On the evening of 4 December, Roosevelt again convened a meeting of his principal aides at the White House in an attempt to make a correct judgment on the imminent attack of the Japanese fleet.

Attendees included National Security Advisor Ayres, Military Advisor Admiral Leahy, Secretary of State Hull, Legal Counsel Pena, Secretary of the Army Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Knox, and Army Chief of Staff Admiral Marshall.

One of them, Admiral Marshall, had just returned from an inspection tour of China, and he had brought back a deciphered telegram handed over to him by the Chinese government -- a credential sent by Japan to its ambassador to the United States asking him to submit it before 1 p.m. on December 7, Washington time, which was actually an official declaration of war.

Various indications and intelligence gathered from various parties have confirmed that a fleet of the Japanese Navy is sailing to the Hawaiian Islands for the purpose of raiding Pearl Harbor, the base of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, and even the time is almost determined, at this time, Roosevelt and his assistants have three options in front of them:

First, they could announce to the whole world that the Japanese fleet was approaching and that war was imminent. This "disclosure" is likely to prevent the outbreak of this war;

Second, they could notify Admiral Kimmel, commander of the Pearl Harbor base and fleet, while the Japanese fleet continued to advance toward the target, and have him alert the troops to evacuate the warships to the open sea, or preemptively smash the Japanese Navy's surprise attack;

The third option is what Roosevelt himself said to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in private earlier this year: the United States would only be justified in entering the war if one of the Berlin-Tokyo Axis powers suddenly invaded American territory, such as Hawaii.

In front of the congregation, in addition to all kinds of intelligence on the attack of the Japanese fleet, there was also an analysis report written by Commodore Pan Sen a month earlier, in which the crisis had been accurately predicted, and now it seemed that the situation was surprisingly consistent, and they could not help but suspect that there was an inside line in the Japanese headquarters or in the upper echelons of the military command department, otherwise it was really hard to believe that they would have received such accurate information. This made everyone in attendance amazed!

After being surprised, Roosevelt showed the courage of the president, saying: Although the risks are enormous, the United States can only have the opportunity to enter the war if it is violated, so as to avoid causing political and moral divisions at home and gain broad support from the people.

Everyone at the meeting was silent when they heard this, they knew that this was the truth, but if they just sat back and watched the attack on Pearl Harbor with the knowledge of the risks, and did not know how many officers and ships would be attacked and killed, none of them could agree to it!

And just like that, there was still no consensus at the meeting that night! ——

The next day, Ayers briefed Lee in Baltimore about the previous night's meeting and asked for his opinion.

Li Junhao could only tell him: In any case, this decision is difficult to reach, and besides, it is impossible for anyone other than President Roosevelt himself to make a decision for him, and this matter must be left to the president himself to solve.

In this regard, Ayers was speechless, and could only hang up the phone silently. Of course he understands the truth, but it's not easy to say it directly!

——

On the evening of December 6, the White House meeting was held again, and before the meeting, because of Roosevelt's active inquiry, Ayers conveyed Li Junhao's words to him, so soon after the meeting began, seeing that everyone had no new suggestions, Roosevelt made a direct decision: not to notify the defenders of Pearl Harbor, let Pearl Harbor be attacked by the Japanese army!

That night, Roosevelt and all the attendees stayed up all night, and no one left, waiting in the presidential living room in the White House, hoping to get information about Hawaii as soon as possible.

This night, Li Junhao, who was in Baltimore, was also a little nervous, but he went to bed early under Xiaoyu's active comfort, and did not stay up late like Mr. President and others......

——

Because of the time difference (Washington is 5 hours ahead of Hawaii), the first urgent telegram the White House received from Hawaii was at 13:45 p.m. on December 7 - a telegram sent by a logistics officer of the Pacific Fleet to the Admiralty claimed: An hour earlier, at 7:45 a.m. Hawaii time, Pearl Harbor was attacked by a large number of Japanese planes and suffered heavy losses!

Subsequently, all kinds of telegrams of alarms and reports began to come one after another......

Although he was not in Washington, Li Junhao still knew this for the first time, but at this time he could only shake his head and sigh, powerless to change anything! In the end, he could only order: Receive the telegram first, don't report it to yourself immediately, let's go together at night! As for the calls, I won't answer them today!

During this period, Ayres called, and after hearing Xiaoyu's relay, he sighed lightly and hung up without saying anything; The same was true of others such as Admiral Leahy and Secretary of the Navy Knox, and several senior CIA officials had already been informed and did not bother him with these matters.

——

This "Pearl Harbor incident" is the same as in the history of Li Junhao's previous life, and the Japanese embassy in the United States made another fuss -- according to the plan, the Japanese ambassador was supposed to deliver the declaration of war documents to the US State Department at 13 o'clock in the afternoon before the attack, but because of decoding and printing problems, the national credentials were delivered at about 14 o'clock in the afternoon!

As a result, Japan actually carried out a sneak attack on the United States, and it became an undeclared war! This undeserved blunder added to the anger of the entire United States over the attack, and it was the main reason why President Roosevelt called the day "a shameless day."

In fact, when the entire attack process was reviewed afterwards, it was discovered that at 7:40 a.m. Hawaii time, the first wave of Japanese planes had already flown to Oahu, Hawaii—that is, even if the Japanese ambassador handed over the declaration of war at 13 p.m. Washington time, Pearl Harbor had actually happened!

In this respect, the Japanese Navy is very much in line with the traditions of their army - making oolong incidents is a strong point!

——

At 13:30 p.m. Hawaii time, the last wave of Japanese planes flew away, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was over!

At a time when the U.S. homeland was anxious to determine the damage with Hawaii and the Pacific Fleet, Japan could not wait to announce that it would declare war on the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.

Subsequently, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, which reacted the fastest, declared war on Finland, Hungary, and Romania:

Canada declares war on Finland, Hungary, Japan, and Romania:

Panama and Yugoslavia declared war on Japan.

In this regard, Li Junhao feels that the political system of the United States is indeed a little rigid, and the speed of response to its own attack is not as fast as that of many allies!

(End of chapter)