Amherst Regional High School students had a history lesson when they invited a World War II veteran to talk about his experience during Japan’s “surprise” attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 (“Students relive ‘Date in Infamy’,” May 16).
They might learn another one by researching whether this attack was set in motion by the president of the United States as a pretext to generate support for entering the war.
Robert B. Stinnett’s book, “Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor,” makes the case that the attack was planned. In 1940, following a plan developed by Arthur McCollom, a Lieutenant commander in Naval intelligence, Roosevelt carefully chose military chiefs and cabinet members to advise him in laying the groundwork for provoking Japan into attacking the United States.
Japan had been at war with China since 1937. In 1940 and 1941, FDR worked with the Dutch to cut off oil supplies needed by Japan to carry out their military objectives. He also ordered Admiral James O. Richardson to move the headquarters of the United States fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor. Richardson resisted, contending that among other reasons it would make the fleet vulnerable to attack. He was relieved of his command and the move was made.
His replacement was Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, who was promoted to admiral in February 1941 and elevated to a newly-created post — commander of the Pacific fleet. However, Kimmel was kept out of the loop whenever particular aspects of the plans were put in place.
Kimmel became a scapegoat for the attack that cost the lives of more than 2,000 sailors and civilians. He was blamed for bringing the fleet to Hawaii and for being unprepared to defend against the attack. Over the decades, his sons and then his grandsons tried through appeals to members of Congress to restore his full rank. Finally, a Senate committee exonerated Kimmel in a report released in 2000.
In his thoroughly documented account, Stinnett publishes copies of the radio intercepts of U.S. operators that show the Japanese fleet had been tracked across the Pacific from Hitokappu Bay to Honolulu.
But Stinnett has not been the only journalist to examine this event. For instance, in “How To Start A War,” Richard Sanders quotes from Secretary of War Henry Stimson’s diary in November 1941, “The question was: how we should maneuver them (the Japanese) into the position of firing the first shot.”
Learning lessons from the past may help us avoid future wars.
Mary L. Wentworth
Amherst