For older generations, December 7th, 1941 is one of those dates that are mile-markers on the grand tapestry of the American story. An unsuspecting America, just minding our own business, was suddenly and without provocation attacked by the sneaky Japs. It is something so broadly and deeply accepted, without serious question, that even today it has a powerful influence on my thinking. Who can look at photos of that day and see the U.S.S. Arizona burning and listing before it went under the water with over 1,100 young American men trapped aboard and not feel something?
As with almost everything I have been told all of my life, the story of Pearl Harbor specifically and World War II generally has been full of exaggerations, misrepresentations and outright lies.
A guy I have known online for many years, Darrell Dow, published a good summary of how the leadership of the U.S. knew that the attacks were coming and not only didn’t do anything about it but were excited to have a pretext to enter the war:
The attack on Pearl Harbor is yet another sacred cow of the American mythology that has been exposed as at best deceptive and at worst an outright lie. Is there anything we have been told about our history that isn’t a lie?
