Third and fourth terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese struck the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack, knocking out the main American battleship fleet and killing 2,403 American servicemen and civilians. The great majority of scholars have rejected the conspiracy thesis that Roosevelt, or any other high government officials, knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had kept their secrets closely guarded, and while senior American officials were aware that war was imminent, they did not expect an attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt had anticipated that the first attack would take place in the Dutch East Indies, Thailand, or the Philippines.
Japanese-American life before World War II
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the public began to fear the idea of Japanese Americans possibly aiding a Japanese invasion. At one point, about one month before the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. State Department hired a special investigator to report on Japanese-American communities to make sure that the Japanese were not a threat to national security. The investigator's conclusion was that there is no evidence supporting a reason to fear sabotage from the Japanese Americans. This report was kept confidential, however, so the public was never aware of this report. Thus, all of the negative images they had concerning Japanese Americans were initiated by the media. The public was also unaware of the fact that over 65% of the Japanese Americans were U.S. born citizens. Also, there were rumors of possibly Japanese-American spies, but there was never any conclusive evidence.