We twisted Japans arm with the embargo because if I recall correctly they were warring with China and us cutting off the oil forced the nips hand.
Yeah. The US was pulling a lot of crap around the world like now. Back then the sentiment was strongly anti-war coming out of WWI where America had lost men and written off bad debt for weapons that were never fully paid off. But Roosevelt (the guy who confiscated gold by EO) was doing everything possible to wage war against Germany without actually doing it. The attack from Japan was a godsend for him.
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