Case Against
The people against blaming Kimmel and Short instead blamed the military as a whole and the government. They blamed the government and the military because they thought Admiral Kimmel and General Short were innocent. They blamed the government for creating the isolationist and pacific policies because they lead up to the bombing. Their evidence that it wasn’t Short and Kimmel’s fault is that the government neglected important military preparations even though there was a strong possibility of war with Japan.
They also said that General Short intentionally left the aircrafts out in the open and close together but that was because he wrote a letter to the government requesting money and manpower to build a concrete shelter around the aircrafts so they wouldn’t get bombed, but they declined because it required a lot of money. The shelter eventually was built but it was too late because it was finished after the Japanese attacked. When General Short was informed about Hawaii’s radar stations being up for only four hours at a time, he requested another tower to be built to try to boost the signal. It was never built though because the location he requested was in a national park. Kimmel and Short supporters also stated that Roosevelt wanted Japan to make the first attack so Japan would be considered the aggressor and the U.S. as the wronged party. The supporters also said that both of them had no direct access to Japanese diplomatic messages. They were being received in Washington, where their superiors were, and they were sent to Pearl Harbor too, but never seen by the commanders. If the commanders had direct access to the messages, then maybe they would’ve been prepared for the attack. The commanders also received messages that weren’t correct. Kimmel received a message from Washington stating that the Japanese were going to hit the Pacific, there was nothing about Pearl Harbor anywhere in that message. Overall, it was wrong to blame the two commanders for messing up while a lot of people had a part in it. Harry Truman, the president after Roosevelt even admitted that the U.S. as a whole messed up at not anticipating the attack.
They also said that General Short intentionally left the aircrafts out in the open and close together but that was because he wrote a letter to the government requesting money and manpower to build a concrete shelter around the aircrafts so they wouldn’t get bombed, but they declined because it required a lot of money. The shelter eventually was built but it was too late because it was finished after the Japanese attacked. When General Short was informed about Hawaii’s radar stations being up for only four hours at a time, he requested another tower to be built to try to boost the signal. It was never built though because the location he requested was in a national park. Kimmel and Short supporters also stated that Roosevelt wanted Japan to make the first attack so Japan would be considered the aggressor and the U.S. as the wronged party. The supporters also said that both of them had no direct access to Japanese diplomatic messages. They were being received in Washington, where their superiors were, and they were sent to Pearl Harbor too, but never seen by the commanders. If the commanders had direct access to the messages, then maybe they would’ve been prepared for the attack. The commanders also received messages that weren’t correct. Kimmel received a message from Washington stating that the Japanese were going to hit the Pacific, there was nothing about Pearl Harbor anywhere in that message. Overall, it was wrong to blame the two commanders for messing up while a lot of people had a part in it. Harry Truman, the president after Roosevelt even admitted that the U.S. as a whole messed up at not anticipating the attack.