A Matter of Honor: Pearl Harbor; Betrayal, Blame, and a Family’s Quest for Justice

The married investigative team of Summers and Swann (The Eleventh Day) make an airtight case that Adm. Husband Kimmel, “the man with overall responsibility for America’s Pacific fleet” at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, should not have been blamed for the catastrophe. Through the extensive use of primary sources, including some previously unavailable materials from the National Archives, the authors delineate who in the U.S. government and military knew about Japan’s intentions in 1941. Tragically, there were dots that American intelligence did not properly connect that would have informed Kimmel of what was to come. But even had he gotten such an alert, the limited resources available to him—despite frequent requests, he lacked tools of defense such as a radar warning net—would have been insufficient. In the wake of the disaster, Kimmel was scapegoated and slandered without basis by people as eminent as then-senator Harry Truman. Eventually, a naval commission of inquiry found that Kimmel had not been derelict, but that exoneration came too late for his reputation. Even today, his grandchildren are fighting to have his rank posthumously restored to four-star admiral. This sad story reads like a thriller, thanks to the authors’ evocative prose and careful use of detail. (Dec.)