Surprise Attack On Pearl Harbor?

Today is the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Was it a surprise/ Not a chance.

The Honolulu Advertiser dated November 30th 1941, one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Hilo Tribune Herald dated November 30th 1941, one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor

The US was warned by, at least, the governments of Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Peru, Korea and the Soviet Union that a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was coming. All important Japanese codes were broken. FDR and Marshall and others knew the attack was coming, allowed it and covered up their knowledge. It's significant that both the the chief of OP-20-G Safford and Friedman of Army SIS, the two people in the world that knew what we decoded, said that FDR knew Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked.

Information Known in Washington and Hawaii

October 9-December 7, 1941

Date	Item	Washington	Kimmel	Short
Oct. 9	"Bombplot" message	X
Nov. 26-28	"Winds" setup message	X	X [1]
Nov. 26	Location of carriers	X
Dec. 1	Japanese declaration of war	X
Dec. 2-6	Code destruction	X [2]	X	X
Dec. 4	"Winds execute" message	X		X [3]
Dec. 4	US at war with Japan via ADB	X
Dec. 5	British Admiralty Alert	X
Dec. 6-7	"14 Part" message	X
Dec. 7	"One o'clock" message	X

Why Did FDR Hide the Attack?

1. FDR had to do it to get into the war, as he himself later told Stalin. He needed massive public outrage and that required big sacrifice.
2. Would he do it? Did he "love the Navy too much?" He was sacrificing ships in the Atlantic for the same purpose. Of course he would do it - he was doing it.
3. He saved all the important elements of the fleet. In the spring he had sent many ships to the Atlantic. He kept the aircraft carrier Saratoga on the West Coast. And his sending of the two carrier groups out of harbor meant that not only they but also their fast escort ships would be saved - all the new ships stationed at Pearl Harbor were saved. Only WWI junk was left in harbor. Here is a list of all the ships saved - Ships saved at Pearl December 7
4. FDR's attitude is best summed up by co-conspirator Admiral Bloch's testimony to Congress, "The Japanese only destroyed a lot of old hardware. In a sense they did us a favor."
5. This was obviously FDR's view as well, because on 7 December at 2:15 PM, minutes after hearing of the attack and before any damage reports were in, FDR called Lord Halifax at the British Embassy and told him "Most of the fleet was at sea...none of their newer ships were in harbour." He had protected the new ships, the important elements of the fleet, and that fact was at the forefront of his mind in relation to the attack. First, it means FDR didn't care about the old ships. Secondly, it means he knew before the attack that only old ships were in harbor for the attack. Therefore, Pearl Harbor was "the first shot without too much danger to ourselves" he sought. FDR was the architect of the attack plot from the oil embargo to the ultimatum to the final touches of deciding who would live and who would die.

(From What Really Happened, see the full analysis here.)