bring the United States into World War II. The Republicans and the American people strongly opposed entering World War II. Stinnett claims to have found information showing that the attacking fleet was detected through radio and intelligence intercepts, but that the information was deliberately withheld from Admiral Kimmel, the commander of the base. He shares quite an amazing collection of documentation, though many records have been purposely destroyed. It was one of the best books of the year for me.
March 28, 2009
Didn't you always want to know how Pearl Harbor could be attacked without any defence?
Now we know.......Roosevelt knew, and he not only let it happen, he moved the Northern Fleet out the way so the Japanese could get within range. A MUST READ to understand Vietnam, and Iraq.
Now we know.......Roosevelt knew, and he not only let it happen, he moved the Northern Fleet out the way so the Japanese could get within range. A MUST READ to understand Vietnam, and Iraq.
January 16, 2011
This is a book with interesting points. It is written very didactically, determined to make you see the author's point. The author includes only documents that prove his point, and excludes many others. I felt that it was like many conspiracy books, very one sided and incomplete.
October 4, 2014
Question: What do these incidents have in common?
Vietnam – Gulf of Tonkin Incident
WW2 - Attack on Pearl Harbor
WW1 – Lusitania
Spain – USS Maine Explosion
Civil War – Fort Sumter
That the good side was viciously and deceitfully attacked by the forces of evil? If your natural response goes something along these lines you really need to read this book!
Although this is a very well documented and extremely important book for finding the truth in history what I find strange is the assertion from the author that Germany was a threat to America at the time.
“McCollum predicted a domino effect if Germany overwhelmed Britain. He was certain that Canada and the British territories in Central and South America and in the Caribbean would succumb to some degree of Nazi control. The strategic danger to the United States was from Germany, not Japan. In his eight-action memorandum, McCollum cited these six military factors in promoting his proposals:
1.All of continental Europe was under the military control of the German* Italian Axis.
2.Only the British Empire actively opposed the growing world dominance of the Axis powers.
3.Axis propaganda successfully promoted American indifference to the European war.
4.United States security in the Western Hemisphere was threatened by the Axis fomenting revolution in Central and South American countries.
5.Upon the defeat of England, the United States could expect an immediate attack from Germany.
6.Warships of the Royal Navy would fall under the control of the Axis when the British were defeated.*
His dire predictions were undoubtedly right.” (Robert Stinnett in Day of Deceit p. 13)
The notion that the third Reich was a threat to US security is completely absurd even in the event that Britain were defeated.
The German population where 80 million after anschluss, about the same as Britain and France combined, the soviet Union 197 million and America 140 million (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" p. 321)
Germany had a tiny coast line and where based on ground forces as the Kaiser had attempted to build a High Seas Fleet to challenge the Royal Navy had been a catastrophic failure.
“a third lesson Hitler took from the war. Germany could not defend overseas colonies against the Anglo-Saxon sea powers. Her colonies would always be hostages to the British and U.S. fleets. If Germany went to war again with the Anglo-Saxon powers, she must expect to lose any overseas possessions and endure another starvation blockade.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" p. 322)
If Germany was not a threat to Britain at sea how could it be a threat to America?
Buchanan quotes F. H. Hinsley:
“Germany was not ready for a major war at sea. The German surface fleet consisted of no more than 2 old battleships, 2 battle-cruisers, 3 pocket battleships, 8 cruisers and 22 destroyers. ... [O]nly 57 German U-boats had been built by 1939; and only 26 of these were suitable to Atlantic operations.”
How could this possibly be a threat to America and its more than a thousand warships?
And there is off course no way for planes at the time to cross the Atlantic to do bombing raids or any other military missions. Buchanan writes:
“even today the U.S. Air Force does not have a bomber that can fly from Germany to our Midwest and West Coast, loiter about, and return to Germany without refueling. And air-to-air refueling had not been invented in the 1940s. German bombers flew at less than three hundred miles per hour. A trip over the Atlantic and back would require twenty hours of flying to drop a five-ton load on New York. A trip from Germany to the West Coast and back is twelve thousand miles—a forty-hour flight. How this flying fuel tank, without a fighter escort, was to survive its encounters with British and U.S. fighters on a daylong voyage across the Atlantic to the U.S. mainland and back was unexplained.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" P. 340)
So the question of practicality seems not to stand up to scrutiny past the emotional fictions of war propaganda. I can come to no other conclusion than in the words of Buchanan:
“If Gorings Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over the Channel, how was it going to achieve it over the Atlantic? If Hitler could not put a soldier into England in the fall of 1940, the notion that he could invade the Western Hemisphere—with no surface ships to engage the United States and British fleets, and U.S. air power dominant in the Western Atlantic—was preposterous.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" P. 337)
Further there is no indication in third Reich propaganda/policy/writings that Germany had any intention to invade the US, but there are overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It is obvious that the third Reich saw Bolshevism as the main enemy, that the German nation had been mistreated by Versailles, and that the main objective was to return the many Germans now living under tyrannical conditions as a result of that to the Reich.
It is clear that what Hitler demanded was restoration of what had been taken from Germany at Versailles.
So how could such a massive miscalculation take place by the US government? There is absolutely no way (or will) for Germany to threaten America at that time. And if they had, why not pressure Britain to drop the unconditional surrender stance and accept one of numerous German peace offerings (What the World Rejected: Hitler’s Peace Offers 1933–1940 by Dr. Friedrich Stieve) instead of provoking Japan to attack pearl harbor, killing roughly 3000 Americans – putting x amount of Japanese living in America in concentration camps – sending x amount of American soldiers to Europe to die and kill x amount of Europeans and destroying Europe – and dropping the H-bomb on Japanese civilians?
Vietnam – Gulf of Tonkin Incident
WW2 - Attack on Pearl Harbor
WW1 – Lusitania
Spain – USS Maine Explosion
Civil War – Fort Sumter
That the good side was viciously and deceitfully attacked by the forces of evil? If your natural response goes something along these lines you really need to read this book!
Although this is a very well documented and extremely important book for finding the truth in history what I find strange is the assertion from the author that Germany was a threat to America at the time.
“McCollum predicted a domino effect if Germany overwhelmed Britain. He was certain that Canada and the British territories in Central and South America and in the Caribbean would succumb to some degree of Nazi control. The strategic danger to the United States was from Germany, not Japan. In his eight-action memorandum, McCollum cited these six military factors in promoting his proposals:
1.All of continental Europe was under the military control of the German* Italian Axis.
2.Only the British Empire actively opposed the growing world dominance of the Axis powers.
3.Axis propaganda successfully promoted American indifference to the European war.
4.United States security in the Western Hemisphere was threatened by the Axis fomenting revolution in Central and South American countries.
5.Upon the defeat of England, the United States could expect an immediate attack from Germany.
6.Warships of the Royal Navy would fall under the control of the Axis when the British were defeated.*
His dire predictions were undoubtedly right.” (Robert Stinnett in Day of Deceit p. 13)
The notion that the third Reich was a threat to US security is completely absurd even in the event that Britain were defeated.
The German population where 80 million after anschluss, about the same as Britain and France combined, the soviet Union 197 million and America 140 million (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" p. 321)
Germany had a tiny coast line and where based on ground forces as the Kaiser had attempted to build a High Seas Fleet to challenge the Royal Navy had been a catastrophic failure.
“a third lesson Hitler took from the war. Germany could not defend overseas colonies against the Anglo-Saxon sea powers. Her colonies would always be hostages to the British and U.S. fleets. If Germany went to war again with the Anglo-Saxon powers, she must expect to lose any overseas possessions and endure another starvation blockade.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" p. 322)
If Germany was not a threat to Britain at sea how could it be a threat to America?
Buchanan quotes F. H. Hinsley:
“Germany was not ready for a major war at sea. The German surface fleet consisted of no more than 2 old battleships, 2 battle-cruisers, 3 pocket battleships, 8 cruisers and 22 destroyers. ... [O]nly 57 German U-boats had been built by 1939; and only 26 of these were suitable to Atlantic operations.”
How could this possibly be a threat to America and its more than a thousand warships?
And there is off course no way for planes at the time to cross the Atlantic to do bombing raids or any other military missions. Buchanan writes:
“even today the U.S. Air Force does not have a bomber that can fly from Germany to our Midwest and West Coast, loiter about, and return to Germany without refueling. And air-to-air refueling had not been invented in the 1940s. German bombers flew at less than three hundred miles per hour. A trip over the Atlantic and back would require twenty hours of flying to drop a five-ton load on New York. A trip from Germany to the West Coast and back is twelve thousand miles—a forty-hour flight. How this flying fuel tank, without a fighter escort, was to survive its encounters with British and U.S. fighters on a daylong voyage across the Atlantic to the U.S. mainland and back was unexplained.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" P. 340)
So the question of practicality seems not to stand up to scrutiny past the emotional fictions of war propaganda. I can come to no other conclusion than in the words of Buchanan:
“If Gorings Luftwaffe could not achieve air supremacy over the Channel, how was it going to achieve it over the Atlantic? If Hitler could not put a soldier into England in the fall of 1940, the notion that he could invade the Western Hemisphere—with no surface ships to engage the United States and British fleets, and U.S. air power dominant in the Western Atlantic—was preposterous.” (Patrick Buchanan in Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War" P. 337)
Further there is no indication in third Reich propaganda/policy/writings that Germany had any intention to invade the US, but there are overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It is obvious that the third Reich saw Bolshevism as the main enemy, that the German nation had been mistreated by Versailles, and that the main objective was to return the many Germans now living under tyrannical conditions as a result of that to the Reich.
It is clear that what Hitler demanded was restoration of what had been taken from Germany at Versailles.
So how could such a massive miscalculation take place by the US government? There is absolutely no way (or will) for Germany to threaten America at that time. And if they had, why not pressure Britain to drop the unconditional surrender stance and accept one of numerous German peace offerings (What the World Rejected: Hitler’s Peace Offers 1933–1940 by Dr. Friedrich Stieve) instead of provoking Japan to attack pearl harbor, killing roughly 3000 Americans – putting x amount of Japanese living in America in concentration camps – sending x amount of American soldiers to Europe to die and kill x amount of Europeans and destroying Europe – and dropping the H-bomb on Japanese civilians?
July 3, 2017
If you love conspiracy theories, or if you think that FDR was actually a crappy president (woot! I fit both those categories!) you will enjoy this book.
Honestly, I think that Stinnett did a good job with this book. It is a *bit* conspiracy-theory-ish, but not in that overboard I’m-writing-this-from-an-undisclosed-location-so-I-don’t-get-killed kind of way. Basically, Stinnett’s premise is that FDR wanted our country to be involved in World War II, and so he did everything he could to (a) provoke Japan into attacking, (b) to make sure that Pearl Harbor was an available target, and (c) (and perhaps most controversial) ensure that the service men and women at Pearl Harbor would be taken by surprise by an attack.
Now, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m not a fan of FDR. I was drawn to this book because other (more neutral) readings about World War II have made me a bit leery of FDR’s attitude towards war. Just reading his speeches and such during the year before Pearl Harbor, he doesn’t sound like a man who truly wants to stay out of a war. Day of Deceit confirms that concept – FDR realized that our country could be pulled out of the Depression and into a position of great world power if our entry to the war was timed correctly.
I definitely recommend this read. Although Stinnett is often dealing with some dry material, he keeps things moving, and usually does a fairly good job staying on task. (Although, let’s be fair, it’s pretty obvious that he’s not a big fan of FDR, either, and although he doesn’t actually spend the book ranting about him or anything, he does manage to work in some rather wry comments on FDR’s policies and personal life.) While Stennett’s work obviously can’t be used as an end-all argument, he definitely raises some excellent questions about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor, and he does it without making at all less of the incredible sacrifices made by those who served in the military at Pearl Harbor and throughout the war. A good read, a bit heavy, but worth the effort.
Honestly, I think that Stinnett did a good job with this book. It is a *bit* conspiracy-theory-ish, but not in that overboard I’m-writing-this-from-an-undisclosed-location-so-I-don’t-get-killed kind of way. Basically, Stinnett’s premise is that FDR wanted our country to be involved in World War II, and so he did everything he could to (a) provoke Japan into attacking, (b) to make sure that Pearl Harbor was an available target, and (c) (and perhaps most controversial) ensure that the service men and women at Pearl Harbor would be taken by surprise by an attack.
Now, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m not a fan of FDR. I was drawn to this book because other (more neutral) readings about World War II have made me a bit leery of FDR’s attitude towards war. Just reading his speeches and such during the year before Pearl Harbor, he doesn’t sound like a man who truly wants to stay out of a war. Day of Deceit confirms that concept – FDR realized that our country could be pulled out of the Depression and into a position of great world power if our entry to the war was timed correctly.
I definitely recommend this read. Although Stinnett is often dealing with some dry material, he keeps things moving, and usually does a fairly good job staying on task. (Although, let’s be fair, it’s pretty obvious that he’s not a big fan of FDR, either, and although he doesn’t actually spend the book ranting about him or anything, he does manage to work in some rather wry comments on FDR’s policies and personal life.) While Stennett’s work obviously can’t be used as an end-all argument, he definitely raises some excellent questions about the events leading up to Pearl Harbor, and he does it without making at all less of the incredible sacrifices made by those who served in the military at Pearl Harbor and throughout the war. A good read, a bit heavy, but worth the effort.
November 9, 2022
When you challenge the historical consensus fundamental to our understanding of the past, you’d better be prepared for trouble. And that’s exactly what Robert Stinnett got when he published Day of Deceit, purporting to tell the truth about Pearl Harbor. Picking up on a charge long ago rejected by most historians, he claimed that President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew the Japanese were about to attack Pearl Harbor and deliberately withheld the information from the admiral in charge there. When Stinnett’s book was published in 1999, the New York Times review was typical: “Despite a dogged and sometimes compelling effort . . . Stinnett has produced no ‘smoking guns'” to substantiate his arguments. Established historians piled on, questioning the reliability of some of his sources and rejecting the evidence he produced to support his conclusions.
WHEN DID THE US NAVY BREAK THE JAPANESE NAVAL CODES?
The most explosive arguments in Stinnett’s exposé largely rest on a single crucial assertion: that months before Pearl Harbor, US Navy codebreakers had unraveled the Japanese naval codes and were already intercepting and decoding the Empire’s naval traffic at a furious pace. Most historians (and the US Navy) insist that the Japanese observed radio silence on the way to Hawaii and that, in any case, the decoding breakthrough didn’t come until after the Japanese attack—and just in time to enable the Navy to achieve a great victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
How, then, could Stinnett produce a veritable flood of dated and decoded intercepts that clearly document the progression of the Japanese fleet toward Hawaii in late November and early December 1941? And were the Navy men who showed the evidence to the author—and the documents themselves—all lying? Were these his “unreliable sources?” After all, most were enlisted men, contradicting the testimony of US Navy officers. Should we believe that only enlisted men lie and officers never do?
NO “SMOKING GUNS” INDICTING THE PRESIDENT
Stinnett never succeeds in proving some elements of his case. He repeatedly insists that FDR “knew” about matters that most historians claim he could never have known. In numerous instances, Stinnett notes that information about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor was sent to the White House. It’s highly probable that Roosevelt did read at least some of those documents and thus did know what others there clearly did. But the author produces no documentary evidence of that. Nor is there anything to substantiate the claim the President ordered that the commander of the Pacific Fleet be kept in the dark.
It’s true that Admiral Husband Kimmel in Hawaii was indeed ignorant of the information unlocked in those radio intercepts. And it appears that some naval officers did fail to send it to him. But there is no visible link to the President. As the New York Times complained, there are no “smoking guns” here.
A “SHOCKING NEW AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY”
However, Stinnett’s obsession to prove that FDR knew in advance about the Pearl Harbor attack obscures his more important discovery: the McMahon memo. Lt. Commander Arthur H. McMahon was head of the Far East desk of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Addressing his boss at ONI—a close advisor of the President—on October 7, 1940, he “suggested a shocking new American foreign policy. It called for provoking Japan into an overt act of war against the United States. . .” It was “a plan intended to engineer a situation that would mobilize a reluctant America into joining Britain’s struggle against the German armed forces then overrunning Europe.”
If the McMahon memo were merely another piece of paper in a government swimming in documents, it could be dismissed. But the officer recommended eight steps that “called for virtually inciting a Japanese attack on American ground, air, and naval forces in Hawaii, as well as on British and Dutch colonial outposts in the Pacific region.” And the United States government implemented every one of those eight steps in 1940 and 1941, forcing Japan to go to war. It is unimaginable that the country could have pursued that course without the express approval of the President. Again, however, there is no documentary proof he did so.
AGGRESSIVE MILITARY MOVES CALCULATED TO ENRAGE JAPAN
Previously, historians have written that the US decision in 1940 to embargo oil to Japan foretold war. But, as Stinnett shows, there were loopholes in the embargo, and it was not widely enforced. Millions of barrels of oil continued to flow to Tokyo. As one of the eight actions he counseled, McMahon called for the US to “completely embargo all trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.” And the other seven actions represented aggressive military moves perfectly calculated to enrage the Japanese leadership. It worked.
In other words, Stinnett does prove that the United States government—undoubtedly acting under orders from FDR himself—effectively started the war in the Pacific.
UNMASKING THE TRUTH ABOUT PEARL HARBOR
Little of what Stinnett writes in Day of Deceit came to him easily. Over a period of seventeen years, he conducted archival research and personal interviews with US Navy cryptographers. And he repeatedly used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover “secrets that had been hidden from Americans for more than fifty years.” The evidence appears throughout the pages of Stinnett’s book, which includes innumerable and extensive quotes from the decoded radio intercepts of Japanese naval traffic. They prove conclusively that the fleet attacking Pearl Harbor did not observe radio silence. And the fact that they lay under lock and key in Navy files for so many years doesn’t smell right. After all, if something looks like a coverup and smells like a coverup, what else could it be?
A POORLY WRITTEN PIECE OF WORK
Unfortunately, Stinnett was an appallingly bad writer. The book is chaotically organized and full of annoying and unnecessary repetition, often from one page to the next. His prose is clear enough, for the most part, but it is exceedingly difficult to follow the threads of the story he tells, because he unaccountably chose not to lay it out chronologically. Had a better writer produced this book, it seems likely Stinnett’s findings would have been more favorably received. As it is, most critics panned the book. A review in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs is typical.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The late Robert Stinnett (1925-2018) served as a US Navy photographer from 1942 to 1946. He participated in ten battles in the Pacific in World War II. For much of his career, he worked as a photographer for the Oakland Tribune in Oakland, California. In addition to Day of Deceit, he wrote a biography of the first President Bush, George Bush: The War Years. (He had served under Lt. George H. W. Bush in the war.) During at least some of the years when he researched Day of Deceit, Stinnett was a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland.
WHEN DID THE US NAVY BREAK THE JAPANESE NAVAL CODES?
The most explosive arguments in Stinnett’s exposé largely rest on a single crucial assertion: that months before Pearl Harbor, US Navy codebreakers had unraveled the Japanese naval codes and were already intercepting and decoding the Empire’s naval traffic at a furious pace. Most historians (and the US Navy) insist that the Japanese observed radio silence on the way to Hawaii and that, in any case, the decoding breakthrough didn’t come until after the Japanese attack—and just in time to enable the Navy to achieve a great victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
How, then, could Stinnett produce a veritable flood of dated and decoded intercepts that clearly document the progression of the Japanese fleet toward Hawaii in late November and early December 1941? And were the Navy men who showed the evidence to the author—and the documents themselves—all lying? Were these his “unreliable sources?” After all, most were enlisted men, contradicting the testimony of US Navy officers. Should we believe that only enlisted men lie and officers never do?
NO “SMOKING GUNS” INDICTING THE PRESIDENT
Stinnett never succeeds in proving some elements of his case. He repeatedly insists that FDR “knew” about matters that most historians claim he could never have known. In numerous instances, Stinnett notes that information about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor was sent to the White House. It’s highly probable that Roosevelt did read at least some of those documents and thus did know what others there clearly did. But the author produces no documentary evidence of that. Nor is there anything to substantiate the claim the President ordered that the commander of the Pacific Fleet be kept in the dark.
It’s true that Admiral Husband Kimmel in Hawaii was indeed ignorant of the information unlocked in those radio intercepts. And it appears that some naval officers did fail to send it to him. But there is no visible link to the President. As the New York Times complained, there are no “smoking guns” here.
A “SHOCKING NEW AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY”
However, Stinnett’s obsession to prove that FDR knew in advance about the Pearl Harbor attack obscures his more important discovery: the McMahon memo. Lt. Commander Arthur H. McMahon was head of the Far East desk of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Addressing his boss at ONI—a close advisor of the President—on October 7, 1940, he “suggested a shocking new American foreign policy. It called for provoking Japan into an overt act of war against the United States. . .” It was “a plan intended to engineer a situation that would mobilize a reluctant America into joining Britain’s struggle against the German armed forces then overrunning Europe.”
If the McMahon memo were merely another piece of paper in a government swimming in documents, it could be dismissed. But the officer recommended eight steps that “called for virtually inciting a Japanese attack on American ground, air, and naval forces in Hawaii, as well as on British and Dutch colonial outposts in the Pacific region.” And the United States government implemented every one of those eight steps in 1940 and 1941, forcing Japan to go to war. It is unimaginable that the country could have pursued that course without the express approval of the President. Again, however, there is no documentary proof he did so.
AGGRESSIVE MILITARY MOVES CALCULATED TO ENRAGE JAPAN
Previously, historians have written that the US decision in 1940 to embargo oil to Japan foretold war. But, as Stinnett shows, there were loopholes in the embargo, and it was not widely enforced. Millions of barrels of oil continued to flow to Tokyo. As one of the eight actions he counseled, McMahon called for the US to “completely embargo all trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.” And the other seven actions represented aggressive military moves perfectly calculated to enrage the Japanese leadership. It worked.
In other words, Stinnett does prove that the United States government—undoubtedly acting under orders from FDR himself—effectively started the war in the Pacific.
UNMASKING THE TRUTH ABOUT PEARL HARBOR
Little of what Stinnett writes in Day of Deceit came to him easily. Over a period of seventeen years, he conducted archival research and personal interviews with US Navy cryptographers. And he repeatedly used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover “secrets that had been hidden from Americans for more than fifty years.” The evidence appears throughout the pages of Stinnett’s book, which includes innumerable and extensive quotes from the decoded radio intercepts of Japanese naval traffic. They prove conclusively that the fleet attacking Pearl Harbor did not observe radio silence. And the fact that they lay under lock and key in Navy files for so many years doesn’t smell right. After all, if something looks like a coverup and smells like a coverup, what else could it be?
A POORLY WRITTEN PIECE OF WORK
Unfortunately, Stinnett was an appallingly bad writer. The book is chaotically organized and full of annoying and unnecessary repetition, often from one page to the next. His prose is clear enough, for the most part, but it is exceedingly difficult to follow the threads of the story he tells, because he unaccountably chose not to lay it out chronologically. Had a better writer produced this book, it seems likely Stinnett’s findings would have been more favorably received. As it is, most critics panned the book. A review in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs is typical.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The late Robert Stinnett (1925-2018) served as a US Navy photographer from 1942 to 1946. He participated in ten battles in the Pacific in World War II. For much of his career, he worked as a photographer for the Oakland Tribune in Oakland, California. In addition to Day of Deceit, he wrote a biography of the first President Bush, George Bush: The War Years. (He had served under Lt. George H. W. Bush in the war.) During at least some of the years when he researched Day of Deceit, Stinnett was a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland.
August 7, 2023
I think that FDR didn’t know in advance. Stinnett provides a lot of documents but alas no smoking guns.
The comments of Stephen Budiansky at
http://www.independent.org/issues/art...
and David Kahn (author of Codebreakers), are telling: take Stinnett with a grain of salt.
This review link to Kahn’s review says it better than I can,
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2000...
The comments of Stephen Budiansky at
http://www.independent.org/issues/art...
and David Kahn (author of Codebreakers), are telling: take Stinnett with a grain of salt.
This review link to Kahn’s review says it better than I can,
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2000...
Currently reading
May 22, 2009I am enjoying it. It get's a little bogged down in details but it does have to prove the point. I should question what he is saying but I don't.
April 10, 2019
This is the second time I read this book. I was prompted to do that after reading “No Ordinary Times” by Doris Goodwin Kearns. I remember feeling a great deal of anger at FDR after reading the book the first time. Not so much this time, as I have a better understanding of the motivation and the quandary that Roosevelt was in.
T his is a well researched, well written book. I found that trying to keep up with the various intercepted codes and agencies doing that, a bit of a challenge.
There have been rumors for a long time that the U.S. had prior knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The author(Stinnett) went a long ways in providing evidence of that fact. He makes a strong case that the Unites States knew an attack was coming, did not prepare for it and in fact he learned that the North Pacific area where an attack was believed likely to come from was deemed to be a “vacant sea”, weeks before the attack and worse . . . patrols were forbidden in this area.
The guts of the book makes the case that the attack on Pearl Harbor was deliberately set up (actually one of 8 sites where they tried to tempt Japan to attack) the administration to unite this country and bring us into the war.
There is a policy memo written by Lt. Cdr. Arthur McCullum citing eight acts that were designed to create Japanese military action. Among those were to block thesale of oil to the Japanese, Keeping clear U.S. military presence in the Pacific and open support of Chiang Kai-shek in China. After reading most of the book, it is very clear – to me at least – led to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The auhor has clearly done extensive research – used newly declassified documents (though the Navy still has a number of documents classified and given the preponderance of evidence not available, it literally re-writes the record of WWII. Once all documents are declassified, there rewriting may well be even more extensive.
Using documents through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides clear evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The most difficult part is that the author argues that FDR, who wishing to move sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, created and followed a clear policy provoke a Japanese attack.
This plan is made clear in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo in October 1940. FDR began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan's economy), all of these things –writes the author – resulted in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, who is a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, supports his claims with a wealth of documents, which includes a host of government and military memos and transcripts.
For many years it was maintained by our government and the Navy that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence. Not so. He provides a number of Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers between Thanksgiving of 1941 and December 7th. And that it was Pearl Harbor that was to be targeted.
The author also shows – convincingly - to me at that the U.S. Navy folks in Hawaii- kept Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short. This was clearly directed from Washington.
Then those two gentlemen were used as scapegoats – for failing to be prepared for the attack. I should note that the U.S. Senate cleared their names in May of 1999. At one point, Admiral Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific to search for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters made him turn back. A damming fact.
This book does raise serious ethical issues with regard to FDR and his administration. I find this very deceitful – even on the 2nd reading.
On the other hand, I can see the dilemma that FDR was in. The dilemma was how to rouse the nation to fight a war that we must be involved in. Roosevelt’s relationship with Churchill was a driving force in this as he did not want to see Great Britain fall to the Nazis. He was forced to find some creative way to get us involved even while saying that no American soldiers would fight in a foreign war.
I say I can understand. But I do not absolve him, either.
At the very least Kimmel and Short should be publically cleared of the charges by a full congressional act and the Navy needs to be a part of that, as well. To not do that leaves this whole sneak attack a lie, which it was not. It was created by FDR and his administration irrespective of the motivation. It was – in the final analysis, immoral.
T his is a well researched, well written book. I found that trying to keep up with the various intercepted codes and agencies doing that, a bit of a challenge.
There have been rumors for a long time that the U.S. had prior knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The author(Stinnett) went a long ways in providing evidence of that fact. He makes a strong case that the Unites States knew an attack was coming, did not prepare for it and in fact he learned that the North Pacific area where an attack was believed likely to come from was deemed to be a “vacant sea”, weeks before the attack and worse . . . patrols were forbidden in this area.
The guts of the book makes the case that the attack on Pearl Harbor was deliberately set up (actually one of 8 sites where they tried to tempt Japan to attack) the administration to unite this country and bring us into the war.
There is a policy memo written by Lt. Cdr. Arthur McCullum citing eight acts that were designed to create Japanese military action. Among those were to block thesale of oil to the Japanese, Keeping clear U.S. military presence in the Pacific and open support of Chiang Kai-shek in China. After reading most of the book, it is very clear – to me at least – led to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The auhor has clearly done extensive research – used newly declassified documents (though the Navy still has a number of documents classified and given the preponderance of evidence not available, it literally re-writes the record of WWII. Once all documents are declassified, there rewriting may well be even more extensive.
Using documents through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides clear evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The most difficult part is that the author argues that FDR, who wishing to move sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, created and followed a clear policy provoke a Japanese attack.
This plan is made clear in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo in October 1940. FDR began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan's economy), all of these things –writes the author – resulted in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, who is a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, supports his claims with a wealth of documents, which includes a host of government and military memos and transcripts.
For many years it was maintained by our government and the Navy that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence. Not so. He provides a number of Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers between Thanksgiving of 1941 and December 7th. And that it was Pearl Harbor that was to be targeted.
The author also shows – convincingly - to me at that the U.S. Navy folks in Hawaii- kept Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short. This was clearly directed from Washington.
Then those two gentlemen were used as scapegoats – for failing to be prepared for the attack. I should note that the U.S. Senate cleared their names in May of 1999. At one point, Admiral Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific to search for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters made him turn back. A damming fact.
This book does raise serious ethical issues with regard to FDR and his administration. I find this very deceitful – even on the 2nd reading.
On the other hand, I can see the dilemma that FDR was in. The dilemma was how to rouse the nation to fight a war that we must be involved in. Roosevelt’s relationship with Churchill was a driving force in this as he did not want to see Great Britain fall to the Nazis. He was forced to find some creative way to get us involved even while saying that no American soldiers would fight in a foreign war.
I say I can understand. But I do not absolve him, either.
At the very least Kimmel and Short should be publically cleared of the charges by a full congressional act and the Navy needs to be a part of that, as well. To not do that leaves this whole sneak attack a lie, which it was not. It was created by FDR and his administration irrespective of the motivation. It was – in the final analysis, immoral.
June 10, 2019
I think it is safe to say at this point, that FDR knew the attack on Perl Harbor was imminent and did nothing to stop or alert of its pending doom. What is unclear is if it was done in an attempt to cause the U.S. to accept us involving ourselves into the war, since he had come out in Public stating that he would not send our boys into war, to trust help the Jews or if it was in an attempt to save the economy and his bad economic decisions. What is clear, is that FDR was one of the worst POTUS this country has ever had
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, has been credited with posting Japanese Americans into camps where they lost all of their belongings, confiscation of the citizen's gold, the use of the IRS to go after his opponents, as well as using party politics to control "jobs" and other things necessary. He paid farmers to NOT grow crops and slaughtered pigs instead of giving them to the starving citizens to control pricing. There are many more, but suffice it to say, this man was bad news. However he is still lauded as one of the greats. Ironically, he was as Fascist as they come which is now hurled at any Republican President.
The book uncovers evidence that shows that we could have avoided the 1941 attack or at a minimum, lessoned the losses. His sousing was truly a hero of mine, FDR was a far cry from Teddy.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, has been credited with posting Japanese Americans into camps where they lost all of their belongings, confiscation of the citizen's gold, the use of the IRS to go after his opponents, as well as using party politics to control "jobs" and other things necessary. He paid farmers to NOT grow crops and slaughtered pigs instead of giving them to the starving citizens to control pricing. There are many more, but suffice it to say, this man was bad news. However he is still lauded as one of the greats. Ironically, he was as Fascist as they come which is now hurled at any Republican President.
The book uncovers evidence that shows that we could have avoided the 1941 attack or at a minimum, lessoned the losses. His sousing was truly a hero of mine, FDR was a far cry from Teddy.
April 14, 2022
“Even after the countless American missteps in the early morning hours of December 7, there was still an opportunity to alert the American fleet to the raid. Between 6:50 A.M. and 7:15 A.M. Hawaii Time two army radar operators detected the first wave of Japanese aircraft closing in on Oahu.” First, one thing I liked about this book is that the author talks about the days before the attack. It talks about how the war was going on in Germany and what might happened if they get attacked. The second thing I liked about the book is that he talks about how they were kind of expecting a surprise attack but wasn’t sure when. The third thing I liked about the book was that it talks about when the attack started and when it ended and how many planes were destroyed. It also talks about what ships were destroyed and how many people died. The last thing I liked about the books was that it got into detail with the plans they had for before if they got into war. One thing I didn’t like about the book was that it doesn’t talk about the attack until the end of the book.
February 15, 2024
Nonsense conspiracy theory. As Gordon W. Prange argued in At Dawn We Slept, if Roosevelt wanted to provoke a Japanese attack, thereby guaranteeing the US's entry into WWII, why would he risk an attack that could have led to crippling damage to essential naval facilities and jeopardize the US's ability to conduct a vigorous counterattack? It would have made more strategic and tactical sense for FDR to warn Short and Kimmel, the US commanders that Stinnett alleges that FDR kept in the dark about the pending threat to Pearl Harbor, that the Japanese were coming. In that case, the Pacific Fleet’s forces would have been ready to ambush the Japanese, ground-based forces would have been prepared, and the Hawaiian Air Force’s planes would have been fueled, armed, and ready for takeoff. A surprise Japanese attack in that situation also would have resulted in war—but the attacking force would have been bloodied badly.
September 13, 2017
Un veterano della guerra si domanda se ai vertici delle nazione non avessero preso in considerazione l'idea di far entrare gli Stati Uniti in guerra con quel fervore tutto americano che solo loro riescono a sfoggiare quando c'è da vendicarsi (del tipo: "ricordatevi di Alamo!", "ricordatevi di Custer!", e poi "ricordatevi di Pearl Harbor!"). Attraverso una serie di documenti desecretati Stinnett mostra una serie di fatti che sembrano paventare appunto questa idea: gli Stati Uniti hanno venduto petrolio al Giappone in quantità sufficiente a far iniziare loro la guerra, ma non abbastanza per permettere loro di vincerla. C'è anche da dire che mi sembra un rischio enorme perdere quasi per intero l'efficienza e l'operatività della Flotta del Pacifico, per far entrare la nazione in guerra ... ma bisogna anche considerare la volontà di isolazionismo che si era impadronita degli Stati Uniti.
November 29, 2017
Stinnett makes a very good case that FDR, George Marshall and other top civilian and military leaders allowed Pearl Harbor to be attacked to force a change in American public opinion away from "isolationism." Having been interested in Pearl Harbor since I was very young, I've read many books about the subject and have always been suspicious of the "surprise attack" story. John Toland's book, published in the 1980s, was very powerful, but Stinnett uncovered new evidence that pretty much proves it in my mind. Also, Admiral Kimmel and General Short need to have their names cleared.
Unfortunately, Stinnett appears to agree that FDR did the right thing, that it was necessary to trick the American people to defeat Hitler. I've encountered this argument a few times in the last 15-20 years, and I just can't agree with it.
Unfortunately, Stinnett appears to agree that FDR did the right thing, that it was necessary to trick the American people to defeat Hitler. I've encountered this argument a few times in the last 15-20 years, and I just can't agree with it.
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