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

436 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
much, if any, of Saff ord’s detailed testimony could be believed?
Saff ord’s memory could be playing tricks on him.
* * * * *
Secretary of Navy Knox died suddenly of a heart attack on
April 28, 1944, while the Hart Inquiry was in progress. James V.
Forrestal, then undersecretary of Navy, was sworn in as his successor
on May 19. 49
Hart concluded his inquiry on June 15 and adjourned “to
await the action of the convening authority.” 50 Th e testimony of
witnesses was recorded and submitted with the several documents
and exhibits introduced to Forrestal.
Safford Finds the Missing Intercepts
After testifying at the Hart Inquiry, Saff ord continued his
search for the intercepts. But he was unsuccessful; all copies
seemed to have disappeared. Saff ord was mystifi ed. Finally someone
told him about a packet of papers in a Navy safe labeled
“P.H.” Perhaps that contained the documents he was looking
for. It did! It contained an almost complete set of the missing
Japanese intercepts. Saff ord then had copies made and restored
to the fi les. 51
No one has ever been able to explain how the four original
copies of each intercept produced for the government’s Army
and Navy permanent fi les and held under tight security had been
lost or destroyed. Apparently this one set of intercepts survived
because of a series of coincidences. On December 9, almost immediately
after the attack, Navy Secretary Knox fl ew to Hawaii to
investigate the damage done by the Japanese. He didn’t return
49 Walter Millis, ed., Th e Forrestal Diaries (New York: Viking Press, 1951), p.
xxiii. Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 26.
50 Ibid., pp. 471–72.
51 Saff ord’s conversations with author; notes in author’s fi les.