The argument that Japan was merely Hitler’s cat’s-paw in Asia had long been common among advocates of intervention, particularly since the signing of the Tripartite Pact.10 But in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, some went even further to suggest that German planes, and even Nazi pilots, had led the Japanese assault. This partly reflected the long-standing racially charged insinuations that the Japanese were incapable of perpetrating such sophisticated operations.
