Evening star., 1945-09-07


tions which have been profusely
presented to cover alleged derelic.
ton from the top down.
However, the demand for more
light, more facts, further investiga.
ton, open hearings, courts-martial
ETC., continues.
Some people want to know why
Gen Marshall. sent his warning to
Gen. Short by commercial wire in
stead of the radio or telephone
Still others inquire what prevented
Admiral Stark from communicating
more quickly with Admiral Kim
mel. The cry is that the full truth
has not yet been revealed. In both
branches of Congress the move to
dig further in has already started
Bitterness to Rise.
There is a strong feeling that
Kimmel and Short, while not
blameless, are being made the goats
that the higher-ups are sitting in
Judgment on their own acts; that
the top men, including Mr.. Tru-
man, are protecting Mr.. Roosevelt,
upon whom rests the real blame
All of this may be true. Some of it
undoubtedly is true, but it is quite
clear that none of it is going to be
proved conclusively and that the
attempt to do so will engender vast
bitterness.
True enough, the American peo-
pie are entitled to know the full
story, but how, under these circum-
stances, are they going to get 1t?
Considering these things, the in
definite continuation of the contro-
verSy seems futile. The chances are
that the proposed congressional in
vestigation will generate heat rather
than light.
Perhaps the best thing is to drop
the whole business. Let the Roose-
Velt worshipers continue to main
tain that their hero never did an
unworthy thing nor made a mis-
take. Let the other side hold to
their conviction that he was an
evil, vain and oily man, who could
have prevented the Pearl Harbor
attack from being surprise and
thus saved us from the worst dis
aster in our military history. Neither
Is altogether right but neither will
ever convince the other.
And in this matter it is obvious
the full facts cannot be gotten. Too
many highly placed persons are in
terested one way or another in not
going the limit. There is too much
politics in it, too. The prospect is
that in both House and Senate COM
mittees 1t will become a party ques-
tion, with the Democrats lining up
to defend the late President and
the Republicans insisting on deeper
and deeper probing.
Leave 1t to Historians.
Perhaps the wise thing, so far
as the public is concerned. is to put
it under the head of finished busi-
ness, stop thinking about it, leave
it to the historians who will forever
wrangle about it. 1t is a shameful
story of which the friends of none
of those who figured in it can be
proud. They are all on the defen-
sive, including, of course, Mr..
Roosevelt, upon whom the chief
responsibility rested and whose
journalistic defenders scream with
rage when that fact is mentioned.
Nevertheless, it is possible that
some good may come out of the
revelations, if only they center at
tention upon the absurdity of our
multitudinous intelligence services
and the necessity of co-ordinating
them.
The War Department, the Navy
State, Justice and Treasury, to say
nothing of the FBI, all have sepa-
rate secret intelligence services
Before the war there was no ade-
quate coordination among these
What information one acquired was
never available to another. There
was no vestige of cooperation be.
tween Army, Navy, State, Treasury
or FBI. What one got it filed anc
kept. There was no compulsion tt
transmit its intelligence to tht
President, much less to other de.
partment heads.
Right after Pearl Harbor, Gen
William ]. Donovan pointed out ths
absurdity and danger Of this situa.
tlon to President Roosevelt; con.
vinced him of the necessity of CO.
ordination. Mr.. Roosevelt created
the position of co-ordinator of in.
formation for the then Col. Dono.
van, ordered every intelligence serv.
Ice to turn over to him what it hac
and what 1t got. Recruiting an or.
ganization of experts mainly from
the faculties of the big universities
First Real Service.
Col. Donovan, in a very few
months. gave us for the first time
in American history a really CO.
ordinated intelligence service.
Under this system, the President
and every head of a department
with an intelligence service, for the
hrst time, was made acquainted
with the acquisitions of every othe,
Intelligence service. All of this was
supplemented, analyzed, digested by
Col. Donovan's professors. It was
laid on the desk of the President
and the department heads, generals