Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

Author’s Preface
When the attack on Pearl Harbor was announced on the radio,
my sister phoned. I was outdoors playing touch football
with my nine-year-old boy and some of his friends. I went
inside immediately and turned on the radio. From that moment
on I have followed Pearl Harbor developments closely.
At dawn on December 7, 1941, the Japanese had attacked
the United States U.S. Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor in the
Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii was then a territory of the United
States, not yet a state. Nevertheless, that blow brought the United
States into the war that had been started in Europe by Hitler’s
attack on Poland in September 1939. Th e war then exploded
worldwide, with fronts not only in Europe and in the Atlantic
but also in Asia and the Pacifi c.
Th e generally accepted explanation for our entry into the war
was simply Japan’s “unprovoked and dastardly attack” on Pearl
Harbor. However, the responsibility for the extent of the disaster
was attributed to a considerable extent to failures on the
part of the two commanders at Pearl Harbor—Navy Admiral
Husband E. Kimmel and Army General Walter C. Short. To
many, this settled the matter; the two commanders were to blame,
held up to public shame, relieved of their commands, and forced
into early retirement.
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