Justified Deception

In late 1940 and early 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt was told by his military advisors that Japan intended to expand her empire in the Far East. He knew that if Japan were to seize the resources of the Indies and Malaysia she would become so strong that she would then try to overrun the entire Pacific. Roosevelt knew the United States was totally unprepared for war and although Congress had voted funds for the enlargement of the Navy, when it was believed Great Britain might sue for peace with Hitler and the British Navy would no longer protect the Atlantic, they refused to vote funds for the Army and the Air Corps. The President knew he would have to get into a shooting war before Congress would rearm the nation. With the help of Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain and some others, he came up with a plan of deception that would lure the Japanese into believing the American Fleet would intervene if Japan moved against British and Dutch possessions. Japan would never allow this to happen, he believed she would launch a sneak attack on the Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The events described in this book could have taken place. It didn't happen, but it could have.

DISCLAIMER Th is book is a work of fi ction; it does not imply, except in a fi ctional mode, that there was any conspiracy by members of the American and British governments to cause a deception that would force the Japanese to take action against any possible intervention by American forces. No scrap of evidence has every come to light regarding such a deception and I do not believe that any such evidence will ever be forthcoming. Th is book, for the most part, is the result of my having eaten a large sausage pizza before going to bed. It is a work of fi ction and history buff s will see I have taken many liberties. I make no excuses; it is only a work of fi ction. Some of the people I have written about really lived and some did not. Some of the events I have written about really took place and others did not. I wrote this book in the hopes that it would provide the reader with a few hours of pleasant reading. Remember, it is a work of fi ction. It never happened, BUT IT COULD HAVE…. “In war, truth is so valuable that it must always be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies.” Winston Churchill “In war, deception may be your sharpest sword.” Sun Tzu This book is dedicated to those who have served.

Paul Lillard is an 80-year-old, disabled veteran of the Korean War. He had intended to make the Army a career but during his second tour in Korea he received wounds that caused him to leave the service. He was a town constable, a bartender at the old Superstition Inn in Apache Junction, Arizona, and a prospector, which he gave up after being bitten by a rattlesnake. He went to work with his father in Tacoma, Arizona, where he composed a book of comic poetry. After his father’s death he moved back to Apache Junction and in 2007 began work on this book. He got his book in shape with the help of his next door neighbor, a lady who teaches English in a local school. He is now working on his second book of comic poetry with her assistance.