DEC. 7 1941: WHY FOREWAED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP68-00046R000200090010-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2014
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: September 16, 1962
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/06/12 : CIA-RDP68-00046R000200090010-8
SEP 16 1962
NEW YORK TIMEs
Dec.
'PEARL HARBOR: Warning and De.
eision. By Roberta Wohktetter.?426
pp. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Urn.
? versity Press. $7.50.
By LADISLAS FARAGO ?
WHAT for so long was so
woefully needed, a non-
^ partisan ano senolarly exposi-
tion of the mysterious nypvcs
and machinations leadinr to
Pearl Harbor, is Provided in
this prodigiously researched,
cidly and excitingly written and
absolutely fair work of scholar-
ship. It. Is one of those rare
specimens in ? the literature of
current history, the definitive
book. ,
Roberta Wohlstetter of the
Carnegie Endowment for Inter-
national Peace has managed,
not only to sift the evidence, but
? to present the disentangled facts
In a clear, precise and remark-
ably honest survey. The Pearl
Harbor drama is brought into
sharp focus. The book estab-
lishes Mrs. Wohlstetter In the
front rank of military analysts.
? The basic Issue of Pearl Har-
Mr. Farago; an intelligence
specialist for the United States
Navy daring World War II, is
the author of the forthcoming
?-"The Tenth Fleet" a.study of
7, 1941: Why Fo,r-ct:Ata ed
bor revolved around what the
military scientist calls the ele-
ment of surprise and the pam-
phleteer calls the sneak attack.
In the case of Pearl Harbor,
the basic issue, ambiguous as
it is, was distorted also by ques-
tions of leadership and, respon-
sibility, statesmanship and dip-
lomatic acumen, negligence and '
even conspiracy. Such emotion-
ally loaded factors hardly facil-
itated the exploration of the
drama and, in most cases, added
to the suspicions and recrimina-
tions it produced.
Mrs. Wohistetter avoids the
side issues and goes boldly to
the crux of the matter. Her book
deals primarily with the intel-
lectual 'factors underlying the
management of affairs as they
converged on Pearl Harbor:
with the complex intelligence
activity that should have .ptre-
vented Pearl Harbor. Seeking
neither heroes nor villains, she
subject* those intellectual proc-
esses to objegive scrutiny In
order to answer the question:
"What does Pearl Harbor tell us
about the possibility of a sur-
prise attack today?with possi-
ble consequences of an even
greater and perhaps fatal mag-
nitude?"
thke war against the Utboats. c, In a sense, her conclusion, is
,t..
-that pearl Rise?. ie today, in terms of the Ja-
aioidM or szi' t? attack,* she writes,
the Mae tantAtt it is incredible in retro-
tack "Were Atel.k.lt that they were not so in- '
by competier nereted." However, she rejects-
signals:' ivt 1' as a short cut to glib con-
"ntitat." Ions which have the "lucid:*
1.1101T7' llr; of statements after the'
partictear atni ?
usually .
hetwr,--1? Wohlstetter tells us that
mato ?-,-4 ? j *one of those signals was an.
other 174 an 4 .,aelim biguousIndication of jap-
ery rolt. Tres Int, pise intent to attack the
I, appas.lo,o. (Joueted States. is hard to
a 'drat. slc inst?tp in mind the fact," she.
tional dq.lisc. a tea, "that there were many
Jsible alternative hypotheses'
Mite is-0,4110 might also have explained'
the oi t?:tur gs set of signals. Most of the
the Pea..; Acitritisan reviews of the Pearl, ';'?
incleett at Jarbor material forget these al:
natkrrtel &Al intemative explanations:* ?
edirs? It Li th? r ou
'21r_ Id a better intelligence
131 L ?rocpstredness preclude another.,
"41-'11,14 ' "art Harbor? Mrs. Wohlstet9sPres :? .
answer is in ?the negative. '
the study of Pearl Harbor
IP.;:t"to. forafIc's anything to offer for the'
their tra lit she *rites, "it is thLI:
e have to accept the fact a
andP/a 131''.1.-4r* certainty and learn to ib
She
.pos"'es-eaerd fr se
. .,,._ it.7 will
oli magic, in code et., ,
Oij, plans mProlistvidwoercek rtathwith-1
they were it. the
- ellirT01
? ,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/06/12 : CIA-RDP68-00046R000200090010-8