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

288 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
message for McCollum’s boss, Rear Admiral Wilkinson, Director
of Naval Intelligence, who had just arrived. Wilkinson sent for
McCollum and for 15 or 20 minutes the two men discussed the
Far East situation. Th en they heard that Admiral Stark, Chief of
Naval Operations, had arrived in the Navy Department—it was
quite unusual for Stark to come in to the offi ce that early on a
Sunday morning 14 and they went down to talk with him.
When Kramer arrived at Stark’s offi ce with the 14 parts
together with the other new material, it was “about 9:00 Sunday
morning, or possibly earlier, nearer 8:30.” Wilkinson and
McCollum were there discussing the situation with Stark. 15
McCollum stepped out of the offi ce for a moment and was
handed “the fi nal note to be delivered on the United States by
the Japanese ambassadors.” 16
Other Navy offi cers of the Division of Operations began to
appear in Stark’s offi ce—Admirals Ingersoll, Brainard, Noyes, and
Turner, possibly Captain Schuirmann also, as well as a few others.
All joined in the discussion. McCollum himself “was in and out
of Stark’s offi ce at about 0900 or 0930” and “on one of his entries
into Admiral Stark’s offi ce [he] met General Marshall coming
out of the offi ce . . . accompanied by his aide,” Colonel Bratton. 17
Kramer left to continue on to the State Department, anxious to
arrive before 10:00 a.m., when Secretary of Navy Knox’s meeting
14Ibid., part 8, p. 3905, Kramer testimony before the Joint Committee. See also
part 33, p. 869.
15Ibid., part 36, p. 25. McCollum testimony before the Hewitt Inquiry.
16Ibid., p. 26.
17Ibid., p. 27. McCollum testimony before the Hewitt Inquiry. See also this
author’s interviews of McCollum (May 18, 1945, with Admiral Kimmel and
Kimmel’s attorneys, Charles Rugg and Captain Robert A. Lavender; and
May 3, 1961, at the Army and Navy Club, Washington, D.C., with Admirals
Samuel Morison, Walter DeLany, John Shafroth, also Dr. Charles Tansill, and
Mrs. Wohlstetter present).