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

1942–1944 415
Kimmel and Short Waive
Statute of Limitations
Over and over again Kimmel reviewed in his mind the orders
he had received as fl eet commander and his responses to them.
He kept asking himself what sins of commission or omission he
could have committed. He even began to think that perhaps he
had been somewhat responsible for the disaster. Yet he could never
fi gure out just how. Until he spoke with Rochefort in late 1942,
he had assumed, as Stark had assured him, that he was being supplied
with all available intelligence necessary for him to fulfi ll his
responsibilities as commander-in-chief of the Pacifi c Fleet. Not
until he learned from Rochefort of McCollum’s revelations did
Kimmel have any hint that Washington offi cials had been privy
to crucial information that had been denied him in Hawaii.
Th e only hope Kimmel and Short had for vindication was
to obtain a hearing at which they could reveal the orders under
which they had been operating prior to the attack and to explain
why they had taken the actions they had. Th ey were both anxious
for a speedy and open court-martial. 16 According to the
regulations then in eff ect, the opportunity for the government to
court-martial Kimmel and Short “for any alleged off enses” they
might have committed and with which they might be charged
would expire in two years, on December 7, 1943. Th e Navy, in no
hurry to see the two commanders court-martialed, was willing
to extend the deadline. Or even to let the statute of limitations
expire. Kimmel, for his part, was anxious not to let that happen,
lest the chance for a hearing be lost forever. He reminded Knox
(September 17, 1943) of his desire for a speedy trial in open court.
However, Kimmel wrote, he did not wish to put his own interests
16 “Kimmel Seeks ‘Open Trial’ at ‘Earliest Date’, ” Washington Star, March 29,
1944, pp. A–1, 4. See also Kimmel letter of March 16, 1944 (typed copy in
author’s possession).