Last Updated: Thursday, January 01, 2009

1861: Ship Attacked; Starts U.S. Civil War

President Lincoln forced the confederate army to attack Fort Sumter to start the American Civil War.

President Lincoln sent in a supply ship to the Harbor of Fort Sumter, knowing it would be fired on.  He deliberately provoked the start of the Civil War.  He said that if the nation was going to be in a war at least it was a "Just" War.  Lincoln didn't lie to start it.  He just made sure it started.

1898: Ship Explosion; Blamed On Cubans; Starts Spanish American War

In 1898 the U.S. battleship Maine entered Havana harbor saying they were there to safeguard American citizens and property in Cuba during a revolt against Spanish rule. They then caused an explosion onboard their own ship and blamed it on the Cubans.  This lie was the United States' excuse to start the Spanish-American War. The War led to a four-year occupation of Cuba by the United States.

1941: U.S. Allows Pearl Harbor Attack To Join War

Dec 6,1941

Pearl Harbor; WWII

Roosevelt made sure Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor.  President Roosevelt was elected on a promise that he would not bring the United States into the War "unless we are attacked."  Then he created an oil embargo against Japan so that they were cornered into attacking the States.  The U.S. had also already cracked the Japanese codes so Roosevelt knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor.  He ordered his Naval Commander to place the old ships in the harbor.  The commander refused.  The new commander balked but reluctantly agreed.  Then the President ordered General Macarthur to stand down his air fleet in the Philippines, which cost Macarthur his commission.  The President made sure the attack succeeded.  He then declared War on Japan with the full support of Congress. 

August, 1964

1964: Fake Attack On Ship To Escalate Vietnam War

In August,1964,President Johnson lied about an attack on a U.S. ship so he could move ahead with the Vietnam War.  In what is known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the American government claimed that Vietnamese patrol boats fired on the U.S. destroyer Maddox on two separate occasions in early August 1964 in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.  President Lyndon Johnson seized the opportunity to secure authorization from Congress which provided the Johnson Administration with a blank cheque for further expansion of the war without having to seek additional Congressional approval.

Later it was found that the incident never happened