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

617
27.
Joint Congressional
Committee on the
Investigation of the
Pearl Harbor Attack
November 15, 1945–May 31, 1946: Part 1
After almost four years of fi ghting on land, sea, and in the air,
after the detonation of two atomic bombs on Japan—one on
Hiroshima (August 6) and the other on Nagasaki (August
8)—the Japanese fi nally admitted defeat. On August 25 Emperor
Hirohito broadcast to the Japanese people that the country’s
forces were surrendering. August 25, 1945, was declared V-J Day.
World War II had ended.
A couple of weeks later—on August 29—the new president,
Harry S. Truman, who had taken offi ce after the death of
President Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, released the reports of the
Army Pearl Harbor Board and Navy Court of Inquiry. 1 A veritable
fi restorm erupted. Th e earlier Roberts Commission had found
1 New York Times, August 30, 1945. pp. 1, 4, 5, 6, and S. 6-15.