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

Air Raid, Pearl Harbor! This is No Drill! 323
in reproach or sorrow. In fact, one might almost have thought
they had been delivered from a long pain. 45
The Attack News Reaches
the War Department
A very few minutes after the news was picked up out of the
air on the west coast, the news reached the War Department in
Washington via the Navy. At about 1:30 p.m. a Navy enlisted
man, all out of breath, rushed into Marshall’s offi ce. Colonel
Deane was there trying to round up men, so as to have the offi ce
open on a skeleton basis by 3:00 p.m. that afternoon as Marshall
had directed. Th e Navy messenger was carrying a penciled note,
supposedly a message from the Navy radio operator at Honolulu:
PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED. THIS IS NO DRILL.
Deane immediately telephoned Marshall at his quarters at Fort
Myer where he was having lunch and told him of the message.
Marshall directed Deane to contact Hawaii if possible to verify
the report. Deane tried to phone, but the operator questioned his
authority and refused to put the call through to Pearl Harbor,
even though Deane was calling from Marshall’s offi ce. By this
time a more offi cial report came in confi rming the attack. 46
The Attack News Reaches
the State Department
In line with the instructions from his government, Ambassador
Nomura phoned the State Department at about noon to ask for a
1:00 p.m. appointment with Secretary of State Hull. Hull had read
45Winston Churchill, Th e Grand Alliance (Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1950),
pp. 604–05.
46Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 14, p. 1411, Deane’s June 8, 1942
memorandum to Brigadier General W.B. Smith.