26. Like Many Strange Conspiracies, This One is Illogical
The only reason the US ended up in a war against Germany was because of one of Hitler’s greatest missteps. To the consternation of his generals, the Fuhrer declared war on America when he had nothing to gain, and everything to lose from gratuitously adding to his enemies the world’s wealthiest country and greatest industrial powerhouse. Without that irrational decision by Hitler, there is little reason to think that Congress would have declared war against Germany, which had not attacked America.
Even if a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor could have led to war against Germany, FDR’s alleged goal of getting America into the war would have been accomplished just as well if US forces had been prepared. A Japanese attack defeated by alert Americans would have still been an act of war by Japan. Roosevelt would still have gotten the war he supposedly sought, without thousands of American servicemen and civilians getting slaughtered. The US Navy could have ambushed the Japanese and sunk their fleet before it launched a single plane against Pearl Harbor, and its mere presence near Hawaii would have offered enough evidence of Japan’s hostile intent to justify war.