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

The Public Had Questions 357
civilians in fi ghting back at the attackers and in rescuing men
from burning ships and the harbor’s oil-covered fl aming waters.
Friday, December 12, was taken up with interviews with
Hawaii’s leading industrialists and senior Army offi cers. Knox,
a veteran newspaperman, assembled the raw materials he would
need for his report—information about damage to ships, possible
sabotage, casualty lists, copies of Japanese charts, damage repairs,
ship repair yards and many photographs.
Knox Writes His Report
and Delivers it to FDR
Knox and his party took off Friday evening. Knox spent most
of that night on the fl ight back to the mainland drafting his
report. By morning it was pretty well fi nished in rough, handwritten
form. Th e plane landed in San Diego at 10:30 a.m., and when
it took off on the next leg of the journey, Knox had a borrowed
portable typewriter, paper and carbon. By the time they landed
in El Paso at 4:00 p.m., Lieutenant Commander Hayes, a former
court stenographer, had it fi nished in typed form. Th ey gassed up,
but the weather closed in and they had to spend another night in
Midland, Texas.
On Sunday evening they arrived in Washington, and Knox
went directly to the White House to deliver his report to
Roosevelt. Th e original copy bears a notation in FDR’s handwriting:
“1941—given me by F.K. 10:00 p.m., Dec. 14, when he
landed here from Hawaii. FDR.” 15
Th e next morning Knox returned to the White House. FDR
had gone over Knox’s report and “written out in pencil a series of
points concerning the Pearl Harbor attack which he told Secretary
Knox to use at his press conference on the subject.” FDR’s notes,
after deleting matters that an enemy should not be allowed to
15 Beatty 1953 interview cited above, p. 13.