75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack

Read this article.

The events of the past few minutes coursed through John Anderson's mind like the hellish nightmare that it was. He had been assigned to set up chairs on the ship's main deck for the Sunday worship service. His brother Jake and many others were still sound asleep below deck on that serene morning at Pearl Harbor.

John initially stared in disbelief when he saw bombs falling on a nearby island.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20161207_Commentary__Salute_the_USS_Arizona_and_the_fallen_of_Dec__7.html?mobi=true

 

What's all this, then?

 

Might as well drop this here:

Teikoku Seifu no Taibei Tsucho Oboegaki (A note to the U.S. by the imperial government) is here: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/timeline/411206d.html



In Japanese here: http://royallibrary.sakura.ne.jp/ww2/text/taibeikakusho.html

The 14-part message (Teikoku Seifu no Taibei Tsucho Oboegaki) was not a declaration of war. It did not break off negotiations with the US. It was not an ultimatum

The timing of the delivery of the 14-part message, 1/2 hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor, ensured that it would have no effect on the attack. For a warning to occur based on that message the following events would have had to happen:

(Note: No parties in Washington would have any idea that there was a deadline looming. FDR could have easily have waited until Monday to make a reply. Yamamoto would have been aware of this possibility.)

Japan delivers note on time.

Hull reads note.

Hull responds to Nomura and Kurusu.

They reply, etc.

Hull talks to FDR, explains note.

FDR correctly interprets this as a war warning.

FDR advises SecWar and SecNav to alert all forces.

SecWar and SecNav compose warning message.

Warning messages are handled through military channels, if available, to all commands.

Local commanders assimilate warning message and act properly.



On the other hand, if the US had acceded to every demand in the 14-part message:



Japan delivers note on time.

Hull reads note.

Hull responds to Nomura and Kurusu.

They reply, etc.

Hull talks to FDR, explains note.

FDR agrees to completely change US policy without consulting Congress.

FDR communicates this to Hull.

Hull explains things to Nomura and Kurusu.

They discuss any fuzzy details.

Nomura and Kurusu return to their embassy to contact Tokyo.

(Originally they were ordered to destroy all codes, but got permission to retain one low level code.)

Somehow they get the information to Tokyo.

Gaimudaijin receives message.

Foreign Minster interprets message correctly.

Foreign Minster goes to Prime Minister and explains message.

Prime Minister contacts SecWar and SecNav, who contact their forces to halt attack.



In both the above cases you can see that more than 1/2 hour was needed. So the timing issue is just a farce.

 

Bonus! The article has overhead views of the ships of the Nagumo Kido Butai. I plan to get a Google Earth shot of Hittokappu Bay and use a drawing of the ships at anchor to make a more visual interesting map.

Then I have to find a sucker expert to make a diorama from that.

 

I don't watch anything about Pearl Harbor on TV. Boss Lady's orders.


And Teikoku Seifu no Taibei Tsucho Oboegaki did not break diplomatic negotiations. They didn't worry about such niceties. The declaration of war wasn't written until after the Gaimudijin heard of the raid on Pearl.

 

The actual events are so powerful and interesting that it baffles me why they'd go and make up shit. I'm still amazed at the raw courage shown on that day, by both sides, even after 50+ years of studying the raid.

 

Start with an agenda, find things that support it. If you don't find enough to fill 42 minutes, make shit up.

 

Just steal from previous programs or interview CTers/.