Hanson W. Baldwin’s column in today’s post goes to the heart of the matter you two have been batting back and forth. Baldwin certainly didn’t have the knowledge about code breaking activity going on behind the scenes like we do today, but seems to have absorbed the information set forth in the Roberts report and reached some sound conclusions about the big picture of responsibility. Though he does appear shy of assigning any blame to the Commander-in-Chief. Come to think of it I haven’t seen any hint in the pages of the Times that FDR might be culpable, even indirectly.
They were the on-scene commanders and they failed - and as this article details, they accepted that judgement.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
As far as it goes, Baldwin's article expresses my opinions almost perfectly.
I would draw your attention to the following from Baldwin:
"But neither Washington nor the nation can escape some share of the blame...The War and Navy Departments showed, according to the Roberts report, looseness of thinking.
The tenor of the messages to Hawaii seemed in general to be: Be careful; look out, but don't hit the enemy first."
In fact, the "tenor" was even "looser" than that.
Commanders in Hawaii were also instructed not to alarm the civilians, and to prepare for possible sabotage by Japanese nationals in Hawaii.
In short, they were grossly misdirected.
Now, the key fact to understand is that these instructions came directly from President Franklin Roosevelt.
No one else can share responsibility for that.