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Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War

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This text, with a 1946 copyright and published as a hardcover in 1947 (Devin-Adair), has now been released as a 50th Anniversary Edition in 1991 (Institute of Historical Review).

It remains today, in 2007, a quintessential source for any Pearl Harbor cognoscente. Facts is facts.

To be appreciated is that Morgenstern's effort is prior to almost all other Pearl Harbor works and is largely based on the flurry of "official" investigations and their findings which took place in the 1940s.

There are today obviously a number of revisions needed to this book based on the more recent research. For example, the efforts of authors such as Toland (e.g., Seaman "Z" and the Dutch officer Ranneft), Stinnett and Wilford (extensive use of FOIA materials on IJN codes and radio intelligence), and the far newer work of Victor (e.g., FDR ordered the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii, ordered Stark to begin the ABCD talks, ordered convoying in the Atlantic, ordered Hull to give the Japanese the ten-point ultimatum, whereabouts of FDR and War Cabinet the night of 12.6.41, foreknowledge that Germany would declare war on the US, ..., etc.) reveal much that Morgenstern did not uncover. But, such is the role of historical pursuit.

Of particular interest are his conclusions as presented in Chapter Twenty - "Who Was Guilty?" The ending sentences are : " ... The people were told that acts which were equivalent to war were intended to keep the nation out of war. Constitutional processes existed only to be circumvented, until finally the war-making power of Congress was reduced to the act of ratifying an accomplished fact."

This text makes so clear the obvious. And, for Americans, this, given their past history of wars since WWII, should be thought about.

this book not only shows that roosevelt"s war cabinet knew about the impending attack on pearl harbor but actually invited and provoked japan to attack via diplomatic and economic sanctions.this book exposes deceit at the highest level of govt.a must read!excellent.