Pearl Harbor : Final Judgement - Softcover

Clausen, Henry; Lee, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306810352 ISBN 13: 9780306810350

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2001

Synopsis

In 1944, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, knowing that high-ranking members of the military had falsely testified before the various bodies investigating the attack on Pearl Harbor, selected a then-unknown major by the name of Henry C. Clausen to undertake a new investigation. From November 1944 to September 1945, Clausen traveled more than 55,000 miles and interviewed over a hundred U.S. and British Army, Navy, and civilian personnel. He was given the authority to go anywhere and question anyone under oath, from enlisted personnel right up to George C. Marshall, the chief of staff. He ultimately presented an 800 page report to Stimson—a report that revealed a massive operational failure by the United States to use the priceless intelligence signals that it had obtained months before Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is the "final judgement"-the story behind Clausen's investigation and a blistering account of his conclusions.

About this title

About the Author:

Henry C. Clausen lived and practiced law in San Francisco. He died in 1993. Bruce Lee, in a long and distinguished publishing career, has been editor-researcher for Cornelius Ryan and the editor of Gordon Prange, Admiral Edwin T. Layton, Ronald Lewin, Gordon Wekhman, William Craig, Ralph Bennett, and Charles B. MacDonald. He lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

This book goes a long way toward ending the 50-year-old debate as to how the Japanese managed to surprise U.S. forces when they bombed Hawaii on December 7, 1941. In 1944, Secretary of War Henry Stimson selected co-author Clausen, then a lawyer in the U.S. Judge Advocate's office, to conduct an independent investigation into the Pearl Harbor attack; Clausen submitted a top-secret report on the matter, the substance of which is published here for the first time. Assisted by New York-based editor Lee, Clausen details his discovery of egregious errors of omission and commission, as well as criminal neglect of duty by the Army and Navy high command in Washington and Honolulu. He concludes that the top officers in Hawaii, General Walter Short and Admiral Husband Kimmel, were simply asleep at the switch and ignored repeated warnings. Probably the most telling factor in this failure of communication, he argues, was the Navy's arrogant hoarding of secret intelligence that should have been shared with its Army counterparts. This thoroughly engrossing narrative, as compelling as a detective novel, answers two major questions: What did Washington and Honolulu know about Japanese actions before the attack and what did they do about it? A significant historical breakthrough that should attract a wide readership. Photos. 60,000 first printing; BOMC, QPB and History Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0306810352
• ISBN 13: 9780306810350
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 485