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

Foreign Relations in an Election Year 31
Governments to obtain the latest types of aircraft in the United
States.” Concerning anti-aircraft equipment and ammunition,
“the most favorable consideration will be given to the request.”
And with respect to steel, he understood “satisfactory arrangements
have been made” for its purchase. FDR was also willing to
consider a visit of a U.S. squadron to Irish ports.
To the request that the United States keep Japan quiet, FDR
responded, “As you know, the American fl eet is now concentrated
at Hawaii, where it will remain at least for the time being.” 4
Churchill’s letter was dated May 15, British time. Given the
ten-hour diff erence between London and Hawaii, some 15 to 20
hours could have lapsed by the time, “late on the 15th of May,”
when Admiral Richardson, commander of the fl eet in Hawaii,
received the OPNAV (Chief of Naval Operations) cable advising
him that the fl eet was to remain in Hawaiian waters “for some
time” 5 (see pp. 27–28). In view of the timing, it is not inconceivable
that the OPNAV cable was prompted, at least in part, by
Churchill’s urging.
The European Situation Worsens
as France Falls
William C. Bullitt, whom FDR had sent to the U.S.S.R. in
1933 as the fi rst United States ambassador to that country, left
Moscow in 1936 to become U.S. ambassador to France.
By the spring of 1940, Britain’s troops were being hardpressed
on the continent by the Nazi military forces. In May
they were retreating to Dunkirk on the English Channel. From
there they were evacuated to England, thanks to their heroic and
dramatic rescue by a hastily mobilized British fl eet of 850 ships,
4 Ibid., pp. 95–96.
5 James O. Richardson, On theTreadmill to Pearl Harbor (Washington, D.C.:
Naval History Division, Department of the Navy, 1973), p. 311.