Investigations of the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Index to Government Hearings

(Hardback)

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This work is designed as a reference tool for researchers investigating the what, when, and why of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The book provides, for the first time, a cross-referencing and indexing of the total record of testimony and evidence that was compiled and published by the U.S. Congress following U.S. investigations into the Pearl Harbor attack. Transcripts from the postwar hearings contain significant information about the diplomatic background of the hostilities, the first look at the crypto-analytic activities of the U.S. military, and many of the communications between Washington D.C. and Pearl Harbor. Eyewitness accounts of the Japanese attack and information on the United States response to the attack are also found in these records. The many hundreds of citations for such persons as President Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, and Admiral Stark are generated from nearly 30,000 pages of testimony and evidential material, and have been assembled into main and subcategories to aid the researcher. The citations involving President Roosevelt, for example, are made up of over 50 subcategories. This work cites all persons connected to the Pearl Harbor attack, all ships involved, and it contains many letters, memoranda, messages, and dispatches which are listed chronologically. To distinguish ship names from people, warships from merchant ships, and people from places, the Index uses the various type fonts that appeared in Samuel Eliot Morison's Vol. 15 (General Index) of The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. This volume is suitable for Government Deposit libraries, college and research libraries, public libraries, and federal government offices.

Reviews

The December 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor engendered massive investigations by the US Navy, Army, Congress, and a presidential commission. These investigations, lasting from 1941 to 1946, were published in 39 volumes of congressional hearings and a one-volume report of a joint congressional committee. Rich in exhibits, charts, and illustrations, the original volumes contain only scattered and incomplete indexes. Now, more than 40 years later, there is a comprehensive index to the entire set. Each index entry includes volume and page numbers. In dictionary sequence, different typefaces are used to distinguish personal names, place names, warships, and merchant vessels. In index listings under aircraft types Japanese aircraft are listed by Allied code name (e.g., Sally); US types by official designation (e.g., B-17). Recommended for modern and military history collections, Asian studies collections, and any library that owns the congressional hearings and/or report. * Choice *

Author Bio

STANLEY H. SMITH is involved in graduate research and writing at the University of Washington in Seattle. His academic interests are in military history and World War II and he will be receiving a M.A. during the 1990 academic year.