Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision

Roberta Wohlstetter

Published by Stanford University Press 1962

Pearl Harbor

Warning and Decision

Roberta Wohlstetter

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503620698

Overview
Contents

About this book

For decades the controversy has raged: Was the Pearl Harbor disaster a result of criminal negligence by military officers in the Pacific theater? Was it, as some have claimed, a deliberate plot by the President in Washington? It seems unlikely that a country could have so many warnings pointing to the danger, and yet be so unprepared for the event itself. American intelligence could read top-secret Japanese codes and the U.S. was therefore in a posistion to transmit vital information to American commanders throughout the world. Most of the time Washington was able to predict both Japan's diplomatic moves and its military deployments. But, as this carefully documented book shows, the outlines of danger look sharp today because the disaster has occurred, and an entirely different image emerges upon reconstructing in detail the intelligence picture as it looked to the participants before the event. In 1941 the pieces of the puzzle were dispersed in a number of government agencies. Some were lost in the noise of signals pointing in other directions—toward a Japanese advance southward or into Siberia; some were slowed by the normal barriers of bureaucracy; and some were silenced by security requirements. At the center of the decision no one had completed the puzzle. Above all, this book reminds us sharply that detecting a surprise attack will be more difficult in the era of the H-bomb. As the Foreword states: "The danger is not that we shall read the signals and indicators with too little skill; the danger is in a poverty of expectations—a routine obsession with a few dangers that may be familiar rather than likely."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
FOREWORD Thomas C. Schelling Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Roberta Wohlstetter Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
MAPS AND CHARTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
NOTE ON RANK Publicly Available Download PDF	xviii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. SIGNALS FOR HONOLULU Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
2. NOISE IN HONOLULU Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
3. MAGIC Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
4. SIGNALS AND NOISE AT HOME Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
5. WASHINGTON INTELLIGENCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
6. THE REALITY BEHIND THE SIGNALS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
7. SURPRISE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	382
APPENDIX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	403
ABBREVIATIONS AND SPECIAL NAMES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	419

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Copyright year: 1962
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 444
Keywords: History -- United States; History -- Asian

eBook

Published: May 2, 2022
ISBN: 9781503620698