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

The Navy Court of Inquiry (July 24–October 19, 1944) 521
13 of 14 parts of a message or note to be delivered or transmitted
at some later date to our Secretary of State?” he replied: “I do not
recall that I was aware of such information.”
Was his failure to receive this information Saturday due “to
some failure in the echelons of command in transmitting the
information to [him]?”
Marshall: I couldn’t say off hand. It would depend on where I
was which I do not recall on that particular Saturday. I might
have been quite a number of places. I don’t know now where I
actually was. . . .
Q: And you have no recollection of where you were on Saturday
night?
Marshall: No, I haven’t. 105
Marshall stated fl atly that until Sunday morning, December
7, he had received none of the 14-part Japanese reply. 106
Marshall was willing to talk about Sunday morning,
December 7. He had been horseback riding and had come in to
the War Department immediately after the ride. Th ere he had
found the long reply from the Japanese government. “Th is was
a most unusual message,” he said. 107 He “read it through, naturally
carefully, and some parts of it several times to get the full
signifi cance of it. As I fi nished it I found another page which
was the message referring to 1:00 p.m.” as the specifi ed delivery
time. 108 Marshall then told about the last-minute message he had
drafted, which he and Stark sent to the fi eld commanders, advising
them that the Japanese had been instructed to deliver their
105Ibid., pp. 825–26.
106Ibid., p. 823.
107Ibid., pp. 826–27.
108Ibid., p. 822.