Replying to a message of Jeff Snyder to Bob Ackley:

 JS> On 04/11/09, Jeff Snyder quoted Bob Ackley: Obama's Empty Nuclear.

 BA>> In point of fact the use of those two nukes *was* unnecessary.
 BA>> Unfortunately for all concerned the US government didn't find out it
 BA>> wasn't necessary until some months after the fact.  A month or two
 BA>> before the nukes were used the Japanese government sent a message to
 BA>> its ambassador in Moscow telling him to ask Stalin to open a
 BA>> communication line with the Allies in order to talk about ending the
 BA>> war in the Pacific.  Stalin elected to not pass the message along or
 BA>> take any other action.  The original message (and any responses) was
 BA>> intercepted by US intelligence, but was not decrypted or translated
 BA>> until months after the war had ended.  Diplomatic traffic had a low
 BA>> priority.  The story is is David Kahn's "The Codebreakers,"
 BA>> MacMillan, 1966.  Note that Stalin declared war on Japan *after* the
 BA>> first nuke was used, prior to that time the two countries were not
 BA>> at war.  In point of fact, there was considerable shipping between
 BA>> the US west coast and Vladivostok throughout the war; said shipping
 BA>> was not convoyed and was not bothered by the Japanese navy.


 JS> Hello Bob. Thanks for the interesting information. I was not aware of
 JS> any of that. Can the information be trusted though?

I and a whole lot of other people think so.  Mr. Kahn is an authority on that
particular subject.  The book is very well researched and while it mentions
the above events they take up about a paragraph in a hardcover book that's
about two inches thick.  The subject of the book is cryptography and 
cryptanalysis.  A newer edition of the book was issued in around 1995.

 JS> On a related note, what is your, and everyone's, view on the story
 JS> which has circulated for years, that President Harry S. Truman was
 JS> more than aware of the imminent Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

Truman didn't take office until the war was almost over in 1945.  As to
whether or not Roosevelt minor had foreknowledge of the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor I'm inclined to doubt it.  I do think he expected the Japanese
to attack (because of his actions against Japan), just not there.  My opinion,
of course.

His reported reaction to the news of the attack was shock and the words
"Not Pearl."

 JS> Does anyone here lend it any creedence, or do you view it as nothing more
 JS> than conspiracy theory?

There are those who claim FDR was in a conspiracy to get the US into the war.
Since the US had *been* actively involved in WW II *combat* for months at the
time of the Japanese attack that doesn't seem to hold water.  Some also claim
that the US had intercepted messages on the subject.  AFAIK the only messages
on the subject that had been intercepted, decrypted and translated were diplomatic
traffic, and the messages were ambiguous and in any case did not say anything
about Japanese strategic or tactical plans.  About the only message of significance
WRT Pearl Harbor was the one that instructed the Japanese ambassador to deliver
the Japanese response to Roosevelt's demands at precisely 2 pm on December 7th
(December 8th Japan time); only one person realized the significance of the time 
and checked to see where it would be just after dawn at that time - Pearl Harbor.
A warning message to General Short from General Marshall was delivered to General
Short at 3 pm on December 7th - seven hours after the attack had ended.

As I've noted before, hindsight is always 20/20.  One can *always* see the signs
that pointed to an event after the event has occurred.  In the time leading up to the
event the signs are not always so clear.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+