The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-01-25
Fair Enough
BY WEsTBRooK PEGLER
1916, BY King Features synd


Copyright, 1916, BY King Features syndicte.)
Whatever the outcome Of the Pearl Harbor
case, and it is so darkly confused by politics
that clear judgment will be impossible for
manv wears the brutal cynicisn Of the kan
CARGO court held by Justice Owen Roberts
Of the Supreme Court, to accommodate Presi-
dent Roosevelt, will be established beyond
doubt.
This irregular body arbitrarily condemned
Admiral Kimmel and General Short after an
inquiry in which they were given false and
dishonest assurances that they were not on
trial Denied counsel, forbidden to present Wit
nesses or croSs-examine their accuserS' oe-
MED even a statement OF charges agahst
them, they nevertheless were found guilty OF
dereliction of duty and, for four years, Lived
under a cloud and in a state of humiliation
During this time they were forbidden to
speak publicly in their defense and were de-
MED formal trials on specific charges. HAD
they broken silence they could have been tried
for that and dismissed from the service with
forfeiture of their pensions as additional pun
ishment and without any discussion OF their
guilt or innocence in the Pearl Harbor dis
aster
The facts developed by the belated investi-
cations show that, if these men were remlss
at all, they were much less negligent than
some superiors in Washington who neverthe-
less continued to serve in the war and &C.
cunulated rank and honors. They show
further, that the Roberts commission was just
an artificial device, hurriedly assembled, not
to capture the truth ere il should vanish IN
the confusion of war; but to select victims
for sacrifice and distract public attention
from the failure Of others.
President Roosevelt's directive to the Rob-
erts commission pointedly excluded himself,
Cordell Hull and Frank Knox from the scope
of the inquiry by restricting its interest to
failures of men in the Army and Navy.
That justice of the Supreme Court should
accept the mission under restraints so obvi-
ously intended to place beyond question the
conduct of responsible civilians which plainly
was subject to question was deeply disquiet
ing. That this justice and group of gener-
ais and admrals should then hout the fun
damental rights which both our civil and mill
tary law guarantees all defendants is an
equally sordid manifestation of the morality
which was introduced in the gold clause case
and reached its most defiant expression in
the deliberate swindle Of Elliott Roosevelt's
creditors solely by his fathers arrangement.
Obviously this case will never be pushed to
a conclusion. If General George Marshall was
guilty Of neglect bad judgement or dereliction
his great service as Chief of Staff, his admir-
able character and patriotism and his further
would have retired to a rest well-earned, will
preclude his trial on charges.
Roosevelt and Knox are gone and so his
torians will pass varying judgments on them
influenced and confused by the political bias
of the data. Even Japan will receive the
benefit of the proven fact that. in the At
lantic, American warships were shooting at
the Germans without a declaration Of war
and the revelation that Mr.. Roosevelt contem-
Id. ~ of% I.x,
prise attack, from Portugal which never did
enter the war.
1t appears that the reasons for the abandon
ment of this plan were not legal or moral
but political and that the original intention
was to strike peaceful world-neighbor with
out warning, even as the Japs did at Pearl
Harbor.
Already Kimmel and Short have been vim
Dictated by service inquiries. This was a mega
tive way of averting courts martial which
might have absolved them on the facts but
might have established the failure Of others.
Good faith has been lacking throughout poll
tics and spite have been strongly influential
in all the proceedings and the reputation of
the higher ranks of the services for scrupu-
lous honor, at whatever sacrifice, has suf-
fered a loss not only to the services but to
the nation as whole
It is not discounting 5000 dead at Pearl
Harbor, the loss of fleet and the immeasur-
able further human losses that were suffered
in redressing this first blow to say that the
conduct of the President and the Roberts COM
mission was more grievous to the United
States. For here, by order of the President
himself, acting in his own, personal interest
through servile men of high position, two citi-
zens were condemned and disgraced without
even pretense Of justice or lawful procedure
and in violation of the right of trial which
we grant every prostitute and pickpocket.