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

286 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
In spite of Hart’s willingness to cooperate with the British,
he was startled by the news he received just after Phillips’s departure
from U.S. Naval Observer John M. Creighton in Singapore.
Creighton reported that Brooke-Popham, commander of the
Royal Air Force in Malaya and of the British Army Forces, had
been advised on Saturday by the War Department in London that
they had “now received assurance of American armed support” in
three eventualities: (1) if the British were obliged to forestall a
Japanese landing on the Isthmus of Kra, or on any other part
of Siam, (2) if the Dutch Indies were attacked and the British
went to their defense, or (3) if the Japanese attacked the British.
Moreover London had advised Brooke-Popham that if he had
reliable information that the Japanese were advancing with the
apparent intention of landing on Kra or in Siam, he need not
consult London to put his operation plan into action. London
also advised him that the British-Dutch plan was to be put into
operation if the Netherlands East Indies was attacked. 10
If the United States was committed to helping the British
militarily in the event of a Japanese attack in southeast Asia, it
could not be long before we would be asked to fulfi ll that promise.
Th e immediacy of a possible call for U.S. “armed support”
led Hart to wire Washington about Creighton’s report, saying he
had “received no corresponding instructions.” 11 Hart’s message
left Manila three-and-a-half hours after the one sent by Hart
and Phillips jointly—6:45 a.m. GMT (2:45 p.m., December 7,
Manila time, or 1:45 a.m. December 7 in Washington). It reached
Washington during the night of December 6–7 but wasn’t
decoded immediately. An information copy went to Kimmel
10 Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 10, pp. 5082–83. See Creighton
(ALUSNA), Singapore telegram, December 6, 1941, to Admiral Hart in
Manila, included in Creighton testimony before Joint Committee hearings.
11 Ibid., part 14, p. 1412.