KAWAGUCHI, Saitama Pref. ¨C Sneak attack? Yes. But a surprise? Not according to the Honolulu Advertiser. Its Nov. 30, 1941, edition proclaimed that ¡°Japan may strike over the weekend.¡±
A surprise at the U.S. governmental level? ¡°This dispatch is to be considered a war warning¡± read an admonition from U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Harold Stark on Nov. 27. ¡°An aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days.¡±
The people of America? A Gallup poll recorded that between July and September of that fateful year, the percentage of the public in favor of ¡°stopping Japan,¡± even ¡°at the risk of war,¡± had ¡°risen from 51 percent to 70 percent.¡± That Gallup was even asking such a question suggests the prospect of war was no great surprise to the heartland.
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