“FDR’s Day of Infamy speech on Dec. 8, 1941, asking Congress to declare war omits all reference to his war provoking ultimatum (given to the Japanese), ten days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. It deliberately deceived all members of Congress, Democrats, and Republicans alike, when he said the united States was still in conversation with its government and its emperor, looking forward to the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. No member of Congress knew about FDR’s war ultimatum, or of his receipt of the decoded Japanese answer, the evening of December 6th, when he turned to Harry Hopkins and said that meant war. This is exactly what he wanted and expected, but strangely, although he was commander and chief of our armed forces, he did little or nothing about it. It was his duty to immediately call the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Navy and General Marshall and Admiral Stark. The only thing that that is known is that he did call Admiral Stark who was at the theatre and so did not reach him. There is no record that he ever communicated that night with any of the prominent navy or army officers. The record shows that FDR knew from the decoded answer that it meant war more than fourteen hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and did nothing about it, except in his ‘Day of Infamy’ speech to start the spread of the greatest cover-up in history which continued for many years. Quoting FDR,

‘Indeed one hour after the Japanese air squadron had commenced bombing Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the united States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent message’ (FDR’s war ultimatum). As pointed out the Japanese decoded answer was known to FDR fourteen hours before, and presumably, to Hull, Stimson, Knox, Marshall, and Stark. If they were not notified, FDR is responsible. The big cover-up got a good start wrapped up in a well-publicized and universally acclaimed Day of Infamy speech to Congress because not one member knew of the existence of FDR’s war-making ultimatum.”

Hamilton Fish
US Congressman — November 2, 1920 – January 3, 1945
FDR, The Other Side of the Coin; How We were Tricked into WW II – p. 146f

Below is an excerpt from Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald’s book, “The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor: The Washington Background of the Pearl Harbor Attack.” Theobald served in the US Navy during WW II and was in Pearl Harbor when the Japs hit the Pacific fleet eighty years ago today. Years later an unclassified National Security Council document included a recommendation that Theobald’s book be read on the subject of what happened at Pearl Harbor. Theobald’s contention is that the administration of FDR with malice afore-thought suppressed intelligence about the looming attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in order to bring the United States into the European war through the back door. Though Theobald’s book was the first to make that accusation several books since then (Stinnett, Hoover, Gannon) have joined Theobald in the accusation providing more and more proof that FDR wanted the Japs to hit America and knew that the Japs would hit Pearl Harbor and kept that knowledge to himself. FDR not only knew this but he created the conditions wherein the Japanese had little choice but to strike. This of course doesn’t excuse the Japanese for their treachery but it does serve to reveal FDR as a mass murderer of American naval personnel. FDR’s treachery went one step further in pointing the finger at General Short and Admiral Kimmel (Army and Navy commanders at Pearl Harbor) for the ones being responsible for what happened at Pearl Harbor through their lack of preparedness. Then on top of that later Democrats would not allow, upon the request of Gen. Short and Admiral Kimmel, their court-martials to go through.

Indeed Pearl Harbor is a day that lives in the infamy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Begin quote by Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald;

“President Roosevelt’s conversation with Admiral Richardson (Richardson was Kimmel’s predecessor in Pearl Harbor) in October 1940 indicate FDR’s conviction that it would be impossible without a stunning incident to obtain a declaration of war from Congress. Despite the conditions of undeclared war which existed in the Atlantic during the latter half of 1941, it had long been clear that Germany did not intend to contribute to the creation of a state of formal war between her and the united States.”

Theobald then lists the acts of the FDR administration in order to drive the Japanese to war.

1.) “The stoppage of Philippine exports to Japan via executive order on May, 1941.

2.) The freezing of Japanese assets and the interdiction of all trade with Japan by the united States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands on July 25, 1941.

3.) The termination of the Washington conference of Nov. 26, 1941, when Secretary Hull handed Admiral Nomura the famous war provoking ultimatum, unknown to Congress or the American people until after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

President Roosevelt and his military and naval advisors were well aware that Japan invariably started her wars with a surprise attack synchronized closely with her delivery of a declaration of war.

The retention of the fleet in Hawaii, especially after its reduction in strength after March 1941 could serve only one purpose, an invitation to a surprise Japanese attack.

The denial to the Hawaiian commanders of all knowledge of magic (code-breaking device that broke Japanese coded communications) was vital to the plans of enticing Japan to deliver a surprise attack upon the fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Everyone familiar with Japanese military history knew that her first acts of war against China in 1894 and Russia in 1904 have been surprise attacks against the main fleets of those countries. The only American naval force in the Pacific that was worth the risk of such an operation was the fleet in Hawaiian waters.

A Toyko dispatch to the Japanese Embassy at Washington on Nov. 28, 1941 definitely stated that the Japanese Government considered that the American note of the 26th had terminated all possibility of further (peace) negotiations. 

The Japanese code destruction messages of December 1st and 2nd meant that war was extremely close at hand.

With the distribution of the pilot message at 3 PM on Saturday, Dec. 6, the picture was complete for President Roosevelt and other recipients of ‘magic.’

Never before in reported history had a Field Commander been denied information that his country would be at war in a couple of hours and that everything pointed to a surprise attack upon his forces shortly after sunrise. No naval office on his own initiative would ever make a decision as Admiral Stark thus did. (Admiral Stark was Admiral Kimmel’s superior in Washington)

The fact and Admiral Stark’s decisions on that Sunday morning even if they had not been supported by the wealth of the earlier evidence, would reveal beyond question the basic truth of the Pearl Harbor story, i.e., that these Sunday messages and so many earlier ones of vital importance to Admiral Kimmel’s exercise of command were not sent because Admiral Stark had orders from the President which prohibited that action.

This deduction is fully supported by the Admiral’s statement to the press in August 1945 that all he did during the pre-Pearl Harbor days was done on order of higher authority, which can only mean President Roosevelt. The most arresting thing he did during that time was to withhold information from Admiral Kimmel.”