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

xviii Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
Committee member Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan, he
side-stepped. His earlier recollections had been “faulty,” he said;
his memory had since been “refreshed.” Moreover, he fl atly denied
that anyone had asked him to change his testimony.
. . . . . . . .
Percy Greaves was hired privately to help the minority
Republicans, who had no funds for a research staff . He attended
every session of the Congressional hearings. In the course of fulfi
lling my assignment for Life, I saw him there regularly. He listened
intently to all the testimony. Occasionally he would whisper
in the ear of a Republican Committee member or write him
a note, calling attention to some particular point to pursue in his
questioning.
Percy’s serious interest in Pearl Harbor dated from those
hearings. He continued to pursue the subject after the hearings
closed. He interviewed participants, read everything he could
fi nd on the subject and researched all leads. Th us this book has
been many years in the making. I talked with Percy about Pearl
Harbor several times over the years.
Percy had completed a carefully documented draft when
he died in August 1984. His widow, Bettina Bien Greaves, has
done a noble job of reworking his materials, fl eshing them out,
and preparing his manuscript for publication. His revelations, as
they are presented here, should help future students interpret the
ramifi cations of the “seeds” that led to the Japanese attack, and
of the “fruits” of that attack, namely the investigations and the
attempted coverup.
John Chamberlain
January 1991