FDR endangered fleet

The special section in the Sunday paper on the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack provided many interesting and informative personal accounts and stories of the survivors. The Japanese followed the attack plan that Gen. Patton, Gen. Billy Mitchell and others had drawn up years earlier as a way to defeat our naval forces at Pearl Harbor.

That is why admiral of the Pacific Fleet, James Richardson, was fired by FDR for complaining about FDR’s order to move the fleet from San Diego to Hawaii. He said the move would make the fleet “extremely vulnerable to attack” and provided a “poor and nonstrategic defense.”

President Roosevelt’s administrative assistant, Jonathan Daniels, conveyed Roosevelt’s reaction to the attack, “the blow was heavier than he had hoped it would necessarily be … But the risks paid off; even the loss was worth the price.” I doubt the thousands of families and survivors who have had to endure the physical and emotional pain of this disaster for 75 years would agree that it was necessary or worth the price.

Steve Dunham

Spokane