Evening star., 1942-01-25

by the President to inDesti-
gate the attack made by the
Jupanese on Pearl Harbor last
December 2, tolloUs::
The President,
The White House.
Sir:
The undersigned were appointed
by executive order of December 18
1s41, which defined our duties as 9
commission thus:
ito ascertain and report the facts
relating to the attack made by
Japanese armed forces upon the
Territory of Hawaii on December
I. 1s41."
"The purposes of the required
inquiry and report are to provide
. bases for sound decisions whether
, any derelictions of duty or errors
OF judgment on the part Of United
States Army or Navy personnel
contributed to such successes as
were achieved by the enemy on
the occasion mentioned, and if
50, what these derelictions or
errors were, and who were re-
sponsible therefor"
The Congress speedily supple
mented the executive order by
granting the commission power to
summon witnesses and examine
them under oath.
First Three Meetings
Held In Capital.
The commission held three meet
ings in Washington December 18, 10
and 20, and on the latter day pro-
ceeded to Honolulu, Territory Of
Hawaii, where the commission ar
rived December % and held meet
ings December %, %, "a and rs at
the headquarters OF the Hawaiian
Department, Fort Shafter, and De-
cember q, %, 80 and 81, 194l, and
January 2 and 8, 1912, at the Sub
marine Base, Pearl Harbor, and
January 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at the
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu.
January 10 the commission left
Honolulu for Washington. D. c.,
held meetings January II, IS and IA,
arrived at Washington January IS,
and held further meetings January
is, II, 18, 10, 20, 81, % and %.
The commission examined 127
witnesses and received large num-
ber of documents. All members OF
the military and naval establish
ments, and civil officers and citi-
zens who we're thought to have
knowledge of facts pertinent to the
inquiry were summoned and ex-
amined under oath. All persons in
the Island of Oahu, VINO believed
they had knowledge Of such facts,
were publicly requested to appear,
and a number responded to the in
yitation, and gave evidence.
Various rumors and hearsay state
ments have been communicated to
the commission. The commission
has sought to find and examine wit
nesses who might be expected to
have knowledge respecting them.
We believe that our findings Of fact
sufficiently dispose of most OF them.
Evidence Touches Some
Subjects Kept Secret.
The evidence touches subjects
which in the national interest should
remain secret. We have, therefore,
refrained from quotation OF testi-
mony or documentary proof. Our
findings, however, have been made
with the purpose fully and &C
curately to reflect the testimony,
which as respects matters OF fact is
substantially without contradiction.
It is true, as we have found, that
due to the enormous demand on the
Nations capacity to produce NUM-
tions and war supplies, there was
deficiency in the provision of ma
terrell for the Hawaiian area. This
was but natural, in the circum-
stances, and was well known to the
Government departments and local
commanders. We have made no de-
tailed findings on the subject. since
as will appear from our report, we
find that this deficiency did not
affect the critical fact of failure to
take appropriate measures with the
means available.
q At our hearings reference was
made to what has long been a mat
ter of common knowledge,-that
there are, and have been, diverse
views of national policy respecting
the basing of the entire United
States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Har-
Dor, T. H. We feel that the national
policy in this matter is one that
has been settled by those RESPONSE
BILE for such decisions and that it
Is not within our province-tnat of
finding the facts respecting the at
tack of December 7, and the re-
sponsibility for the resulting damage
to the United States-to discuss any
such topic.
Regrettable loss of life and ex-
tensive damage resulted from the air
raid. The nature of that damage
and the details of the measures
taken to repair it have no direct
bearing on the execution of the
mandate appointing this commits
sion, and the subject is dealt with
in our report only to the extent that
1t bears on questions of RESPONSE
bility for the disaster.
All Testimony Invited
In Wide Inquiry.
:, The evidence taken covered a
wide scope. The commission in
tentionally invited such latitude of
testimony and inquiry in the belief
that thereby incidental light might
be thrown upon the main issues in
volyed. AS an example. the COM