Apologies for not getting back to some of your questions sooner.   A few things tied me up here over the last week or so, but it is now back to business.

Hard to figure out exactly where to start.   OK, I guess first one would be that I’d love to get into some political discussions, but as use to be said during the Revolution “I’ll keep my powder dry.”   One of the pleasures of working with Newt is that this historian gets an “insiders” look at the political process.  The triumphs, and sadly at times the disappointments.   I’ll leave the political stuff to Newt to reply to for right now.

As to the historical accuracy within our novels, that indeed is a good point to raise.   Yes, there were some mistakes in terms of typos  (if you compare first edition hardback of Pearl Harbor to the trade paperback you’ll see that those have been cleaned up, especially the issue about dates.)    One of the tougher aspects of researching the events leading up to Pearl Harbor is the numerous conflicting views, reports, opinions, and data.  I came across one rather well respected source that cites the “Enterprise” coming into harbor on the evening of December 7^th, when in fact it was not until 24 hours later.    Regarding armaments on aircraft, performance characteristics, weapons performances, that really proved to be tough.   A “safety” fall back position for myself is that our military, in 1941, was still a rather hodgepodge affair, scrambling to build up for the crisis to come, while at the same time, as fast as our factories were turning out modern weaponry, much of it was being shipped to our future allies who were barely holding on.   Thus there was a lot of “improv” in the field, if the part fit, if it worked, use it.     So at times Newt or I would look at data regarding a ship, a plane, a facility, and different sources would describe it differently.    If we did make mistakes, our apologies.   

One point I will hold the line on is the conspiracy theories about who knew what when.    For me it is impossible to conceive that FDR had confirmed knowledge that an attack would hit Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and not have acted.   There was indeed general knowledge that at some point between mid November to late December, 1941, the Japanese would attack the British, Dutch, and most likely our holdings in the Philippines, but Pearl was a bolt out of the blue.    One must look, as well, at the “business as usual in peacetime” syndrome of any bureaucracy.   Dare I mention September 10, 2001  (not the 11^th, the 10^th).     The signals were all there, to be easily interpreted after that tragic day, but getting the information into a coherent picture and reacting prior to that horrid morning, be it September 11^th or December 7^th, is another story.    Recall that our military did go on full alert, with a war warning, a weekend earlier than December 7^th. . . and nothing happened.    So the bureaucratic, peacetime attitude settled in of just how many times can we call on our men to go to full alert, on a weekend?     Somewhat the same on September 10, 2001.

The specifics of the carriers especially Enterprise.   It actually was slated to arrive in Pearl Harbor and tie off at 7 AM, December 7, 1941,  presenting us with the nightmare scenario of Halsey and his two thousand gallant men disembarking just as the first Japanese dive bombers came winging in.    The ship’s logs prove without doubt it was weather, and its impact on refueling the destroyers the day before, that slowed the task group returning from Wake Island.   Perhaps we could call it our own “Divine Wind” that saved “Enterprise” that day.   No conspiracy, just a thirty knot blow.

Frankly I’d love to get in direct touch, but sadly must hesitate with posting my personal email address on this site in reply.   If I do so, you computer savvy types know I might suddenly get flooded with ten thousand spams suggesting various herbal formulas that will, hmmmm, make my life more interesting, the usual letters from princes in Nigeria needing to move ten million bucks etc.

I hope that covers most of the questions and in the future I’ll try to respond more directly to each note.   The last weeks with end of the school year for my daughter, a friend with emergency surgery and don’t ask me about the torture session with my dentist. . .I accused him of being trained by the Gestapo afterwards!   But actually he’s a great guy, just that I ran an allergic reaction, and other stuff, including take some flight exams, tied me up.  

Most sincerely,

Bill Forstchen