i disagree that this is widely accepted. i know there has been some who suggested there is more to the pearl harbor story, just like some believe oswald didn't act alone.

there were those who believed we should pander to hitler (charles lindbergh leaps to mind) as well as those who were isolationists. but how letting japan attack was going to send us to europe, i don't know.....
the u.s. wasn't necessarily neutral, not with our lend-lease program. we hadn't achieved superpower status, that came with the war.
but in all my readings about the war, and all the shows i've seen on history and discovery, i have not seen anything that tells me FDR allowed us to be hit like that and not be prepared.

after all, if he knew--we wouldn't have gotten our navy destroyed, we'd have been ready for this attack. japan would still have been the bad guy--and we still would have had people in an uproar that they tried to attack.

as for japan moving their navy without us knowing--you are aware how old radar is, and what it really came into wide use? you also know how huge the pacific ocean is....not hard to imagine them moving that close.

i have read several books about washington, as well as the other founding fathers. amazing we had so many right men for the job, they were all around when we needed them most. he was imposing-and very standoffish. matter of fact, a man was dared to go up to washington at a social gathering and pat him on the back when he said hello. he said the look he got made him very, VERY sorry for doing so! lol it's funny how many places you can visit up and down the east coast and see signs saying 'washington slept here'.

Of course, Truman's approval ratings were in the toilet at more than one point, and he had his own scandals to deal with. History has been kinder to him than his contemporaries were. I like Truman (LOVED McCullough's biography of him), but it's interesting how history shapes things.

Famous Truman quote, on the firing of McArthur: "I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail."

Man did not pull punches, which got him in trouble a lot.

In fact, here's a link to a TIME article from 1973, full of Truman quotes:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...romoid=googlep

lol
pols were a different breed back then--but then, so were the generals! patton especially. we need someone like him now! he might not have been p.c., but we need strength now, not p.c.

of the 4 listed Truman.....

Doesn't much matter who's at the helm when we have a gutless Congress that has to have polls run to arrive at an "original" thought!

I agree, Timm...

Since all politicians are considered liars, maybe Nick Saban should run. HAHA! :D