AN ANCIENT CANARD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100230014-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 29, 2005
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: June 26, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 200f/94(jl ;: i C -RDP88-0131? ff 0102380*4 s, r t,--
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'T'hat professional pop-off, Prof. Arthur sponclent who had been present at TM
Schlesinger Jr., has turned up on the earlier T3aftle of the Coral Sea, and
opposite-editorial page of the Nov,, York 'Wayne Thon?is, aviation editor. At' the
`Tildes to defend that newspaper's publi- time there was nothing in any censor-
cation of bootlegged Pentagon secret ship regulations relating to estimates of
documents bearing on United States in- the strength and composition of enemy
tervention in the Indochina War. forces. Johnston pieced together his
Ills method is the curious one of surmises about the Japanese task force
dredging tip two rows stories published which approached A'1=.dway, using as-
by Tits Tiunur. n 30 years , a so and sun?ptions anybody could ilrizke.
seeking to, imply that, whatever the He know of previous Japanese naval
Time has done iimq it is insignificant lows and which carriers had been dam-
compared to the conduct of '!iris 'l'ate- aged, He knew Avhat .endsers,'supply
"arr. u,cia.
In developing this interesting thesis,
Schlesinger, true to for11?, has his facts
all scrambled up. He has always been
a sloppy and slanted historian, but on
this occasion-he exceeds himself.
ships, and attack vessels, were still
available. He knew the Japanese would
send the -cream of thc'remaining crop
against Midway. Referring to Jane's
"Alt (he lVorld's li ighting Slips," he
made a shrewd appraisal of what the
lie contrasts 1112 asserted "forbear- Japanese had sent into action. :('he story
once" of President Franklin 120n ei'elt appeared in 70 newspapers, one of them
toward !iii; Tmnu%3E with the "iuselLsi- in Washington.
tivity" of the Nixon Department of The Navy Department called Johnston
Justice in seeking to enjoin publication and Thongs to Nashil,gton. At the and
by the Times and other ttcwspaliers.
All of this would be interesting if true,
but it is not.
1nmuxs stories cited by Schlesinger
are [11 a report of Dec. 4, 1911, detail-
ing Roosevelt's plan to mobilize 10 mil-
lion men for service in a was in
Europe after lie had campaigned a year
before on the pledge that "your boys
of four dhiys of meetings, the admirals
seemed to lose interest, assured the two
Tiu nuxis lnen they had never doubted
them, and told them to forget the whole
thing. .
There matters rested until August,
when Roosevelt's attorney general,-
Francis Diddle, ?pres,ltnably acting on
White House ord
rs said that a federal
e ,
are not oing Y
ar g to be sent iato any for-
Own w Me! niuM n dory of Zinc 1, grand jury "Wild 7.tlvnsti a tP. 71$E`, ',ml3-
to c1t ewer v;hehat action shar.14
10 2, at bleu time Me iilllted State; had Tim" be taken fci? publishing "eenffclell(tel
inflicted a smashing defeat on the Jap- information." The announcement was
anese flea at the Rule of i\Iiciv,ay. . Unusual in itself ; for bile usual i a"c t ce
'Schlesinger says that the first story ge y is to give no advance notice of such
dealt with "secret Army wvar plans." hearings to those they might involve.
In fact, it was not an operational plan Biddle also sent a special assistant at-
at all. Its pritlc]nal effect was to expose Conley general to Chicago to direct the
Roosevelt's hypocrisy, inquiry..
The second story is described by At the end of a 'sveek. after Jollllston
Schlesinger as having "revealed that }.L'ilomis,. and the idanauing editor of
we had bre!:on the secret Japanese Tins TmJSuNE, J. Loy Maloney, had
l
d
l
di
hi
nava
cc
es. It
c
nos
ng of the sort,
and not even the Japanese interpreted
it hi that light. if they had, May v;ould
have changed their codes at once, but
they did not do. so for almost a year
and a half. They did so only after the
commander of the combined fleets,
Adm. Yamamoto, was shot down in the
Southwest Pacific by American fighter
planes whose pilots had been informed
of his route.
Tun TralsuNvi;'s 1tl1clway story etl-
cleavorecl to reconstruct the battle order
of the Japanese naval force sent against
Midway Island. It was a collaboration
between Stanley Johnston, a war corrre-
appeared before the grand jury at their
oven request, the grand jury &cided
that no indictment was merited or would
be returned. But it cannot be said that
the administration hadn't tried.
It is to- be noted that the Johnston-
Thongs story made no reference to
codes of any. kind, and the grand jury
was aware of this.
Schlesinger version of this epi-
sode and the eariler story dealing with
the, administration's mobilization plait
does not accord with the facts. He says
that "the Roosevelt aclmiltistratioll, the
greatly tempted, took no legal action
against `I'll in the first hu-
t C yam. c