[SIZE=11pt]Hello everyone, [/SIZE] [SIZE=11pt]Members over in the "newbie" section suggested that this would be a useful place to to let forum members know about our new book. The book A MATTER OF HONOR, Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame, & a Family’s Quest for Justice, will be published on November 15 by HarperCollins.[/SIZE] [SIZE=11pt]The book's focus is Admiral Husband Kimmel, who in 1941 was Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet – whose treatment after the attack Vice President Joe Biden has called “the greatest injustice in U.S. military history”.[/SIZE] [SIZE=11pt]As many of you know, Admiral Kimmel was relieved of command, accused by a presidential commission of “dereliction of duty” and “errors of judgment”, publicly disgraced, and retired. There were calls for him to be jailed, even shot. The deaths of 2,403 men, mostly under his command, had largely been laid at his feetRather than go quietly into obscurity however, Kimmel struggled – through nine investigations – to convince the world that he was innocent of the allegations. . The famous and the less famous testified, some reluctantly, to what – they claimed – had really happened. Books were published. Americans argued. Had Kimmel been the victim of a grotesque official conspiracy, as even he surmised in his less restrained moments?[/SIZE] [SIZE=11pt]The fight has never ended. When Kimmel died, his two ex-Navy sons continued the struggle. In 2000, with the muscled backing of Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Strom Thurmond, and John Kerry, both houses of Congress voted for the posthumous restoration of the Admiral’s four-star rank. Today, his grandsons and the extended Kimmel family continue the fight. This is a family that holds to the American tradition, less often voiced today, that nothing is more important than truth, integrity – and honor. [/SIZE] The book is not only Kimmel’s story, however, it seeks to unravel the many apparent mysteries of Pearl Harbor. It clears FDR and his advisers of the charge that they knew the attack was coming. Nevertheless, it establishes that there were appalling failures - and duplicity and betrayal in high places in Washington. A MATTER OF HONOR is not published until November 15, so we'll only be able to answer limited questions about it until then. After publication, however, we'd welcome weighing into a conversation about the subjects it raises with any of you. With regards, Anthony (Summers) & Robbyn (Swan) www.anthonysummers.com www.robbynswan.com
Welcome to the forum and good fortune with your book. You know I'm sure it would be a challenge to pick a more controversial subject and some will praise and others pan for no better reason than their hard wired beliefs on what happened and what should have happened. Again, welcome and good luck.
Welcome Robbyn and Anthony. Your book sounds like it should be of interest here. Larry (Opana Pointer) is our resident Pearl Harbor expert. You might want to connect with him.
Hi Larry, I'm a little circumscribed about what I can say about Kimmel's performance until after our official pub date on November 15. Given your username, can I presume radar is a particular interest of yours - did you in fact yourself serve in a radar unit? Best, Robbyn
No, but I read the entire Hearings starting when I was 14. Took four years. Since then I dabble a bit in the topic.
"No, but I read the entire Hearings starting when I was 14. Took four years. Since then I dabble a bit in the topic." You are a man after my own heart.... I think you'll find A Matter of Honor to be something you'll be able to get your teeth into then. In more than 100 pages of source notes, you'll find we rely heavily on the testimony and documents in the PH hearings volumes, then on new documents we've located in the U.S., British, and Dutch national archives - and we've tried to give the clearest possible citations for those because we want interested readers or researchers to be able to push the story further if they can.. We try to avoid the trap that many authors seem to fall into of relying books and other secondary sources. I'm sure on the Pearl Harbor story you've encountered numerous examples of that leading research astray over the years. Robbyn
I had a serious disagreement with a prof. at Purdue when I was in grad school about the use of primary v. secondary sources. I got the impression that we should be discussing what other people said about events rather than what actually happened. We ended up agreeing that I didn't want to take any more of her classes.