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

The Administration Initiates an Investigation 403
to justify a trial than those involving misfeasance or malfeasance.”
Moreover,
For the president to discharge General Short summarily under
the provisions of Article of War 124 would tend even more
strongly than a dismissal by a sentence of a general court-martial
to enable him afterward to claim persecution. 125
To avoid the possibility that “the president’s exercise of discretion
in terminating the offi cer’s active service on his own application”
might constitute a “bargain” that Short would “not further
be prosecuted for known off enses occurring prior to retirement,”
Cramer suggested that Short’s request for retirement be accepted
with the understanding that it
will not constitute a condonation of his off enses, if any, on the
part of the War Department, or be considered a bar to any
future trial by general court-martial in case such trial should be
deemed advisable. 126
Acting on Cramer’s advice, Stimson on February 14, 1942,
instructed that a “saving clause” be included in the letter accepting
Short’s retirement “without condonation of any off ense or
prejudice to any action on behalf of the government.” 127 Th e War
Department’s February 17, 1942, letter to Short accepting his
application for retirement read as follows:
By direction of the president, Major General Walter C. Short
. . . upon his own application, is retired from active service to
124Ibid., pp. 3145–46. Judge Advocate General Myro C. Cramer memorandum
of January 27, 1942.
125Ibid. 126 Ibid.
127 Ibid.