Evening star., 1945-09-05
Letters to The Star
Readers Continue Their Debate
of Blame for Pearl Harbor

of Blame for Pearl Harbor
| To the Editor of The STAR
Are we going to let Washington tell
us that the American people are to
| blame for the debacle of Pearl Harbor?
Not on your life!
The eminent general and the admiral
commanding are directly responsible for
| the extent of the damage done because
| theirs was the duty to guard their own
| command area. Did the officers in COM
mand expect the Commander in Chief
| to tell them each day just what their
| duty was when the world was aflre? No.
1t is true, however, that the War De-
| partment and the Commander in Chief
| had asked Congress to fortify Guam and
the Philippines, but Congress said in
effect that they were afraid of starting
war with Japan, so nothing was done.
The only blame that can be fastened
on the American people, therefore, is
that of selecting men lacking in courage
and foresight to represent them in
Congress. FRED P. PATTON, M. D.
North Sacramento, Calf.
| To the Editor of The Star:
| 1t is unfair for the President to place
the blame of the Pearl Harbor disaster
on the whole Nation. AS you have
written in The Star for August 30:
Nov that the war has been won, there
will be little purpose in dwelling on
these past failings." But those faitings
have ruined the happiness of thousands
of parents. wives and other loved ones
I, for one of the 135 million, will not
| accept any part of that blame, nor will
deem myself responsible for the ruined
happiness of the millions
During the period in which Germany
and Japan were sharpening their
swords I, and many like me, submitted
to all sorts of regimentation; paid our
taxes, and watched with disgust how
our tax money was wasted for unpro-
ouctive purposes which could have been
used to ann ourselves
II they-the State Department, the
Army and Navy Intelligence Services
did not know the Axis plans, it is not
the taxpayers fault. The taxpayers are
paying for their services and expect
them to know something about their
business. II they knew, and the ad-
ministration in power did not whole
heartedly advocate arming us because
1t was politically unpopular, 1t is a
moral degradation.
Why should I have to take the blame
when I did not vote for the existing
administration or any of its renewals?
No, let President Truman. in all fair
ness, find where the fault lies, and
tell 1t TO the Nation, even if 1t is DO
litically unpopular. J.H.P.
To the Editor Of The Star:
President Truman has immortalized
himself by his courage in stating that
all OF us have our share of blame to the
Pearl Harbor fiasco. He is to go before
the electorate shortly; yet he indicts
all Of us for what share of guilt we
may have
But note an antagonistc attitude on
the part of many Americans they hate
to have dead cat laid upon their door
step. How did the ordinary John @.
Public participate in the blame? Here IS
| how:
l. Hundreds Of thousands Of us, DOS
slbly millions. worked in the industries
! which supplied the Sinews of war to
| japan, and helped to stock-pile her for
attack upon America. Airplanes, cars.
| trucks, oil, gasoline. cotton, manganese,
scrap iron, machine tools and a thou
sand other items.
2. We tumbled all over ourselves to
ship in japanese boats to buy silk. TOYS.
dishes, flags, and everything we could
which would bring ultimate profit to
the Japanese war machine
| 3. Not one of us, prior to Pearl Har-
Dor, took steps to insure the teaching of
either Oriental history or Oriental Ian
| guages in single high school in the
| United States, when such compulsory
studies would have been pricelessly valu-
able
| a. We opposed compulsory military
service and the building up of our Navy
to fighting proportions.
| 5. Only scant few of us ever wrote
| letters to the President, Congressman.
or others in authority, urging added pro-
| lection against the encroachments of
| the japanese.
We are all tarred with the same stick.
Miss CHIU CHUN-MUI.
| To the Editor Of The Star:
Short and Kimmel were big enough
for their jobs! Where, then, is the
mystery of Pearl Harbor?
Your guess is as good as anybody,s.
Here is mine: From Atlantic to Pa
cific We were divided into two camps
those favoring Intervention and those
| favoring isolation. The higher-ups
who were far better informed of the
situation, were anxious to see the rank
and flle-you and me-wake up. Moth
ing could wake us up. We were sick
OF Europe. I was just about to write
letter to the President, that you
are anxious to declare war but we are
hopelessly divided. Until this division
is remedied, declaration of war would
not be a wise movement"
TOTO had declared months earlier:
"The southwark movement has begun
and nothing is going to stop us!" Please
consult The Star pages and you will
find the above statement in black and
white
Then why were Short and Kimmel
not ready for the sneak thieves? May
be (my guess) they were ordered by
some higher-ups to lay low. Thus by
the sudden shock we all would be united
into one body and one soul.
And hour If u-orkodt