ABSTRACT
Three documents, totaling 130,000 words, have been released by President Truman giving the purported facts leading up to the disaster of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Army and Navy reports released on August 29, 1945, evoked alarms among faithful Democrats who had been clinging to the official thesis on how war came in the Pacific. There could be differences of opinion as to the meaning and upshot of various passages and conclusions contained in the reports but certain indisputable items stood out in the record now laid before the American people. The Roberts Commission had declared in January, 1942, that the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff had fulfilled their obligations in respect of preparedness at Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt exploited the role of Commander-in-Chief of the War and Navy and State Departments to the full. He continually accented the role and guided his policies accordingly.
