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

764 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
aspects” of Pearl Harbor were discussed. “[T]he chief point” he
remembered was “as to what time Admiral Stark got down [to
his offi ce Sunday morning, December 7] and whether there was
a conference in his offi ce.” Th ere were no papers at the luncheon,
and no mention was made of the “Winds Code” message, the
“Pilot Message,” or the 14-part Japanese reply. 125
Th en on September 28 Kramer was hospitalized. 126 (A month
earlier he had gone to the Navy Medical Hospital at Bethesda
for a routine physical check-up.) Th e hospitalization of “the most
important witness in the [upcoming congressional] investigation”
attracted press attention. 127 A United Press dispatch reported
Republican charges, denied by the Navy, that he “had been ‘broken
in mind and body’ and was being held incommunicado in a
hospital psychopathic ward.” 128 An Associated Press story also
held, quoting an unidentifi ed source, that Kramer was “being
badgered to change his original testimony.” 129 According to the
New York Times, Kramer “had been beset and beleaguered . . .
badgered and beset by an eff ort to breakdown (sic) his testimony.”
He denied the charge and “asserted that he was feeling very well
and would appear before the committee prepared to state fully
‘anything I know that they may want to know’.” 130
Kramer was visited in the hospital by Saff ord and committee
members Gearhart and Keefe. Th eir conversation was “very pleasant
in nature,” Kramer said; they made no attempt to “bulldoze”
125Ibid., pp. 4061, 4063.
126Ibid., pp. 3964, 4060.
127Ibid., pp. 3964–65.
128Ibid., p. 3966.
129 Ibid.
130 Ibid., p. 3965. Also C.P. Trussel, New York Times, November 12, 1945.