Hitler Attacks Pearl Harbor: Why the United States Declared War on Germany [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Richard F. Hill (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This book should change the way that people think, write, and teach about the U.S. declaration of war against Germany. It offers a fresh interpretation that is well-researched, carefully argued, and convincing." - Michael Neiberg

Product Description
In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. politicians, policymakers, and citizens focused their desire for retribution not on the obvious target, Japan, but on Hitler's Germany. Richard Hill challenges a major point of conventional wisdom on U.S.-Axis relations to explain why the U.S. held Hitler responsible for the Japanese action - and why Hitler's December 11 declaration of war was inconsequential to the U.S. involvement in the European theatre. Hill's carefully argued analysis reveals widespread acceptance in late 1941 that the route to Tokyo was through Berlin. Despite emerging uncertainty about German guilt for Pearl Harbor, he concludes, the prevailing public opinion in the first weeks after December 7 mandated a Germany-first strategy and continued to color U.S. policy throughout the war.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers; illustrated edition edition (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588261263
• ISBN-13: 978-1588261267
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #657,394 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dismantling propagandistic history , August 22, 2004

By	Siegfried Sutterlin "a diplomatic and economi... (midwest) - See all my reviews

It is amazing how Hill's small book overwhelmingly and convincingly marshals massive evidence to debunk the myths surrounding Pearl Harbor yet receives almost no recognition so far from the history professions. By enlisting FDR's speeches, the Congressional Record, a large number of important newspapers as well as various polls, etc. he proves that between 60 to 70 percent of all Americans believed that Hitler and the Germans were behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, that the Nazis planned it, financed it and partially carried it out. This myth, if not giant lie, foisted upon America, was believed by most until May 8, l945 when captured German documents proved no connection whatsoever. So, what to do now? Well, historians then reformulated America's war declaration against Germany to be the result of Hitler's Dec. ll war declaration against the U.S. This diplomatic historian, for the first time, read Hitler's presumed war declaration, found it surprisingly informative and more of a defensive declaration against the undeclared war FDR initiated against Hitler and against the assault FDR planned against Europe according to Plan Rainbow Five which envisioned a l0 million member armed forces for America by '43 of which 5 million would invade Europe to get Hitler. This secret plan was leaked on Dec. 4, '41 to the Chicago Tribune and Hitler made reference to it in his presumed war declaration on Dec. ll. After America's war declaration against Germany, the German Foreign Office clarified the fact that H's speech was not a war declaration at all. It was merely a clarification of facts, but it was to no avail. FDR was able, a according to Hill, to transform a pre-Dec.7 limited naval war against Germany into a TOTAL WAR.
Hill's book was favorably reviewed in the American Historical Association Review, yet it still has not received much recognition in spite of its objective and apolitical approach to assess and evaluate correctly a crucial event of the 20th century.
Historians interested in analyzing the causes and background of major wars might want to compare the fact that 60 to 70 percent of all Americans believed Hitler to be behind the attack on Pearl Harbor with the fact that about the same percentage recently believed Saddam Hussein was connected with 9-ll--a myth that is being dismantled more rapidly than the post-Pearl Harbor myth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Important information conveyed in this book, October 29, 2007

By	Dirk Nomad "MrChris" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

The information conveyed in this book pretty much demolishes the notion that one of Hitler's worst and most mind-boggling of mistakes was to declare war on the US on 12-11-41 thereby bringing about total war against the US. Think how history would've been different, we are told, if Hitler had not so stupidly declared war on us.

This book demonstrates through marshalling of the very real evidence of political speeches, newspaper editorials, and public polling data that virtually all Americans were convinced that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was directly instigated by Adolf Hitler, and therefore a US total war on Nazi Germany was inevitable the instant the Japanese attacked Hawaii.

As another reviewer has said, the parallel between the falsity of this cassus belli with the notion that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked to the 9-11 bombings is uncomfortably close. An interesting question to ponder is this: what if all America KNEW on Dec. 7th that Hitler and the Nazis were inactuality scrambling for the nearest Atlas to find out where Pearl Harbor was when they first heard the news of the attack; that the Germans were as surprised if not moreso than we were by the attack. Would a big expeditionary force still have been sent to Europe?

The only negative in this book is that the author can be repetitious of certain facts and arguments. It has the feel of a paper or article that has been crudely stretched out to justify a book-size publication, though it is a pretty small book for all that. A good editor might have come in handy.

Otherwise, highly recommended.