The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable (Military Controversies) | 
| Author: George Victor
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 261056
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 376
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1597971618
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9781597971614
ASIN: 1597971618
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
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Product Description
Did U.S. intelligence know of Japan's coming attack on Pearl Harbor? Did President Roosevelt know? If so, why did he withhold warnings from the commanders in Hawaii? The answers are embedded in the cogent analysis of The Pearl Harbor Myth. Based on voluminous data that does not appear in other books on the topic, it discusses in detail Roosevelt's developing strategy-both military and diplomatic-and his secret alliances to save the world from Hitler. It contains a wealth of fresh material on secret diplomacy; on secret military strategy, planning, and intelligence; and on disguised combat operations that began six months before the Pearl Harbor attack.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Closing the Loop on Pearl Harbor May 27, 2007
11 out of 25 found this review helpful
I've not yet read George Victor's book, "The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable." Indeed, I only found out about this book yesterday, Saturday, 26 May 2007, while reading a review on the book by Rear Admiral T.A. Brooks, USN (Ret.). Admiral Brooks' review is found on page 170 on the May 2007 issue of Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS.
Admiral Brooks is a 33 year veteran of the Navy. He retired in 1991 as Director of Naval Intelligence. (There were four DNI's in 1941, starting with RADM Walter S. Anderson and ending with Captain, later Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson.)
According to Admiral Brooks: "[Victor's] book presents three primary arguments: that FDR knew that a Japanese attack was coming and knew the target to be Pearl Harbor; that he deliberately provoked the Japanese into attacking; and there was a massive cover-up."
Having studied Pearl Harbor thoroughly---as my only job for over 13 years---I fully concur with the three primary conclusions listed above. There are a number of other books on Pearl Harbor that made these same conclusions over the years.
Admiral Brooks also states that "The Pearl Harbor Myth" is "one of the most scholarly and extensively footnoted works on the subject" published since Roberta Wohlstetter's "Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision" and Gordon W. Prange's "At Dawn We Slept." ("Prange's" ADWS was actually written by Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, see Professor Goldstein's article in the December 2006 issue of Naval Institute PROCEEDINGS.)
This researcher began his own serious study of Pearl Harbor (on a part time basis) in the fall of 1983. He's still working on this very same subject some twenty-three years later.
The undersigned believes that someday someone will "Close the Loop on Pearl Harbor." Intelligence isn't always used the way the average citizen (or typical historian) assumes it is used. Senior officials have many different matters to factor into the way they use intelligence (to say nothing of diplomacy).
I welcome yet another book on Pearl Harbor. This is a subject that every American should know about because the more we learn about our entry into World War II, the more we'll learn about the Greatest Good. We Americans need to think beyond self.
Andrew McKane IV, Missoula, Montana, 27 May 2007
 Still Another Revisionist View of the Pearl Harbor Attack May 23, 2007
11 out of 26 found this review helpful
Over the years, a group of revisionists (John Toland et. al) have developed a theory that President Roosevelt somehow knew in advance that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked, yet he failed to give Admiral Kimmel and General Short ample warning. Add author George Victor to the list of revisionists, for that is what this book is; pure revisionist theory.
This book contains all of the usual occurances which revisionists refer to when trying to pin the blame on FDR (the Winds Execute message, the three ships incident, the Lurline, etc). Granted, Victor makes complelling arguments regarding each instance, but there is very little information supporting his arguments. The main thesis is that Kimmel and Short were withheld vital information, and that may be partially true, but, the fact is, Kimmel and Short were woefully unprepared, and much of it was their own doing.
Victor devotes an entire chapter to the Novemebr 27th "War Warning" message. He argues that Kimmel and Short did exactly what they were supposed to do as far as their orders were concerned, yet, the attack was still successful. Victor also argues that the message itself was unclear. How unclear could it have been? The message stated directly at the top that it was to be considered a war warning. Its not FRD's fault that his top two commanders could not interpret a message directing them to be on alert for a possible attack! Despite not being provided with every bit of intelligence available, I believe that Kimmel and Short received enough information to deduce that an attack was a distinct possibility.
The book itself is well-researched and well-written, and much of the information contained within has just been recently made available. I, however, do not believe that FDR knew that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked and deliberately kept his commanders in the dark. The author makes a point for this possibility by describing acts by presidents Polk, Lincoln, and McKinley which drew the U.S. into war. However, I believe Victor is incorrect in his analysis of FDR. I believe that Roosevelt had a pretty good idea that the U.S. was going to be attacked. I also believe that he didn't know exactly where the attack was going to occur. There were many more distinct possibilities than Pearl Harbor (Kra peninsula, Philippines, Panama Canal to mention a few). The sad fact is, and this wasn't really pointed out by Victor, is that the Japanese executed a completely flawless attack. We cannot blame FDR for Japan's perfect execution.
I did enjoy reading this book; I just don't agree with its conclusion.
 Add another Pearl Harbor book to your "Must Read" list! May 22, 2007
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
A text published for the sixty-fifith anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Victor gives us a solid and balanced portrayal of the tensions in the world around that time, depicts the major geo-political actors, and provides excellent background information on their respective goals and constraints, particularly the dynamics of the Japanese governmental system.
This book is a very ambitious undertaking which approaches this period with a reasoned viewpoint. It has a clear structure, a logical flow for the reader, and brings to bear a broad set of citations as supportive references.
While stressing that his position is not to pass "moral" judgments, particularly on FDR and his War Cabinet, Victor does overtly rationalize their purpose in using the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor as bait, and hence the over-arching need to keep Kimmel and Short "in the dark" regarding the known pending attack on Pearl Harbor. That this is so is clearly demonstrated by the very well-known comment in the Knox Report (delivered December 15, 1941), the so-called "Knox December 6, 1941 midnight" Washington message, intended ONLY for Kimmel in Hawaii. That the message was never sent is the "smoking gun" and a stain on America's history and the credibility of those "court" historians who ignore its significance, if they are aware of it at all. And, wonder of wonders, that Knox message has never been found - imagine that!
The risk of alerting the Kido Butai was too great, the Japanese had to unambiguously "fire the first shot" ... and that deliberately thousands of lives were lost, that deliberately the Pacific Fleet was crippled, ... Well, the US just had to get into the war against Germany. If this sounds familar, kinda' like the "back door" theory - it should, as it was voiced well over a half-century ago. And, that thesis is correct.
For readers who do not know how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is linked to Germany's declaration of war against the US - a bit more noddling might help. The signal, via a 11.29.41 PURPLE message, of the German action was known to FDR, Churchill, and others days prior to Pearl Harbor - and had nothing to do with the terms of the Axis Tri-Partite Pact.
What Victor presents is old news for some. For those many others some revelations might include: (a) many offiicers are named who openly pointed to Pearl Harbor as the Japanese target, (b) the true reason Admiral "JO" Richardson was replaced, (c) that British DIP traffic was being read by the Japanese, (d) more than adequate resources, on a world-wide basis, to handle Japanese traffic (DIP and IJN), adding to what SRH-149 and SRH-255 already shows (d) highly competent deliberations and high-level decision-making to mask pending attack from Kimmel and Short, (e) the woes that were visited upon DugOut Doug and why, (f) FDR's personal quest to save Stalin and USSR, (g) whereabouts of FDR and his War Cabinet the night of December 6, 1941, ..., etc.
Today, as recent books such as Stinnett and Wilford have found their mark, the indefensible positions of "maintained absolute radio silence" and "could not read any of the IJN operational traffic" are clearly apparent. The current "fall back" position being pandered is akin to "noise" or a bureaucratic maze that interferred with actionable intelligence reaching the Washington decision-makers. Victor's text is the "Closing of the Door" on those excuses. That Kimmel and Short were "blinded" by Washington was INTENTIONAL!
Victor's (page 302) "Whether intentionally or not, Roosevelt exposed the fleet to a Japanese attack by stationing it in Hawaii. Then he intentionally used naval units as lures by ordering them on various expeditions in the Pacific. Withholding key information from Kimmel and Short increased the fleet's exposure greatly and it was most glaringly increased by not sending a warning on December 6, 1941.
Despite the history of war, the idea that Roosevelt withheld warnings from Kimmel and Short for the purpose of getting the United States openly into a European war is still unthinkable to many people, but to fewer and fewer as the years past. As has happened over time with other unthinkable acts, the repugnance aroused by the idea of using the Pacific Fleet as a lure will probably continue to fade."
Kimmel and Short need to be set free from the injustice of their bondage and of the tyranny against them. To do otherwise bespeaks the lack of integrity within the US government and the command structure of its military.
Has "Truth, Justice, and the Ameican Way" gone the way of the dodo?
 A Good Read, Not Good History March 26, 2007
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book for way it gave a probable timeline of how things occurred around the time leading up to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, it is not able to add anything to the discussion of what happened to allow Pearl Harbor to occur.
The author is unable to give any support to his second guesses as to why things happened they way they did. My favorite is the supposed intercept by a German listening station of a message from Winston Churchill to President Roosevelt warning him about the attack. The only problem is that the expert the author quotes indicates that the intercept cannot be verified as being authentic and is most probably a fake. If you are going to include something in a book, at least have someone try to support the item.
I have read many books about Pearl Harbor since it is a very interesting point of history for our country. This book definitely falls into the "Revisionist" camp since it assumes Roosevelt knew the attack was happening, but did nothing to stop it or warn the commanders there.
As I said, this book is interesting to read as long as you think of it as alternate history and not true verifiable history.
Inference not conspiracy theory March 15, 2007
27 out of 31 found this review helpful
I'm not sure the above reviewers read the same book I have. Victor's The Pearl Harbor Myth does not really fall into the genre of conspiracy theory literature. Nor is it historical fiction. Victor finds anomalies and inconsistencies in what Roosevelt and other said and what they did and draws inferences from this. When the direction and number of inferences drawn add up, he makes a reasoned conclusion that the notion that Roosevelt did not know about the Pearl Harbor raid far enough in advance to warn the Navy is a myth. Even if we were to chock it up to incompetence or miscommunication or lack of today's detection technologies, there are too many such blunders but also intentional acts. Why Roosevelt failed to warn the Philippines after Pearl Harbor was attacked is compelling. Even circumstantial evidence can hold up in court so why not in Victor's book? I may be entirely wrong, but time may prove this book to be a classic.
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