Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-12-04
Truth on PeurI Hurbor
Nc, Secret, Says Writer
Says Nobody Yet Everybody
Responsible for TRAGEDY

SNJS VFhtSs
Says Nobody Yet Everybody
Responsible for Tragedy
BY David Laurence
The truth about Pearl Harbor isn't
secret at all. Any one who will take
the time and trouble to read the pub
hshed documents and to relate them to
the method and system by which the
War, Navy and State Departments and
the White House and Congress operate
can arrive at very simple conclusion.
That conclusion is best stated in the
form Of paradox: Nobody was respon-
sible for the Pearl Harbor tragedy and
yet everybody was responsible.
The sequence is something like this:
l. The United States and Japan APP
proach diplomatic crisis and break,
but during the negotiations the United
States Government ties the hands OF
the Army and Navy and warns all oper-
ating commanders that they must not
commit any overt act or take the first
hostile step. According to tradition, this
is correct
2. Japan sends out a feet of naval
aircraft carriers toward Pearl Harbor
We do not know about it in advance
but, even If We did know, no Navy
commander dares to go out and inter-
cept that fleet because to do 50 is an
act of war and this must be sanctioned
by Congress. If the Japanese commit
the first hostile act then our comman-
ders have instructions to fire and resist,
but neither Army nor Navy can make
a move unless Japan attacks first.
Patrols Were Sent out.
3. Our Navy sent out patrols but they
did not happen at that moment to be
Iii the direction from which the Japa-
nese approached. The Navy had its bat
tleships concentrated in Pearl Harbor
because no mobilization orders had been
issued to send our fleet to sea. This was
because We were not at war and any
commander who would have ordered
our ships or flyers to intercept the
Japanese feet would probably have
been contaminated for plunging
America into war.
4. Since our ships were in Pearl Har-
Dor, the responsibility for defense was
upon the Army, as it always Is in any
land or coastal area. If our detecting
apparatus had been working better, We
might have been able to make a slightly
better defense of it, but the end result
might have been just abou< the same
because up to the moment the Japanese
flew In from their carriers and dropped
their bombs there was no authority
granted the Army or the Navy or to the
Commander in Chief by Congress to at
tack the enemy en- route. Modern air
warfare shows that when an enemy air
raid occurs the element of surprise can
be overcome not by waiting and firing
some anti-aircraft batteries but by get
ting planes OH the ground and actually
sending out enough force to intercept
the enemy.
5. We should, of course, have dispersed
our airplanes in the Pearl Harbor area
instead of punching them together on
the ground. There was, to be sure, .
confusion of messages between the War
Department in Washington and the
Army commander in Pearl Harbor as
to precautions. The only precautions
emphasized in the messages were against
the possibility of sabotage, and for that
reason the Pearl Harbor commander
Washington which acquiesced in his de-
cision. If the planes had been dispersed,
could they have gotten into the air
quickly enough to come together over
the harbor and stop the japanese fiyers2
They might have reduced the amount of
the damage somewhat, but the start
which the japanese had makes it doubt
full whether we could have thwarted the
attack to any great extent.
Rigid System Prevails.
If anybody is responsible it Is the
American people who have tolerated
such = rigid system of Government as
makes 1t impossible for the Comman-
der in Chief to order our forces to inter-
cept potential enemy and actually to
attack any force approaching our shores
and harborS unless We are sure the in
coming force has hostile purpose. This
intent cannot be proved in advance from
the standpoint Of international custom
until the other fellow actually fires his
shots by which time, due to the sur
prise element, thousands of lives can be
lost as happened in Pearl Harbor.
The same system which prevailed on
December 7. 1871. still prevails The
tragedy can happen again and again and
again. The remedy lies not in finding
one scapegoat or two, but in exposing
to the fullest extent the manner in
which our Army, Navy and Air Forces
are handicapped by the old rules which
required written declaration of war
or q formal order for mobilization Of
armed forces before a state of war Is
recognized even though conditions of
war have prevailed for some time previ-
Gus.
This is world of sudden attack and
q world of undeclared wars and the
sooner the American system of Govern
ment Is Streamlined to meet the new
contingencies the sooner will the safety
Of the American people against sudden
attack from the sea or air be assured
Reproduction Rights Reserved)
Home Responsibility
From the Topeka Capital.
When these veterans come home they
may not vocally question our part in
H. t. -