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

Joint Congressional Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack: Part 3 791
Th e fi rst 13 parts of the Japanese reply were in the Navy
Department and ready for distribution by 9:00 p.m. on December
6. Before delivering the locked pouch with these 13 parts to anyone
else, Kramer took them to the White House. 210
Schulz had been given a small offi ce, not in the White House
proper, but in a corner of the mailroom in the White House
offi ce building. At about 9:30 p.m. Kramer came in with a locked
pouch, which he handed to Schulz. Schulz immediately took the
pouch over to the White House and obtained permission to go
up to the president’s study on the second fl oor. He was accompanied
by someone from the usher’s offi ce who announced him
to the president. Th en Schulz went into FDR’s study alone. “Th e
president was there seated at his desk, and Mr. [Harry] Hopkins
was there,” Schulz said. He told FDR that he was delivering the
material which Kramer had brought. 211
Schulz unlocked the pouch, took out the papers, “perhaps 15
typewritten pages . . . fastened together in a sheaf,” and handed
them to Roosevelt personally. According to Schulz,
Th e president read the papers, which took perhaps 10 minutes.
Th en he handed them to Mr. Hopkins. . . . Mr. Hopkins
then read the papers and handed them back to the president.
Th e president then turned toward Mr. Hopkins and said in
substance . . . “Th is means war.” Mr. Hopkins agreed, and they
discussed then, for perhaps 5 minutes, the situation of the
Japanese forces, that is, their deployment. 212
Schulz was a young graduate of Annapolis, decent and upright
in appearance, his manner open and forthright. Th ere could be no
doubting the truth of what he was saying. Th e spectators in the
210 Ibid., part 9, p. 4025.
211 Ibid., part 10, pp. 4660–61.
212 Ibid., p. 4662.