Paul Lillard

Justified Deception Paul Lillard

In late 1940 and early 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt was told by his military advisors that Japan intended to expand her empire in the Far East. He knew that if Japan were to seize the resources of the Indies and Malaysia she would become so strong that she would then try to overrun the entire Pacific. Roosevelt knew the United States was totally unprepared for war and although Congress had voted funds for the enlargement of the Navy, when it was believed Great Britain might sue for peace with Hitler and the British Navy would no longer protect the Atlantic, they refused to vote funds for the Army and the Air Corps. The President knew he would have to get into a shooting war before Congress would rearm the nation.

With the help of Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain and some others, he came up with a plan of deception that would lure the Japanese into believing the American Fleet would intervene if Japan moved against British and Dutch possessions. Japan would never allow this to happen, he believed she would launch a sneak attack on the Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The events described in this book could have taken place. It didn't happen, but it could have.