Very, very good point. Matter of perspective and all that.
To clarify on my earlier comment..."In the long run...well, we know how it turned out. In the short...he basically let thousands of U.S. sailors die.
That's a no-no"
I meant that, if true, FDR's decision cost the lives of thousands of U.S. sailors, for no real reason. War with the Axis was already inevitable, so why on earth would he do such a thing? To give "the people" a reason? Bull****. U.S. citizens didn't want a war, sure, but it was an inevitability. It was going to happen whether we wanted it or not.
The Nazis wouldn't suddenly halt their progression just because Americans frowned upon the practice of hostile takeovers. They'd have kept going, and going, and going, until they wound up on our damned coasts. It was a threat that had to be dealt with, by anyone who could carry and fire a rifle.
~Di, of course Hitler was a bad guy. There's no perspective there, he was an inhuman bastard...with one ball and a leather fetish. FDR, if this conspiracy has any merit to it, isn't much better. Letting your own soldiers die for so moronic a purpose is nothing short of mass murder. He'd of signed their death warrants the second he made his decision.
You know we dropped the A-bomb as a show of power, right? And because the Japanese just didn't want to give up their Emperor. An ancient position, and a major part of the tradition and culture. They were willing to negotiate a surrender, but weren't willing to lose their emperor. So...Hiroshima. We slaughtered innocent civilians (Yes, they were innocent. I don't give a flying **** if they worked in a "munitions factory". They were people, just doing their jobs...) there, and in Berlin. Carpet bombing the damned city!
America is no more the "Paladin of Truth and Valor" than are the Japanese and Nazis. (No, I'm not comparing America to those two, but we're not the beacon of goodwill and justice that we're taught in school.)
Edit: Typos...