American History Revised Read Online Free PDF

back the Opana radar station to verify the situation, McDonald now heard emergency warnings: “Hey, Mac, there is a heck of a big flight of planes coming in and the whole scope is covered!” McDonald ran back to the other room, only to find the inexperienced lieutenantcavalierly dismissing “the attacking planes” as a fleet of U.S. B-17 bombers expected to arrive that morning from the West Coast. Asked if he shouldn’t relay the frantic message to the admirals in charge of the base, the lieutenant told him, “Don’t worry about it.”
    Unsure what to do and hesitant to “pull rank,” McDonald obeyed orders. Forty-five minutes later, the Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor.
    It is remarkable how military analysts to this day gloss over the facts. Pontificates one historian for the U.S. government’s website about Pearl Harbor, “The use of radar was not fully incorporated into an integrated air defense system. While the technology of radar functioned as intended and detected the incoming planes, there was no way to accurately assess this information and communicate this knowledge to those in command.”
    So, in other words, no one is to blame. This, of course, is complete nonsense. The Opana warning was crystal clear. For an equally clear assessment of what happened, we should listen not to government historians writing public-relations fluff, but to military officers risking their lives on the ground at the time. Testified one such officer, Corporal George Mooney: “I finally talked to him [Lieutenant Tyler] and told him to immediately call someone with authority and pass the word that we have picked up over 150 blips on our radar screen and get some action right away. He gave me a bunch of BS. As far as he was concerned, there was no action needed at this time. He had at least one and a half hours of time [to warn Pearl], but he chose to do nothing. The rest is history.”
    Actually, history wasn’t finished yet. Within twenty-four hours another saga occurred thousands of miles away, this one a message that
was
delivered—only to be ignored. In the Philippines there was a large American base headed by General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur had been told all about Pearl Harbor and ordered to go on full alert, yet he did nothing. He kept all his planes on the ground. The result was a total wipe-out, capture by the Japanese, and the infamous march to Bataan in which almost 30 percent of the American prisoners died. *
    In all this there is a lesson to be learned: even with a vital message in their hands, people frequently do nothing. Says historian Ronald Spector about the twofold Pacific debacle of December 7–8, 1941: “The mere presence of accurate information among a mass of inaccurate or misleading information is no guarantee that the accurate information will be recognized or acted upon.”
Watching the Whales
    1781 Observing nature can be a good way to discover new knowledge and technology. In the colonial days, the country that knew how to sail across the Atlantic the fastest would have a significant commercial and military advantage.
    The observers were the whalers of Nantucket. Following the migration of whales, they became curious about the course and speed of the currents of the Gulf Stream. By dropping thermometers at regular intervals and measuring the speed of surface bubbles and noting changes in the color of the water, they were able to map the Gulf Stream. This knowledge enabled American sea captains to save days against their British counterparts by crossing over the Gulf Stream instead of sailing against it. Benjamin Franklin heard about this discovery from his cousin, a Nantucket whaling captain, and utilized it for his mail ships when he was postmaster general. In 1776 he tested it himself by taking an ocean voyage and dropping his thermometer two to four times a day from early morning to late night. His report on the Gulf Stream, kept secret until after the Revolutionary War, was shared with