Posts from dukefan1 in thread „Flying Tigers (1942)“

Maybe the feeling of the American people may have been shifting about the war in Europe and the Pacific, but they were not in a rush to send their boys to fight, in my opinion. the article states :

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While President Roosevelt, his cabinet and staff, together with Captain Claire Lee Chennault and representatives of the Chinese Nationalist Government worked secretly on a plan to bomb Japan before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the failure to timely implement and execute the plan had devastating consequences for America.

I don't think it was a failure to not implement the bombings, for we would have been the aggressor and I don't think there would have been a rush to join up if that was the case. The attack on Pearl Harbor infuriated the public and "woke up a sleeping giant" as Adm. Yamamoto had stated after the attack. That caused the Nation to rise up as one in the sole purpose to avenge the attack. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was exactly what was needed to light the fire in the US. War between America and Japan may have been in the wind, but the People were not in a rush to engage it...untill Pearl.

Mark

That's very interesting, Taka. The thought that Roosevelt thought to "strike first" is something I had never heard before. I wonder how the American public would have felt if Roosevelt had taken that route when all I've heard was that the public at large wanted to stay out of the conflict. I may just have to look up the book.

Mark