Lieutenant General Walter C. Short - Was He the Army's Scapegoat for a Disaster
Abstract
During the past forty-seven years the fascinating circumstances leading up to the Pearl Harbor disaster have been studied in depth. This study focuses on one of the primary actors during the 'Day of Infamy,' Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Commander of the Hawaiian Department and senior Army officer in Hawaii at the time of the successful surprise attack. As a result of the overwhelming success of the Japanese on 7 December 1941, General Short was relieved of his duties and forced to retire from active duty under the threat of courts martial. The purpose of this paper is to determine if General Short was unfairly held responsible for the Army's failure at Pearl Harbor as charged by the Roosevelt Administration in December 1941 and confirmed by the Roberts Commission in January 1942. The author accomplishes this task by carefully reviewing General Short's role and the roles that the other key actors played in the complex events leading up to one of America's most devastating military defeats. Through this systematic process the reader is able to better comprehend the level of General Short's responsibility in the tragedy and thus determine if he was, in fact, the Army's scapegoat for the disaster.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 30, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA195026
Entities
People
- David L. Richey
Organizations
- United States Army War College