Senate votes 52 to 47 to absolve
By Pete Pichaske
Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short of
blame in the Japanese attack
Phillips News serviceWASHINGTON -- The Senate today voted to exonerate the two officers blamed for decades for the disastrous 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
After two days of sometimes spirited debate, a divided Senate voted 52-47 to exonerate Adm. Husband Kimmel and Army Gen. Walter Short, the two senior U.S commanders in the Pacific in December 1941.
The Senate voted to give posthumous pardons to both officers and restore them to the ranks they held before Dec. 7, 1941. Shortly after the surprise attack, both men were charged with dereliction of duty, relieved of their commands, and retired at lower ranks.
The Senate also passed a "sense of Congress" that both Kimmel and Short had performed their duties "competently and professionally" and the Japanese attacks were "not a result of dereliction of duty."
Both Sen. Daniel Inouye, a decorated World War II veteran, and Sen. Daniel Akaka voted in favor of exoneration. The resolution still must by approved by the House as part of the Defense appropriations bill.
The exoneration would represent a triumph for the families of both men -- in particular, Ned Kimmel, the only surviving son of Adm. Kimmel, who had campaigned for decades to clear his father's name.
Just last month, Kimmel, 77, said he was prepared to pass the torch of fighting for his father's honor to his own son and nephew.
"I've got the troops lined up and ready to go," he said.
In the Senate, even World War II veterans were divided on the issue.
Sen. John Warner, a former Navy secretary who enlisted in the Navy in 1944, complained of "tombstone promotions" and noted that nine separate investigations had opposed exonerating the officers.
"Why should we at this late date in history try to make a different finding?" said Warner, expressing the view of the Pentagon.
But Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., another World War II veteran, called Kimmel and Short "the two final victims of Pearl Harbor."
He added: "It's never too late to correct an injustice."
