The Pittsburgh Press (October 20, 1944)
Roosevelt ‘dared’ on Pearl Harbor
St. Paul, Minnesota (UP) –
Rep. Melvin J. Maas (R-MN) challenged the administration today to deny his charges that it knew six hours in advance that the Pearl Harbor attack would occur and yet failed to notify Army and naval authorities on the spot.
Mr. Maas reiterated the prediction he made in an address here that RAdm. Husband E. Kimmel and Maj. Gen. Walter C. Short would never be brought to court-martial by this administration because their testimony would reveal that the real blame for the surprise Jap attack rested in Washington.
Mr. Maas said in the address that most of the U.S. fleet was berthed at Pearl Harbor late in the fall of 1941 to appease Japan, which had protested against the Navy’s carrying on practice maneuvers. Earlier, Mr. Maas said, naval chiefs at Pearl Harbor had requested more patrol bombers and 300 had been recommended by a naval board, but just as the last 250 were completed, they were transferred to Britain. The highest naval officials protested to Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Maas claimed, and were referred to Harry Hopkins, then in charge of allocation of war materials.
Mr. Maas charged:
Hopkins received them as he lay in bed, nonchalantly smoking a cigarette. He listened to them, then told them the interview was over and that he had already made the allocation.
Adm. Kimmel told me if those 250 patrol planes had been sent to Hawaii, the Dec. 7 attack could never have succeeded, and probably would never have been attempted.