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President Roosevelt, Admiral Stark, and the Unsent Warning to Pearl Harbor: A Research Note
Author(s) -
Burtness Paul S.,
Ober Warren U.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8497.2011.01615.x
Subject(s) - navy , verdict , nazism , victory , law , pearl , world war ii , political science , history , politics , archaeology
Admiral Harold R. Stark (1880–1972) was appointed Chief of Naval Operations in August 1939 and served in that role until removed in March 1942. It was on his watch that the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Nowadays the prevailing view of Stark seems to be largely shaped by the official verdict of the Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal, namely that “Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN (Retired), shall not hold any position in the United States Navy which requires the exercise of superior judgment”. Our very different view is that Stark was a patriot who willingly sacrificed his reputation to preserve that of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to enable him, as the one person capable of leading the Allies to victory in war against Nazi Germany, to assume his proper mantle.