On NPR: FDR shares blame for Pearl Harbor

[SnowGoose]

OK, it's not 100% new, and I'm not arguing the merits of the thing.

I just find it interesting that as the current power structure sets about disassembling the New Deal, sure enough - here comes the discrediting of FDR. It's just so predictable.

[shoelace414]

1. I guess he beat the Nazis and Japaneese too

[trotsky]

2. It's been the standard rule for over 20 years now.

Anything that happens during the presidency of a Democrat is his fault.

Anything that happens during the presidency of a Republican is the previous Democratic president's fault.

Didn't you get the memo?

[RogueTrooper]

13. Also

Anything good that happens during a Democratic Presidency is because of the previous Republican president.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Just like they wanted to yank him off the dime...

...and replace him with Reagan.

It just pisses the repugs off that they don't have a hero like FDR...:eyes:

[justinsb]

4. I knew that -

evidence suggests that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor and let it happen anyway because he needed a way to convince the American public to get involved in WWII and nothing less than Pearl Harbor would accomplish that.

It makes me look at all the intelligence they had about 9/11 before the fact and go hmmm....

[Bush was AWOL]

7. There is some (very little) evidence that suggests that

the majority of the evidence and the majority of Historians do not believe FDR knew about Pearl Harbor before the attack.

[Bridget Burke]

8. The Japanese were expected to attack in the Pacific.

No details were known--not to the extent that details of 9/11 were known in advance.

But the anti-FDR claims are quite old. He was a traitor to his class, you know.

[yardwork]

15. Newspapers were full of speculation that an attack was imminent

A review of archived papers in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor makes it clear that the whole entire world saw it coming, but felt powerless to stop it.

It is not the same as 9/11, where our federal government was the only entity that knew, and for some reason hid the fact from themselves and the public.

In fact, spinning that Pearl Harbor was FDR's fault is a typical Rove tactic - blame the opponent for something that W really did. It's especially helpful if the opponent has been dead for fifty years and can't defend himself.

W and Rove and this crime family are a shame on America.

[JHB]

9. When you think of the "FDR let Pearl Harbor happen" suggestion...

...keep in mind that FDR was hated by conservatives with a passion that was only matched by their hatred for Bill Clinton 50 years later, except back then it was liberals and Democrats who had the more effective political infrastructure, so all they could do agaist him was (pre-PH) denounce him as a war-monger, (post-PH) blame him for the failure to stop the attack, and a posthumous potshot enacting presidential term limits.

The "evidence" that FDR LIHOPed Pearl Harbor is on par with current Republican "evidence" tha Bill Clinton "did nothing about terrorism" and is primarily to blame for 9/11.

[Kurovski]

5. I haven't listened to NPR

since Nov. 2

They can earn back worthiness of both donations and time spent listening to them, but I won't be the one to report on those changes should they occur.

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=109&topic_id=15523>

[Bush was AWOL]

6. The media (especially the right) has been going after FDR

for years now. They can't stand that he fought for the little guy, was very progressive, is considered one of the top 3 presidents of all time by the majority of historians and last but not least was a democrat. They'd rather hype Reagan who accomplished hardly anything compared to FDR, nor did he have the hardships to deal with.

[RuleofLaw]

10. Whether FDR knew about the attack or not

The fact of the matter is that Japan was going to attack. Maybe he could have prevented the attack, but I think anyway you look at it, the USA would have been involved in WWII.

It always amasses me, when Americans tell Europeans that you saved us and we should be grateful, that they forget that the US did not get officially involved until 1941. Until then FDR had to make secret agreements with Churchill to supply transportation ships.

Imagine if the Japanese had not attacked. Would the US have been involved?

[cap]

11. they couldnt talk about FDRs wonderful leadership

during WWII because people would remember how the common man's lot improved even during times of great national hardship.

[AP]

12. Damn straight. FDR told America that we couldn't be a strong nation unless

we were individually happy, healthy and wealthy.

It was the opposite of fascism which says that individuals have to accept less because they're just lucky to be alive (so look the other way while shift a lot of wealth to the top).

[moondust]

14. History Channel too!

About a week ago on Sunday night prime time they ran a show that had a couple revisionists claiming they had evidence FDR knew about Pearl Harbor in advance, blah, blah, blah and should be considered a war criminal. Of course this has been investigated for 50 years officially and otherwise with no credible evidence.

Of particular interest was a disclaimer at the very end of the show that read, basically, "We report, you decide." Apparently they've decided it's okay to stand a pack of lies up next to a piece of documented history and give them equal treatment simply by saying "We report, you decide."

It reminded me of the Swift Boat smear so I wrote and asked them to run their junk TV at 3 a.m. along with other paid programming. I suspect they're fishing for viewers among Swift Boat suckers.

A pattern indeed!