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Title: Kimmel and Short, “commission” scapegoats to protect FDR
Source:
Talking Proud
URL Source: http://www.talkingproud.us/HistoryKimmelShort.html
Published: Apr 18, 2004
Author: MAREK
Post Date: 2009-05-25 17:22:25 by Deasy
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Keywords: WWII, Doc Martens, Pearl Harbor, Japan
Views: 85
Comments: 3
The Japanese attacked the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941. Within less than two weeks, Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lt. General Walter Short, the two senior military commanders on Hawaii, were fired, each was stripped of their rank, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed a commission to search for evidence of dereliction of duty on the part of the military in Hawaii. The commission found both Kimmel and Short guilty of dereliction of duty and each died with that albatross around their necks. History has long since cleared their names, but the Department of Defense will not. There is a lesson here for us as the 9-11 Commission proceeds. It is that time is needed to allow detailed research by professionals trained to do that kind of painstaking work when events are so significant. Commissions cannot do this. Furthermore, there is no need to rush into an investigation right away, especially when there is a war to fight. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander-in-chief, Pacific Fleet, 1941 Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Commanding general, Hawaiian Department Let’s step back from the current work of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9-11 Commission, and go back December 7, 1941 when the Japanese Empire attacked the Hawaiian Islands and killed some 3,500 Americans. The US declared war against Japan one day later. There were some nine investigations into the Hawaiian Island attacks between December 22, 1941 and July 15, 1946, if you include an immediate Naval inquiry conducted by the Naval leadership. The common theme of all the investigations, reviews and commissions that followed was that America's failure to anticipate the attacks was largely attributable to the country's almost total lack of an intelligence apparatus in 1941.
April 18, 2004
There were plenty of political reasons for holding such inquiries. Americans were very angry that such an attack could occur. They were also angry that the attack drew the US into a World War that President Roosevelt promised them they would not have to fight.
The speed of events following the attack is curious, given that Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, occupied Paris in 1940 and the Battle of Britain began in 1940. The US would not enter the war until the Pearl Harbor attack occurred, in late 1941.
Yet, the American executive and his bureaucracy were unusually ready to move quickly once Hawaii was attacked.
The Japanese attack demolished the American Pacific fleet on December 7, 1941. In less than two weeks, the US Congress declared war against Japan, three American flag officers were relieved of duty for their negligence at Pearl Harbor, and President Roosevelt established a commission to investigate.
The three flag officers fired were the two commanders in Hawaii, Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lt. General Walter Short. Admiral Kimmel was the Commander, US Pacific Fleet. Short was the Commanding General Hawaiian Department, US Army. Short was relieved on December 16, 1941, and Kimmel the next day, December 17. Also relieved was Major General Frederick LeRoy Martin, 59, Hawaiian Air Force Commander.
On December 18, 1941, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating a commission to investigate the attack. It was very public and came to be known as the Roberts Commission. It was named after Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts, who led it. By order of President Roosevelt, the mandate of the commission was to determine whether there were derelictions on the part of U.S. military personnel. There was no mandate to investigate the responsibilities of any civilian authorities.
The commission met the day it was established, it was in Honolulu by December 22, and it issued its report on January 23, 1942, just less than two months after the attack.
The commission faulted bad information coming into Washington that placed the bulk of the combined Japanese fleet steaming south from Japan instead of east to Hawaii. It also placed institutional blame on the Departments of the Navy and the Army for failing to share information. But, the bulk of the blame was placed on the shoulders of the military leadership in Hawaii.
The commission charged that the Kimmel and Short ignored the importance of an alleged war warning from Washington and charged that they failed to take sufficient defensive actions. Overall, the two officers were said to be guilty of dereliction of duty. Interestingly, neither officer was court-martialed. Each was allowed to retired at lesser rank.
It is worth noting that President Roosevelt never accepted responsibility for the attack, and certainly never apologized.
History has shown that Admiral Kimmel and General Short were scapegoats for the failure to protect against the attack. There was information available warning of this attack, and that information was not provided to either officer. The US had decoded Japanese radio message traffic informing of the impending attack. Admiral Kimmel has said he believes that those who knew of this message traffic knew a war with Japan was inevitable, and therefore chose to withhold it. He charges that those who knew included the president, his key cabinet officials, and the senior military leadership in Washington. He has further charged that these men did not tell the military commanders in Hawaii because they feared these commanders might take action to deter the attack.
There has been a great deal of effort expended to clear the names of Admiral Kimmel and General Short and restore their highest rank. Their cases to this day have not been reversed.
In 2000, following great debate and a close vote along political lines, the US Senate passed a resolution saying that Short and Kimmel had performed their duties “competently and professionally” and that the Japanese attacks were “not a result of dereliction of duty.” The Department of Defense refuses to budge, and both men remain in their graves stripped of rank, their honor and integrity.
General Short retired early from the Army and died in 1949. Admiral Kimmel retired in March 1942. He died on May 14, 1958. Kimmel retired at the rank of rear admiral (two stars vice four), and Short at the rank of major general (two stars vice three).
What is so striking about all this is this "need for speed" to pin blame on someone in the military for dereliction of duty. Seeking evidence of dereliction of duty was the mandate of the investigation. In retrospect, it would seem that the number one priority would have been to go to war and win, and leave pinning blame later. The Japanese attacked. They are to blame. Furthermore, commissions cannot possibly do a good job investigating blame for this kind of thing, and certainly cannot do so this quickly. It took many years for historians trained in research to dig out and collate the facts. Their rendition is markedly different than that of the commission.
It takes time and professionals, not speed and politicians, to do this kind of thing.
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#1. To: Deasy (#0)
Interesting history concerning Justice Owen Roberts. Roberts was the gentleman that switched sides during Roosevelts early years to give FDR everything he wanted. Had Roberts had a backbone, we may well have been rid of Roosevelt before WW2. When FDR needed a whitewash job, he knew exactly whom to pick, Justice Roberts. In thirty days, Roberts wrapped everything up nice and tidy and the American people bought it lock stock and barrel. Justice Roberts then "retires" and just happens to pick off a plum of a job as President of Penn University. We now have another Roberts as Chief Justice.
Odd that all the aircraft carriers were at sea during the attack.
Mind you, Roosevelt was Asst. Sec. of the Navy in 1918/19 when the War Dept. predicted that Japan would some day strike South for oil. Who was it that shut off Japans oil???? The name escapes me.
On December 18, 1941, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating a commission to investigate the attack. It was very public and came to be known as the Roberts Commission. It was named after Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts, who led it. By order of President Roosevelt, the mandate of the commission was to determine whether there were derelictions on the part of U.S. military personnel. There was no mandate to investigate the responsibilities of any civilian authorities.
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
Dancing Turtles and Bouncing Boobs
...that's Turtle Island.
#3. To: Turtle (#2)
Odd that all the aircraft carriers were at sea during the attack.
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