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(More customer reviews)This book is misnamed, but otherwise an outstanding and essential work regrading the causes of and responsibility for the Pearl Harbor debacle. It sinks outright the majority of the Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories, and destroys most of the supports for the remainder.
Henry Clausen, at the time a major in the Army JAG corps, was appointed by Secretary of War Stimson in 1944 to reinvestigate the disaster at Pearl Harbor when it became apparent that the Army Board investigating Pearl Harbor received tainted testimony designed to prevent disclosure of the secret of Magic. Magic--information gained by breaking Japanese codes--was considered absolutely vital to the war effort and false testimony was given to prevent its disclosure. When it became apparent that these measures were distorting the proper evaluation of what took place at Pearl Harbor, Stimson ordered a new investigation by Clausen.
In order to circumvent the veil of secrecy around Magic, Clausen was granted access to Magic and permitted to carry certain pertinent Magic documents in an incendiary pouch to aid in deposing witnesses in his investigation. Presentation of the documents as Clausen's bona fides of being in on Magic club permitted witnesses to speak freely to him. But Clausen found not only lies designed to protect Magic, but to cover up individual failings.
What Clausen does best in this narrative of his investigation and testimony before the Congressional Pearl Harbor investigation is explain why General Short and Admiral Kimmel lack any semblance of a legitimate defense. Having had access to Magic, as well as War and Navy Department communications logs, Clausen lays out in sequence the warnings that Short and Kimmel received from their superiors, but later claimed they had lacked. He clearly draws an analogy between their performance of their duties and those of a sentry asleep at his post. This very effectively yanks the rug out from under the growing sympathy campaign for these two historical figures.
Clausen then goes farther and identifies twelve more individuals who contributed to the debacle, uncovering some little-known details of certain persons' roles and actions. He is on target in these evaluations which set on edge a number of revisionist "truths" that have come to light in recent years. The credibility of the late Rear Admiral Layton is particularly damaged.
However, although he cites Colonel Bratton for his failure to ensure that his deputy, Colonel Dusenbury, performed properly, Clausen fails to take the point far enough and misses a few contributory players. This might be a result of Clausen's freely admitted status as "a civilian lawyer in uniform" with no military officer training. As a result he misses the larger application of the principle he applies to Bratton, in which officers at higher levels of organization bear responsibility for the proper organization of subordinate levels.
Thus, General Marshall, General Miles, Admiral Stark, Admiral Noyes, Admiral Wilkinson, and Admiral Bloch escape Clausen's list of parties whose contributory negligence helped make the disaster through poor organization of the War and Navy Departments for war, and more particularly the poor organization of their Intelligence, Communications and War Plans divisions. However, he does successfully demonstrate that General Marshall and Admiral Stark were not guilty of any criminal negligence in the fashion of Short and Kimmel, both officers having transmitted appropriate warnings to their subordinates in Hawaii.
Hence, Clausen's work cannot be the "Final Judgement" claimed in the title.
It does, however, admit a breeze to clear away some of the smoke that obscures the truth about Pearl Harbor and permits conspiracy theories to thrive. It graphically demostrates that Pearl Harbor resulted from a systemic gaffe, personal failings and mundane events. By ordering and condensing the information received by Short and Kimmel, it becomes readily apparent exactly what they received in the way of warnings. By including previous correspondence discussing the hazard of air attack on Pearl Harbor, and anxiety about the issue,from the War and Navy Secretaries down to the Hawaiian commanders, Clausen dispels the notion that such an attack was inconceivable to the American leadership. Rather, it was a foremost concern.
Clausen also brings out the essential irrelevance of the "Winds Code Messages" by revealing that they governed a contingency that did not occur: disruption of communications with Japanese diplomatic posts before the onset of hostilities. Thus, looking for the Winds Code activation message as a precursor for war was faulty logic. Communications with Japanese diplomatic posts were not disrupted before hostilities and therefor there was no need to transmit the activation message. This did not, however, prevent US command and intelligence personnel from fooling themselves into looking for said message as an essential precursor to war.
Clausen also exposes the awkward arrangements made for decoding intercepted messages and the even more amateurish method of their distribution, tracking and routine destruction for security reasons. He further reveals the extent of stove-piping in the Army and Navy Intelligence divisions and the inter-service politics and rivalries that impeded the proper sharing and dissemination of priceless Magic-derived information.
Clausen's work is an essential one for understanding what happened to make Pearl Harbor an easy target. Do not be put off by its seeming Army-bias at times (Clausen's actually very fair if you read him impassively), or Clausen's causal and almost flip narrative, or Lee's imperfect editorial effort: pay attention to the facts being laid out and the conclusions being drawn. Then ask yourself if they make sense. I suspect after reading this work, you won't give a Pearl Harbor conspiracy theorist the time of day.
Also recommended: Prange's "At Dawn We Slept" and supporting volumes by Prange and his research staff, as well as Lord's more poetic narrative "Day of Infamy" and Layton's sometimes self-serving insider perspective "And I was there..." Toland's "Infamy" can be read for familiarity with the underpinnings of the conspiracy theories. ....
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