Days of Infamy: Macarthur, Roosevelt, Churchill-The Shocking Truth Revealed : How Their Secret Deals and Strategic Blunders Caused Disasters at Pear [Hardcover]

John Costello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1994

MacArthur. Roosevelt. Churchill. New York Times bestselling historian John Costello reveals the shocking truth of how their secret deals and strategic blunders led to Japan's successful attacks on Pearl Harbor and Clark Field in the Philippines. 16-page photo insert. Advertising in the Military Press.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For 50 years, Adm. Husband Kimmel and Gen. Walter Short have been blamed for the unpreparedness that led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. British historian Costello (Ten Days to Destiny), working from recently declassified documents, reveals that the two Hawaii commanders were denied information that could have saved the Pacific Fleet battleships and the lives of thousands of U.S. servicemen. A far more heinous command failure, in his view, was that Gen. Douglas MacArthur allowed his air force in the Philippines to be destroyed on the ground 10 hours after the Pearl Harbor debacle; his refusal to launch a preemptive strike against Japanese airbases as ordered doomed the defense of the Philippines before it could begin. MacArthur's inaction also contributed, the author contends, to the loss of Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies to the Japanese, because his bombers were the linchpin of a secret U.S. pact to defend British and Dutch territories in the Far East. Unlike Kimmel and Short, who had to retire in disgrace, MacArthur was never the subject of a formal inquiry. Although Costello clearly defines MacArthur's mistakes, his treatment of "the secret deals and strategic blunders" of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill is less forthcoming. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Historian Costello (Ten Days to Destiny, LJ 7/91) here takes on the tangled web of intrigue, personalities, and politics surrounding of the tragic events at Pearl Harbor and the loss of the Philippines in 1941-42. Costello relates a litany of miscalculations and outright manipulation that cost the United States and Britain dearly. In his indictment of Churchill, MacArthur, and Roosevelt, he shows expert command of recently declassified documents and primary source material. Costello reveals that it was the loss of U.S. airpower in the Philippines, not the loss of U.S. warships at Pearl Harbor, that facilitated Japanese victories in the Pacific. (For a complementary view, see William Bartsch's Doomed at the Start: American Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941-1942, LJ 4/1/92.) A well-researched, convincing, and thought-provoking study; recommended for general collections and those with large diplomatic/military history holdings.
Thomas G. Anton, Field Museum, Chicago
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1ST edition (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671769855
• ISBN-13: 978-0671769857
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing And Well-Documented Treatment !, October 16, 2002

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Days of Infamy: Macarthur, Roosevelt, Churchill-The Shocking Truth Revealed : How Their Secret Deals and Strategic Blunders Caused Disasters at Pear Harbor and the Philippines (Paperback)

There are few events that prompt as much spontaneous discussions regarding the possibility of conspiracy and guilty prior knowledge as those involving the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Indeed, there are a whole catalogue of titles dealing with the possibilities, the associated issues, and with the substance of arguments surrounding all of the varied possibilities, which seem to have endless permutations and countless variations. So too here in British author John Costello's excellent exposition, the fascinating world of this "what did the President know, and when did he know it" whodunit is deftly explored by a virtual master of the genre. Also the author of such notable titles as "The Pacific War" and "And I was There", Costello addresses himself to a welter of issues and conditions that paint an indelible picture of what he conceives to be the actual circumstances surrounding the Japanese attack.

Indeed, the author not only asks a number of interesting rhetorical questions regarding the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor itself, but also delves into the shocking related attack on the American forces in the Philippines later the same day. Why, he asks, given his being warned so far in advance, did General Douglas MacArthur allow the Japanese forces to destroy the greatest single concentration of American air power in the Pacific region some nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor? And, in answering the question by way of detailing the complex series of miscommunications and fumbles surrounding MacArthur's mishandling of the circumstances, the author also raises the issue of MacArthur's unlikely escape from the blame game following in the aftermath of the attacks. Seems that those in power in Washington were so intimidated by MacArthur's positive image and reputation among the press that they dare not attack him openly by court marshalling or reprimanding him. In essence, his political connections saved him. Instead, after ordering MacArthur off the island, ostensibly to take command of all the Pacific forces regrouping in Australia, Roosevelt rewarded the general with the Congressional Medal Of Honor.

Also discussed here is the half million dollar payoff that the Philippine Government gave to MacArthur as he departed the islands, as is the desire of the Philippine government to try to maintain their neutrality, an exercise in futility that may have played fatefully into the hands of the Japanese, and which the author suggests may have influenced MacArthur in his decision not to attack or save the pacific-based American planes under his command. Yet the book spends much more energy and time covering the ways in which the diplomatic and military miscalculations on the part of both Roosevelt and Churchill played almost perfectly into the hands of the Japanese. Yet it was, according to Costello, more the loss of the Pacific air power rather than the losses at Pearl Harbor that so severely limited and hampered American efforts to stem the rising tide of Japanese hegemony over the Far East in 1942.

The author writes with considerable skill in arguing that it was the combined blunders, bungling, and malfeasance on the part of Roosevelt, Churchill and MacArthur that left the western world in such mortal danger at the end of 1941. For one thing, Roosevelt had committed the United States to a secret agreement with the British to aid in the defense of the British empire's Far Eastern reaches, a pact that was likely both illegal and unconstitutional. For another, the decision to move the bulk of MacArthur's army forces 5,000 miles west of Hawaii to the Philippines left Hawaii weak and overexposed to a potential Japanese attack. Finally, the combined neglect of countless encrypted messages concerning the details of the attack as well as MacArthur's failure to mount a preemptive air attack despite being directly ordered to do so doomed the American hopes for any quick resolution to the conflict once it had started. In sum, it was the colossal lack of good leadership that led us into the disaster of December 7, 1941, and in spite of the fact that all three men are held in high regard and remembered warmly, they were largely responsible for the American failure to prevent the disaster at Pearl Harbor in a day of infamy. This is an interesting book and a worthwhile read. Enjoy!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most informed and well-reasoned account to date, January 7, 2003

By 

M. Livshutz (Niles, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Days of Infamy: Macarthur, Roosevelt, Churchill-The Shocking Truth Revealed : How Their Secret Deals and Strategic Blunders Caused Disasters at Pear Harbor and the Philippines (Paperback)

Days of Infamy is a masterpiece. As a serious research book, it is incomparable. Just about every assertion is thoroughly documented with American, British, Japanese, German and even some Dutch and Soviet sources. John Costello also thoroughly comments on the major previous efforts to explain the surprises at the start of Pacific War. He clearly and thoroughly points out what the previous investigations have gotten right or wrong. Mostly, they have narrowly focused on just the Pearl Harbor attack, and the communications between the White House, Departments of Army and Navy in Washington, and Hawaiian Army and Navy commanders. This book takes the reader to all the participants, and especially the British, who had an enormous but unpublicized influence on American plans before the war.

As a popular historical book, Days of Infamy is well-written and engages the reader very well. Since John Costello is a journalist and a TV producer, rather than a university professor, he lays this book out as a story, not as a dry research paper. He vividly describes the events of the spring, summer, fall and winter of 1941, the personalities involved, their conflicts, egos, fears, and desires. He also vividly describes the strategic and tactical plans of all sides, and where they went wrong.

Overall, I believe this book is excellent. Unlike many previous efforts, it goes beyond just Pearl Harbor to explore the full scope of American and British efforts in the Pacific in 1941. This shows that today we, as a society, are getting very close to understanding what actually happened during those days in 1941. And the more we understand the more ugly it looks. It's 60 years late, but at least we can try to learn from this experience.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many villians, October 13, 2004

By 

Thomas H. Savery (Loganville, ga) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Days of Infamy: Macarthur, Roosevelt, Churchill-The Shocking Truth Revealed : How Their Secret Deals and Strategic Blunders Caused Disasters at Pear Harbor and the Philippines (Paperback)

Days of Infamy by John Costello

This book makes one very angry at the incompetence of our military commanders at the beginning of WWII. The 2 goats of Pearl Harbor, Adm Kimmel and Gen Short, seem very competent compared to Marshall, MacArthur, Stark, King,Turner, and others.
The American plan assumed that the Japs would attack the Philippines first. To defend it, Roosevelt pulled MacArthur out of retirement in July 1941 and sent him there. In addition, he sent thousands of troops to help train the Filipinos, plus most of our latest bombers, the B-17, and many of our latest fighter aircraft, plus a potent Navy force. Marshall at the time said that reinforcing the Philippines was a mistake of the first magnitude. They allocated 200 planes to destroy 164 targets. In Europe, the allocated 8,000 planes to destroy an equal number of German targets. Japs and Jap targets were inferior, so needed fewer planes. MacArthur did not believe the Japs could fly planes due to their slanty eyes. Neither did the Brits, who would lose 2 of their battleships to Jap planes a couple of days later.

Ath the time of the Pearl Harbor attack MacArthur was called and had an 8 hour warning before the Japs attacked. They did the same thing in the Philippines that happened at Pearl. Complete surprise, in spite of the warning. This was a mystery until the early 1990's when records came unsealed that revealed that MacArthur had received $640,000 from the Philippine president to not attack the Japs.
(The plan was to have the B-17's MacArthur had to attack the Japs at Formosa and knock out their air force.) Had MacArthur followed orders, he would have done just that, as the Japs were grounded by fog.
The Army Air chief, Breteron pleaded with Mac to let him attack, but Mac refused.
In January, when Mac and his men got paid FDR himself had to approve the payment, as it was illegal for a military person to be paid by another government. Mac got500.000 of the $640,000. Sutherland and others got the rest.
Mac also had the machine that decoded the Jap purple code, unlike the folks at Pearl Harbor, so he had the same intelligence as Washington.
The Brits were supposed to get some B-17's but in an exchange of an secret agreement that we would use them to bomb the Japs at Malaya when war came, they let us keep them. Mac got them, and the Japs destroyed them. Stimson and the air generals told FDR that air power alone could beat the Japs.
To keep Kimmel up to date at Pearl, Adm Stark in Washington mailed him letters. Kimmel was never told about the Majic machine or the intercepts.

If operations started in the Philippines, and fuel was needed, this would create a fuel crisis in the U.S. as there was a lack of tankers to transport oil.
Adm Layton, an intelligence officer at the time thinks Kimmel would have deduced the Pearl Harbor target if he had the Majic machine. Adm Pye thought that the Japs would not attack Pearl either. Adm Kelly Turner in Washington was convinced the Japs were going to invade Siberia. Facts could not disabuse him of this opinion.
On Dec 5, Col Sadtler of the Army signal corps drafted a memo for Gen Short that hostilities were imminent. Gen Gerow did not allow the memo to go forward, saying Short had been warned enough.
On Sat night Dec 6, Bratton asked Marshall to issue a war alert, and Marshall refused.

The book is a listing of error after error made by our military as well as civilian chiefs. Kimmel and Short got sacked, MacArthur got the Medal of Honor, and the incompetents in Washington got promoted.

Adm Pye took over from Kimmel. Kimmel had sent a force to reinforce Wake Island, which was under attack. Pye recalled it. He too was sacked. We could have defended Wake and been in a much better position in the Pacific, if Kimmel had been left in charge.

The book leaves one gnashing his teeth in frustration reading this.