Detroit evening times., 1945-12-05
BEHIND
The NEWS
BY Paul
Mallon

M0lIOn
WASHlNGTON. Dec. The
" Pearl Harbor investigation
was expected 10 be a white
wash affair
n has become a red herring
bomhardmcnt. Crimson hued
fish have dartcd out of the testi-
mony since opening day, like
directed missiles, filling and OBJ
ScurIng the air.
This * rs tho administration
would have IT As long as the
record can be padded eXclu-
SivcIy with evidence as 10 who
sent what -tclcgram-at-w
time. what Mr. Roosevelt did
q year before. whether an army
accusation against Mr.. Hull
was justified. the herring chase
viii save bigger fish beneath.
NOR instance no one has
L gotten around TO Mr.. RooSe-
Welt yet. While every child
above the age of SIN years in
this whole wide country knows
the navy was run as a per-
Snnal hobbv-monopoly OF the
Sca-farng President who was
it's assistant secretary during
the last war and while every
conscious mentality under SIX
realizes Pearl lIarbor was a
naval disaster worse than that
of any nation in all modern
history YOU will find only IN
Cidcntal referc CeS to Mr..
Roosevelt in the testimony thus
far
NowS-mcn watching the her
ring battle say this IS because
MeSSrS. Truman, Hannegan and
BarkloY. the political trlumvlr-
ate of this government, decided
early IN the game Democrats
would have 10 run on the RooSe-
welt ticket for the next few
years and they did not want 1t
punched.
4 CONSIDERABLE pu bile
"A agitation was started to
warn the Investigators, Con-
grc>S and indeed all commen-
tatorS that the development of
any facts about Mr.. Roosevelt
would be considered "a smear
upon his -GrGaI-nAmc--
Therefore, YOU VIII have 10
look behind the testimony and
between the herring for solid
explanations. but i'm this realm
YOU viii find the concrete cvi-
dcnce al about the halfway
mark stacks up somewhat like
this.
I No one from the President
L on down did the right thing.
No one connected with the prob
lem can today do anything more
than pass the blame on TO an
other who may have committed
a greater blunder. All failed -
completely
, Their failure could be no
- more amazing If they had
all been stricken with amneSla
simultaneously. Here was A
simple operation IN strategy.
The known Jap war plan was 10
move down upon Malaga and
the p hIllp pines for oif and
stores. The known American
counter war-StrateEy was 10 cut
that line of supplies with our
fleet after the JapS moved The
simplest possible cglcal
arithmetic viii tell YOU the
JapS. therefore, could be eX-
pcctcd 10 try 10 cripple the fleet
before launching their Asia at
tack. Yet if never occurred 10
any one in Washington or Pearl
Harbor that our fleet would be
the initial point of attack.
O-The President and all the
- navy are TO blame for leav-
ING the fleet set up as ducks
on the pond that Sunday morn
ing. The fleet came into the
small anchorage on Friday, in
tending 10 leave Monday for
sea as usual. That habit, known
10 the japanese, was eStab-
lShcd by the commander of
the fleet, but n was known also
TO Washington Although rcallz-
ing war was coming and the
approximate time. no one IN
Washington ordered the COM
mandcr 10 change the habit and
GET the fleet INTO maneuverable
open water. This simplest, prl-
mary indispensable preCautlOn
was neglected by all. They were
all asleep at the switch; worse,
they all went home 10 bed and
left IT open. inviting disaster
i-The army'S blundcr fro m
r top down was only slightly
less 4 late warning was inCt-
fectively attem p e q. and II
never got a plane into the air.
The army sky fleet was de-
Stroyed as completely as the
naVy.S sea fleet