FDR Enters WW-II with a Minnesota Fats Four-Bank Shot

[solutions]

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Subject: Pres. Woodrow Wilson Violating International Law to Hoodwink the American Public into Entering World War I – What About FDR and WW-II?
From: Solutions
Date: Sat December 14, 2024 11:52 am PST
To: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
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Dear John,

I read with interest Q&A-17 and Q&A-18 of your First Short Quiz which said –

• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson violated international law which prohibited countries claiming to be “neutral” from shipping munitions to a “belligerent” country.

• He did so by secretly putting munitions in the bowels of passenger ships such as the Lusitania so that when Germany sank them (which Germany had every right to do under international law), Woodrow could inflame American public opinion to jump into World War I on the side of the Brits.

Did FDR do anything comparable to get America into WW-II?

Your friend,

Solutions


---------------------------- Original Message -----------------------------
Subject: FDR Enters WW-II with a Minnesota Fats Four-Bank Shot
From: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
Date: Sat December 14, 2024 4:12 pm MST
To: Solutions
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Dear Solutions,

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

If by comparable, you meant ILLEGAL like Woodrow Wilson, the answer is “absolutely not!!!”

But if you mean indirectly AND LEGALLY like a “four bank shot” by Paul Newman or Minnesota Fats while playing pool in the 1961 Hollywood blockbuster “The Hustler,” the answer is yes.

NB: I have NOT inkled whether or not “indirectly and LEGALLY” also meant “intentionally” since I don't know.

Yes, President Roosevelt was desperate to get America into the fight against Nazi Germany for a variety of reasons which BTW did NOT include saving Jews.

Quite a bit has been written about this “blind eye” from the time before American entry into WW-II when England was “standing alone” and prominent international Jewish leaders asked Churchill to bomb the Nazi Concentration Camps IAW the philosophy that the inmates were already condemned to die but the destruction of the Concentration Camps would prevent more Jews from being brought there for liquidation.

[NB: this last paragraph was written in sadness by someone whose all-time favorite historical figure was Churchill who turned his back on the chance to save Jews.]

Indeed, FDR’s ambassador to the U.K. 3/8/1938 – 10/22/1940 was Joe Kennedy Sr. (father of JFK and Bobby) who notoriously was one of Hitler’s biggest fans and probably perpetrated quite a bit of mischief vis-à-vis British Prime Minister 5/28/1937 – 5/10/1940 Neville (“Peace in Our Time”) Chamberlain’s constantly appeasing Hitler.

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But back to Your Q About How FDR Maneuvered America into WW-II -- legally though perhaps with a “four-bank shot” à la Paul Newman and Minnesota Fats being a “long shot” even if intentional which, in FDR's case, it MIGHT NOT have been (i.e., sometimes international events result from PURE LUCK).

Bank-Shot No. 1

In July 1940, 17 months before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. imposed an embargo on the sale of aviation gas, lubricants and scrap metal by U.S. companies to Japan and in September 1941 (THE SAME FALL AS INCLUDED THE 12/7/1941 PEARL HARBOR ATTACK), the U.S. extended the embargo to crude oil and all refined products.

Bank-Shot No. 2

The American media was typically wrong – largely opining that “scrap metal” was the driving force behind the embargo and it didn’t make sense to sell scrap metal to the Japanese which might in the future be found to have been used in munitions that killed Americans if we ever did join the war against Japan.

The key to Bank-Shot No. 2???

Japan and its “war machine” both ran solely on crude oil and refined products from the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia).

And all of the crude oil in the Dutch East Indies was produced by Caltex Indonesia, a U.S. company 50-50 owned by California Standard Oil Co. (aka Chevron) and Texaco. And all of the refined products exported from the Dutch East Indies were refined by Caltex.

But the Dutch East Indies were, as the name implies, a Dutch colony and Holland had long-since been occupied and governed by Japan’s ally, Hitler.

So the Q became whether the Dutch East Indies colonial government would order the U.S. company Caltex Indonesia NOT to obey FDR’s embargo of Japan.

The colonial government did not.

Bank-Shot No. 3

Japan quickly realized that Japan itself, much less its war machine, would not remain viable unless Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies to regain control over its oil supplies.

There are interesting historical tomes that describe how Japanese Naval Chief Isoroku Yamamoto (a Harvard B.A. as an exchange student from Japan) advised the other members of the War Cabinet that invading modern-day Indonesia without first destroying the American fleet at Pearl Harbor stood a 0% chance of success, and that there were SIX (COUNT THEM SIX) reasons why an attack on Pearl Harbor stood only a 1% chance of success!!!

For example, the Japanese fleet could not simply go “radio silent” without provoking suspicion, it could not travel as far as Hawaii without being detected, its high-altitude bombsights were worthless, etc., etc.

Nevertheless, the tomes record that Emperor Hirohito ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor as a prelude to invading modern-day Indonesia – rather than give up Hirohito’s ten-year-old “rape of China” which, as noted in Q&A-7, had begun 9/18/1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria.

And record that Naval Chief Yamamoto bowed obediently with the comment that “1% is greater than 0%.”

After all, Emperor Hirohito was worshipped by the Japanese as a God (literally – descended from the Sun Goddess Armaterasu) so who was a mere Naval Chief to disobey God???

BTW, after General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander of US Forces in the Pacific, accepted the surrender of Japan on 9/2/1945, he became the de factor Ruler of Japan until the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 where he assumed command of United Nations forces -- and during his 5-year rule over Japan, MacArthur was shrewd enough NOT to prosecute Hirohito for war crimes but, instead, to use Hirohito’s God status to “de-program” Japanese society so that it could become an acceptable member of world society. [Though MacArthur did take the precautions of having Hirohito renounce his God status on 1/1/1946 AND OF DESTROYING EVIDENCE of Hirohito's war crimes.]

Bank-Shot No. 4

So FDR had provoked, whether or not intentionally, the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor.

And the following day (12/8/1941), FDR addressed a joint session of Congress with his famous speech entitled “December 7, 1941, A Date Which Will Live In Infamy.”

This resulted in THE LAST TIME IN HISTORY that Congress has followed the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 – which grants Congress the sole right to declare war.

[Indeed, the last time I checked not long ago, World War II was the last time any country followed the now-quaint custom of declaring war against another country.]

And history shows that FDR prioritized fighting Hitler – virtually ignoring Japan until Hitler had been defeated.

[Which BTW is why General Douglas MacArthur as Commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, was forced to retreat from The Philippines which was still an American colony, with his famous promise “I shall return.”]

So how to fight Hitler if only Japan had attacked America???

Hitler obliged FDR!!!

As a loyal ally of Japan, Hitler was stupid enough to declare war on America in response to America’s declaration of war on Japan!!!

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I hope that answers your question.

{Though I know you aren’t shy if it doesn’t!!!]

Thank you again for your e-mail.

Your friend,

John K.