# data[].attributes.body
U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall announces the “Marshall Plan” to the public during June while giving a commencement speech at Harvard

# data[].attributes.body
Unknown object crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Web series chronicling the second interstellar Earth ship ODYSSEY as it attempts to discover what happened to Earth's first interstellar ship that disappeared on its way to explore the Milky Way Galaxy for an Earth-like planet to colonize.

# data[].attributes.body
The Mensa Society was created during October by Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware in England.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memphis Mensa | Welcome to Memphis Mensa

# data[].attributes.body
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946, also known as the McMahon Act, was signed into law by President Truman during August

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Atomic Age began on July 16, 1945, with the successful detonation of the "Gadget" at the Trinity Test in New Mexico. At the end of World War II, the future of the wartime Manhattan Project complex with production plants, laboratories, and administrative offices scattered across thirteen states was unclear. Employment levels dropped precipitously at Manhattan Project sites. Many officials believed that the hastily constructed plants would be shut down at the end of the war, their missions accomplished.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946

Amidst this uncertainty came the increasingly unified voice of many atomic scientists who, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, could speak more freely about the dangers of and problems with nuclear development. In November 1945, they formed the Federation of Atomic Scientists and began to push for civilian control of nuclear research and production. As Enrico Fermi asserted, "It is not that we will not work for the government but rather that we cannot work for the government. Unless research is free and outside of control, the United States will lose its superiority in scientific pursuit" (Hewlett and Anderson 422).

Another proposition during this time was for increased international cooperation and control of nuclear weapons. The 1943 Quebec Agreement created a wartime partnership with the United Kingdom to work together on atomic research, and efforts were made to explore the expansion of this collaboration. In March 1946, a U.S. policy committee issued the Acheson-Lilienthal report, which recommended the creation of a United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC). This organization would take over worldwide responsibility for atomic energy. But the UN commission would have required the United States to turn over its atomic secrets, a sticking point in negotiations that many in the U.S. government would not accept. Discoveries of Soviet espionage were a contributing factor to the breakdown in negotiations, and in the end all United States atomic secrets were classified. The failure of the Acheson-Lilienthal report marked a turning point towards the Cold War.

The Department of War first drafted the May-Johnson bill, which would have given the government (and possibly the military) complete control over further development of atomic energy with limited nonprofit research. It was opposed by the vast majority of Manhattan Project scientists, and the Atomic Scientists of Chicago enlisted the help of Chicago law professor Edward Levi, who asserted that the government could not support a bill which "would constitute a judgement as to how research can be best carried out."

Congress eventually settled on a compromise bill written by Senator Brien McMahon. It would become the Atomic Energy Act, alternately known as the McMahon Act, and was passed in July 1946. The bill proposed the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission, a civilian committee made up of five members, one of whom would be the chairman and serve as a spokesperson. The AEC would take over responsibility of United States nuclear development from the Manhattan Engineer District. As McMahon described it, "We must find a way of controlling the destructive power of atomic energy on a world level" (Hewlett and Anderson 451).

McMahon, with the help of atomic scientists, originally proposed cutting out military control of the AEC altogether, much to the frustration of General Leslie Groves. Groves persuaded Senator Arthur Vandenberg to submit an amendment that would create a "military liaison board" to the AEC. The end result was the creation of a Military Liaison Committee (MLC) with representatives chosen by the president. The MLC would be informed of AEC decisions and it could make recommendations, but did not have any final authority. Amendments were also submitted instituting strict security measures to ensure secrecy. This would eventually lead to the investigation of several prominent scientists, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, for alleged ties to communism.

The Atomic Energy Act was signed into law by President Truman on August 1, 1946, formally creating the Atomic Energy Commission.

Implementation

In January 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission was given administration over the Manhattan Engineer District as the Atomic Energy Act went into effect. This required an enormous transfer of materials and installations, as well as thousands of military personnel, government workers, and contractor employees. As one AEC member commented, "Never before in the peacetime history of the United States has Congress established an administrative agency vested with such sweeping authority and entrusted with such portentous responsibilities." (Hewlett and Anderson 4).

The Atomic Energy Act called for the development of atomic capabilities toward "improving the public welfare, increasing the standard of living, strengthening free competition in private enterprise, and promoting world peace." To implement this mandate, the AEC first established a national laboratory system that could provide universities in different areas of the country with access to nuclear reactors and high energy accelerators. This equipment, although very expensive, was essential for universities to pursue the next steps in research in the fundamentals of nuclear science, for its application in biomedical sciences and other fields, and for the training of young scientists. Additionally, the AEC launched a "Plowshare Program" with projects that involved peaceful applications of atomic energy. These included using nuclear power for mining and oil drilling, as well as nuclear explosives for large-scale engineering projects such as canal, harbor, and dam construction.

The Atomic Energy Commission intended for its national laboratories to be the backbone of its research program. Wartime laboratories were expanded to become national laboratories, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The AEC subsequently worked to create more in the years following its inception. These would include the Ames Laboratory and the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1946, the Sandia National Laboratory in 1948, and the Idaho National Laboratory in 1949. Today, the Department of Energy operates seventeen national laboratories across the United States.

Immediately after the war, there was a lull in the pace of research activities at Los Alamos and in production at Hanford and Oak Ridge. This ended after the announcement of the Truman Doctrine, which promoted the containment of communism, in March 1947, and the subsequent blockade of West Berlin by the Soviet Union in 1948. By the summer of 1947, the AEC was charged with ensuring a steady flow of fissionable material from Hanford and Oak Ridge and stepping up weapons research at Los Alamos.

In the spring of 1949, the Atomic Energy Commission chose the U.S. Navy's former ordnance plant and testing site near Pocatello, Idaho for the National Reactor Test Station. At this 890-square mile site in eastern Idaho, 52 nuclear reactors, most of them first-of-a-kind facilities, were developed and tested during the early Cold War years. The Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I) was the first one built and in 1951 was the first to produce usable electrical power from nuclear energy. In 1953, it also became the first reactor to achieve "breeding," or producing more fuel than it consumed. The Experimental Breeder Reactor-I was recently restored under a Save America's Treasures grant with contributions from Argonne National Laboratory, Bechtel BWXT Idaho, Bechtel National, BNFL, Exelon, Florida Power & Light, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and other donors. The reactor is now a National Historic Landmark at the Idaho National Laboratory and is open to the public every summer.

The Atomic Private Sector

In 1954, Congress passed an amended Atomic Energy Act, which for the first time allowed for the possibility of a privatized nuclear energy industry. By this point, both the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom had developed nuclear weapons, ending the United States' monopoly and therefore lessening the need for absolute secrecy of nuclear development. Just a year before, President Eisenhower had delivered his "Atoms for Peace" speech before the United Nations in an effort to expand the peaceful use of nuclear energy worldwide. The 1954 Act stated, "the development, use, and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to promote world peace, improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition in private enterprise." In this way, it allowed civilian licensing for the use of nuclear materials.

The Atomic Energy Commission had to both encourage the privatization of nuclear energy and regulate it. This proved difficult and often controversial, particularly with its regulations related to radiation exposure, reactor safety, and environmental consequences.

The Department of Energy

Amidst the energy crisis of the 1970s, Congress decided in 1974 to divide the duties of the AEC. The Energy Reorganization Act split its functions into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). The NRC still exists today and primarily oversees the safety and regulation of nuclear materials and nuclear power plants. In 1977, another act of Congress replaced ERDA with the Department of Energy (DOE). It also created a Secretary of Energy, who would hold a cabinet position. It took over most of the old functions of the Atomic Energy Commission, including "defense responsibilities that included the design, construction, and testing of nuclear weapons," as well as consolidating "a loosely knit amalgamation of energy-related programs scattered throughout the Federal Government."

The primary goals of the DOE have shifted since its inception. With continued energy shortages in the United States, its initial task was to focus on energy development. Next, with Cold War tensions returning in the early 1980s, the DOE was tasked with weapons development and production. Finally, since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the DOE once again shifted its objectives, largely to focus on environmental issues.

During this last period, it became clear that environmental consequences of nuclear development were becoming a national security issue. Due to concerns over nuclear waste reaching dangerous levels, the DOE decided to turn land from the nuclear weapons complex into environmental preserves. Some examples include the White Rock Canyon Preserve in New Mexico, the Yucca Flat Area in Nevada, and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. While progress has certainly been made in environmental clean-up, addressing the environmental impacts of nuclear production will remain an issue for the foreseeable future.

Although the DOE does not hold decision power regarding the deployment and usage of the United States nuclear arsenal, it does play a role in maintaining it. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous division within the DOE, "is responsible for ensuring the integrity and safety of the nation's nuclear weapons, advancing nuclear nonproliferation and promoting international nuclear safety." In following these goals, the DOE was instrumental in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.

Additionally, the DOE is charged with the management of energy materials, in both usage and storage, to ensure proper safety precautions and to maximize output. It has also coordinated closely with the National Park Service (NPS) to clean up and preserve historic sites. In 2015, an agreement between DOE and NPS officially established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park at Los Alamos, NM, Hanford, WA, and Oak Ridge, TN. DOE and NPS are partners in managing the new Manhattan Project NHP.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Atomic Age began on July 16, 1945, with the successful detonation of the "Gadget" at the Trinity Test in New Mexico. At the end of World War II, the future of the wartime Manhattan Project complex with production plants, laboratories, and administrative offices scattered across thirteen states was unclear.

# data[].attributes.body
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) was created and held its first session during November

# data[].attributes.body
The League of Nations holds its final meeting during April . The League of Nations had been created during 1920 in the wake of World War I with the purpose of maintaining worldwide peace through an international governing body.

# data[].attributes.body
World War II begins to near its end in April as the Allies close in on Berlin.

# data[].attributes.body
US Troops Liberate Buchenwald, Germany Concentration Camp

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Spanning two world wars, a great depression, and even a moon landing, there was no shortage of conflict and excitement in the 20th century. Find resources, biog

# data[].attributes.body
Harry S. Truman becomes US President following the death of President Roosevelt

# data[].attributes.body
Major News Stories include USS Indianapolis is sunk by Japanese Submarine, War In Europe Ends May 7th ( V-E Day )

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Website of the Indiana War Memorial museum-USS Indy Radio Exhibit.. located at 55 E. Michigan St. Indianapolis ,Indiana,46204 MUSEUM hours: 9am-5pm, WED-SUN.(admission is FREE) Museum Facility "TOURS".. Contact EMAIL "IWM Tours" or call 317-233-0528 Copyright ©: for 2008-2018all rights reserved

# data[].attributes.body
The Atomic bombs were tested. The Unites States slowly developed atomic bombs during the war. In 1945 they tested them and knew they were ready for use

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On this day in 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939, when Italian emigre physicist Enrico Fermi met with U.S. Navy department officials at Columbia University to discuss the use of fissionable materials for military purposes. That same year, Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt supporting the theory that an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction had great potential as a basis for a weapon of mass destruction. In February 1940, the federal government granted a total of $6,000 for research. But in early 1942, with the United States now at war with the Axis powers, and fear mounting that Germany was working on its own uranium bomb, the War Department took a more active interest, and limits on resources for the project were removed.

Brigadier-General Leslie R. Groves, himself an engineer, was now in complete charge of a project to assemble the greatest minds in science and discover how to harness the power of the atom as a means of bringing the war to a decisive end. The Manhattan Project (so-called because of where the research began) would wind its way through many locations during the early period of theoretical exploration, most importantly, the University of Chicago, where Enrico Fermi successfully set off the first fission chain reaction. But the Project took final form in the desert of New Mexico, where, in 1943, Robert J. Oppenheimer began directing Project Y at a laboratory at Los Alamos, along with such minds as Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, and Fermi. Here theory and practice came together, as the problems of achieving critical mass-a nuclear explosion-and the construction of a deliverable bomb were worked out.

Finally, on the morning of July 16,in the New Mexico desert120 miles south of Santa Fe, the first atomic bomb was detonated. The scientists and a few dignitaries had removed themselves 10,000 yards away to observe as the first mushroom cloud of searing light stretched 40,000 feet into the air and generated the destructive power of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT. The tower on which the bomb sat when detonated was vaporized.

The question now became-on whom was the bomb to be dropped? Germany was the original target, but the Germans had already surrendered. The only belligerent remaining was Japan.

A footnote: The original $6,000 budget for the Manhattan Project finally ballooned to a total cost of $2 billion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Atom bomb successfully tested - Jul 16, 1945 - HISTORY.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On this day in 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939, when Italian emigre physicist Enrico Fermi met with U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
Battle of Midway.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy's decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan's hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.

Japan's Ambitions in the Pacific

Japan's efforts to establish clear naval and air superiority in the western Pacific first hit a snag in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, when the U.S. fleet turned back a Japanese invasion force headed for New Guinea. Despite the setback, Admiral Isaroku Yamamoto, commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was convinced his forces enjoyed a numerical advantage over the Americans.

Hoping to replicate the success of the Pearl Harbor attack, Yamamoto decided to seek out and crush the rest of the U.S. Pacific fleet with a surprise attack aimed at the Allied base at Midway Island. Midway is located in the Pacific Ocean almost directly in between the United States and Japan.

After a diversionary attack by a smaller Japanese force on the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska, Yamamoto planned a three-pronged approach toward Midway. First, an air attack on the island launched from four first-line Japanese aircraft carriers, the Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu, commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Second, an invasion force of ships and soldiers led by Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo. And finally, once expected U.S. reinforcements from Pearl Harbor arrived, a joint strike by Nagumo's forces and Yamamoto's own fleet, which would be waiting 600 miles to the west.

Did you know? Six months before the Battle of Midway, the islands were attacked on December 7, 1941, less than two hours after Pearl Harbor.

United States Military Academy's Department of History

U.S. Gains Advantage Thanks to Navy Codebreakers

U.S. Navy cryptanalysts had begun breaking Japanese communication codes early in 1942, and knew for weeks ahead of time that Japan was planning an attack in the Pacific at a location they called "AF." Suspecting it was Midway, the Navy decided to send out a false message from the base claiming it was short of fresh water. Japan's radio operators sent out a similar message about "AF" soon afterward, confirming the location of the planned attack.

With Japan's fleet so widely dispersed, Yamamoto had to transmit all strategy over the radio, enabling Navy cryptanalysts based in Hawaii to figure out when Japan planned to attack (June 4 or 5) and the planned order of battle of the Imperial Japanese Navy. With this information, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, could develop a plan to combat the invasion.

The Japanese assumed that the U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown, which been damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea, would be unavailable at Midway. In fact, the damaged carrier was repaired in only two days at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, and left on May 30 to regroup with other U.S. ships near Midway in preparation for Japan's attack.

The Battle of Midway Begins

After the diversionary Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands on June 3, a group of U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress bombers flew from Midway to attack Kondo's invasion force, which they mistakenly assumed was the main Japanese fleet. This unsuccessful attack marked the first military engagement in the Battle of Midway.

Before dawn the next day, more B-17s left Midway for a second attack on the Japanese invasion force, also unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Nagumo launched the first phase of Japan's attack as planned, sending 108 Japanese warplanes from the four aircraft carriers to strike Midway. After inflicting severe damage to the U.S. base, the first Japanese attack ended by 7 a.m., leaving the airfield still useable and U.S. anti-aircraft defenses still functioning.

Shortly after that, just as his pilots informed Nagumo that another airstrike against the base would be necessary, U.S. aircraft launched from Midway began attacking the four Japanese carriers, without success. As Nagumo was rearming Japanese planes for a second air attack, a Japanese scout plane spotted portions of the U.S. fleet, including USS Yorktown, to the east of Midway. Nagumo switched tactics, ordering planes that were still armed to prepare to attack the U.S. ships once the rest of the Japanese planes returned from Midway.

Meanwhile, a wave of U.S. Devastator torpedo bombers from the U.S. carriers Hornet and Enterprise arrived to attack the Japanese ships. Unescorted by fighter planes, nearly all of them were shot down by Japanese Zero fighters. But about an hour later, as the Japanese refueled and rearmed their planes, another wave of U.S. carrier-launched bombers struck, hitting three Japanese carriers- Akagi, Kaga and Soryu -and setting them ablaze.

In response, Japan's surviving carrier, Hiryu, launched two waves of attacks on the Yorktown, which had to be abandoned but remained afloat. U.S. dive-bombers from all three carriers returned to attack the Hiryu and set it ablaze as well, putting all four Japanese carriers out of commission.

Significance of U.S. Victory in the Battle of Midway

Though major combat in the Battle of Midway was over by the evening of June 4, U.S. troops at sea and on Midway Island continued their attacks on the Japanese over the next two days.

The destroyer USS Hammann provided cover for the disabled carrier Yorktown during salvage operations, but a Japanese submarine arrived on June 6 and launched four torpedoes that struck both U.S. ships. The Hammann sank in minutes; the Yorktown eventually capsized and sank the following day.

On June 6, Yamamoto ordered his ships to retreat, ending the Battle of Midway. In all, Japan had lost as many as 3,000 men (including more than 200 of their most experienced pilots), nearly 300 aircraft, one heavy cruiser and four aircraft carriers in the battle, while the Americans lost the Yorktown and Hammann, along with around 145 aircraft and approximately 360 servicemen.

As a result of the U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway, Japan abandoned its plan to expand its reach in the Pacific, and would remain on the defensive for the remainder of World War II. The battle injected U.S. forces with confidence and drained Japanese morale, turning the tide of war in the Pacific strongly in favor of the Allies.

Sources

The Battle of Midway, National WWII Museum.

Andrew Lambert, "The Battle of Midway." BBC, February 17, 2011.

1942: The Battle of Midway, CBS News.

The Battle of Midway, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Battle of Midway was an epic WWII clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy's decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) dashed Japan's hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.

# data[].attributes.body
Japan takes Singapore.The Japanese captured Singapore from the British, taking some 60,000 prisoners.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The battle resulted in the Japanese capture of Singapore and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the earlier Malayan Campaign. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the "worst disaster" in British military history.

# data[].attributes.body
The Roberts Commission appointed by President Roosevelt finds Kimmel and Short in dereliction of duty and solely responsible for the Pearl Harbor disaster.

# data[].attributes.body
Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short are relieved of their commands.

# data[].attributes.body
President Roosevelt addresses congress and asks for a declaration of war against Japan, which he recieves

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
File:FDR 1944 Color Portrait.tif - Wikipedia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Original color transparency of FDR taken at 1944 Official Campaign Portrait session by Leon A. Perskie, Hyde Park, New York, August 21, 1944. Gift of Beatrice Perskie Foxman and Dr. Stanley B. Foxman. August 21, 1944

# data[].attributes.body
The USS West Virginia and the USS Tennessee burn on Dec. 7, 1941, after Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor. | REUTERS/KYODO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dec. 7 has never been an ordinary day for Takeo Iguchi. On that day 73 years ago, when Imperial Japanese Navy warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor, he was in Washington, the 11-year-old son of Sadao Iguchi, counselor at the Japanese Embassy there.

Takeo Iguchi, himself a former ambassador to New Zealand and a professor emeritus at Shobi University, has devoted his research to reversing a prevalent view in Japan that it was due to the embassy's neglect that Japan's final memorandum was handed to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull at 2:20 p.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Washington time - one hour after the start of the attack - and thus giving Japan the disgrace of launching a "sneak attack."

Reiterating the theme of his 2010 book "Demystifying Pearl Harbor - A New Perspective from Japan" (International House of Japan), Iguchi, 84, said in a recent interview that the Japanese army, which wanted its attack on Kota Bharu on the Malay Peninsula and the navy's attack on Pearl Harbor to be carried out without prior warnings, "caused the Foreign Ministry's delay in the transmission of a telegram containing the concluding and crucial part of the memorandum in order to protect the secrecy of the Pearl Harbor attack."

The telegram arrived at the embassy only around 7:30 a.m. Dec. 7. He noted that none of the telegrams containing the memorandum text was labeled urgent, much less of the utmost urgency. At around 10 a.m., the embassy received a telegram ordering it to deliver the memorandum to the U.S. side at 1 p.m. - 20 minutes before the start of the attack. Iguchi also stressed that the telegrams were characterized by numerous garbled parts and missing words, making typing work at the embassy difficult.

Iguchi also said the widely accepted view has had the effect of hiding the important fact that the final memorandum did not conform to the accepted form of an ultimatum making clear Japan's intention of terminating negotiations and entering into war.

"As a diplomat-historian with living memory of the tragic Pacific War, I had a duty to devote my work to sincerely reassessing the question of Japan's ultimatum question and subsequent explaining away of the delayed delivery of the memorandum, since the truth has been obfuscated for nearly 70 years by multiple hands and it is high time to rectify misunderstandings surrounding this singular event in order for world historians to obtain a correct historical perspective," Iguchi said. His effort to correct the prevailing view is finally bearing fruit.

In recent years, new discoveries have confirmed that military leaders deliberately tried to delay the delivery of Japan's final memorandum to the U.S., thus confusing the embassy in Washington. After the war, experts felt strongly inclined to blame the delay on embassy staff.

In 2013, professor Munehiro Miwa, a director at Kyushu University's Manuscript Library, discovered a document in the Japanese National Archives that sheds light on questionable moves by military elements at the postwar International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

In September, Iguchi typed out the document - a draft of guidelines for defending military and Foreign Ministry defendants at the tribunal that Miwa thinks was written mainly by lawyers for the navy defendants - and submitted it to the Foreign Ministry, asking that it closely examine what it and the military did in connection with the Pearl Harbor attack.

At the outset, the defense guidelines, dated May 7, 1947, say the lawyers should stress that the navy made an effort so that Japan would deliver an ultimatum expressing its war intention to the U.S. in conformity with international law. They also say the lawyers should make efforts to prevent the conflict among the Foreign, Army and Navy ministries in writing the final memorandum from surfacing at the tribunal.

The guidelines further say the lawyers should argue that Japan believed that in view of the prevailing circumstances at the time, the final memorandum served in substance as an ultimatum expressing the nation's intent to go to war.

In February 1999, Iguchi unearthed the "Draft Final Memorandum of the Imperial Government Addressed to the U.S. Government," written by Kumaichi Yamamoto, head of the Foreign Ministry's American Affairs Bureau, and dated Dec. 3, 1941, in the Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Record Office.

The concluding paragraph of the draft reads: "The government of the United States of America has not shown even the slightest degree of sincerity in the current negotiations, and the Japanese government regrets to have to solemnly notify hereby your government that we are forced to terminate negotiations, recognizing that continuation of talks will in no way contribute to the stability of East Asia, and that you will be held responsible for any and all the consequences that may arise in the future."

But in the memorandum Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura and special envoy Saburo Kurusu delivered to Hull, the last paragraph was changed to: "The Japanese government regrets to have to notify hereby the American government that in view of the attitude of the American government, it cannot but consider that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations."

Iguchi said the change turned the final memorandum into something that was not an ultimatum, fueling anger that Japan carried out a "treacherous attack," as termed by the U.S.

The tribunal defense guidelines imply that the military exerted pressure to change the last paragraph of the final memorandum. They say the tribunal lawyers should avoid giving the impression that the final memorandum became a vague statement under the pressure of the military and contrary to the will of Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo.

"The defense guidelines show that the Japanese army and navy's defense counsel beseeched and succeeded in prevailing over the Foreign Ministry's position and exempted military leaders' culpability for submitting to the U.S. a misleading final note hiding its intent of declaring war," Iguchi said. "They also show that the army deleted the concluding and crucial part of the original draft and the navy silently accepted it without protesting."

He said that minutes kept by Hajime Sugiyama, chief of the Army General Staff, substantiates his view.

Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Combined Fleet for the Imperial Japanese Navy, believed Japan should deliver to the U.S. an advance warning of military action. And there is a view among experts that he told Emperor Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Showa) that such a warning would be handed to the U.S. Iguchi, who read a relevant part of the recently issued annals of Emperor Hirohito, however, says that it contains nothing that shows that Yamamoto made such a remark to the Emperor.

"They met for only about 10 minutes. There was no time and no power for Yamamoto to discuss the final memorandum and the method and time of its delivery with the Emperor," Iguchi said.

The defense guidelines instruct the lawyers to argue that the delay in the delivery of the final memorandum to the U.S. side was due to slow work at the Japanese Embassy in Washington and contrary to Tokyo's wishes.

"The circumstances clearly show there was no deliberate attempt on the part of the embassy to delay the delivery," Iguchi said angrily. "The defense guidelines tried to make the embassy bear total responsibility. This is untenable even from a legal viewpoint."

Kyushu University's Miwa found documents in the U.S. National Archives in 2012 showing that the Foreign Ministry delayed the transmission of the telegram containing the concluding part of the final memorandum by more than 15 hours from the originally scheduled 1 a.m. to 4:38 p.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan time. It also sent two other telegrams correcting garbled parts and missing words at 175 places in another, earlier telegram containing the remaining parts of the final memorandum as late as 2:20 p.m. and 3:32 p.m. on Dec. 7 Japan time. Miwa said the defense guidelines imply that the navy was not told about the delay in transmitting the telegram containing the concluding part of the final memorandum.

The guidelines for the defense tell the lawyers to argue that the army's landing on Kota Bharu one hour and 50 minutes before the Pearl Harbor attack were due to miscommunication among the government, the military's central commands and commands outside Japan.

Both Iguchi and Miwa said that this is contrary to historical fact. Both the army and navy commands knew in advance that instead of the desired simultaneous attacks, the navy would start the Pearl Harbor attack 90 minutes after the Kota Bharu attack because of the lack of predawn-attack experience among the pilots of two aircraft carriers - the Shokaku and the Zuikaku.

"The defense guidelines show that our military leaders narrowly escaped the imputation of a deliberate unannounced attack and the military subjugated and sacrificed our diplomacy to serve its strategic convenience," Iguchi said. "The Foreign Ministry should closely examine the related facts and provide to the people a truthful account of policy decisions and their execution related to Japan's diplomatic behavior at the start of the Pacific War."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Historian seeks to clear embassy of Pearl Harbor 'sneak attack' infamy | The Japan Times

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dec. 7 has never been an ordinary day for Takeo Iguchi. On that day 73 years ago, when Imperial Japanese Navy warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor, he was in Washington, the 11-year-old son of Sadao Iguchi, counselor at the Japanese Embassy there.

# data[].attributes.body
Main air crafts begin the transit to Hawaii

# data[].attributes.body
January 1941 Yamamoto starts communicating with other japan officers about possible attack on Pearl Harbor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Title reads: "North China". Sino-Japanese War. M/S of armed Japanese soldiers running through paddy field, there are explosions in the background. Various shots of Japanese soldiers crossing a river. Soldiers wade into water and hold up pontoon bridge on their shoulders, allowing more men to cross.