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

276 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
First 13 Parts of Japan’s Long-Awaited Reply
Delivered to Navy and Army
After leaving the locked pouch with Schulz at the White
House a little after 9:00 p.m., Kramer delivered the papers to
Navy Secretary Knox 20 at his Wardman Park apartment. After
some discussion, Knox told Kramer “there would be a meeting at
the State Department at 10:00 the following morning, Sunday.”
Knox wanted Kramer there “with that material and anything else
that had come in.” Kramer then drove to Admiral Wilkinson’s
home in Arlington, Virginia, where Admiral Beardall and General
Miles were having dinner. Beardall and Miles saw the papers
then at Wilkinson’s dinner party. 21 Wilkinson asked Kramer to
have that material plus anything new at the Navy Department
the next morning.
At about 11:30 p.m., Admiral Turner was rousted out of bed
at his home to receive the 13-part message. 22 A courier with the
message called at Admiral Ingersoll’s home at about midnight. 23
After making his deliveries, Kramer checked in at the Navy
Department—about 12:30 a.m.—to see if anything of importance
had come in from Tokyo or Berlin. As nothing had, he
went home. In any event, he “was on tap any hour of the day and
night by GY Watch Offi cers.” 24
Meanwhile, the Army courier, Colonel Rufus S. Bratton, distributed
the locked pouch with the intercepts to Chief of Staff
Marshall’s secretary, Colonel Bedell Smith, 25 announcing “that
20Ibid., part 33, p. 857, Kramer testimony before the NCI. Also ibid., part 9,
p. 4514, Bratton testimony before the Joint Committee.
21Ibid., p. 857, Kramer testimony before the NCI.
22Ibid., part 4, p. 1970, Turner testimony before the Joint Committee.
23Ibid., part 33, p. 809, Ingersoll testimony before the NCI.
24Ibid., p. 858, Kramer testimony before the NCI.
25Ibid., part 29, pp. 2421, 2423, Bratton testimony before the APHB.