Hull said, “I’ve heard some of this. The secretary of war, the secretary of the navy, they’ve been harangued just like you were. When he was here in October, I ran into him at a dinner at the Willard. Admiral Richardson mentioned to me that he felt you were trying to bluff the Japanese, that we weren’t serious about using the navy if a crisis erupted.”
“Bluffs don’t work, Cordell. This isn’t about poker, it’s about protecting our interests. The British, French, the rest of them, their survival’s at stake. There is too much vulnerability in the South Pacific, and the Japanese seem entirely too interested in taking advantage of that. The only real naval presence south of the Philippines has been the British. But they can’t afford to stand tall against the Japanese while they stand tall against Hitler.”
Hull stretched his back. He was running out of fuel for the meeting, something he was becoming used to. “Mr. President, it has always been my policy when dealing with foreign ambassadors that we never issue any sort of threat unless we have the strength and the will to back it up. A threat without force behind it is a bluff, and as any card player knows, a bluff can be called with embarrassing results.” He paused. “Since Japan entered into their Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, they made their intentions clear. I suspect Hitler has told the Japanese that whatever they choose to do in the eastern hemisphere is of no concern to the Germans. Hitler has already demonstrated that his goal is to subjugate as many peoples as he can, by brute force. I have no doubt that if the militant voices in the Japanese government were to believe that there would be no consequences from our side of the Pacific, they would begin the same kind of program in their half of the world. I assume Secretary Stimson agrees?”
“He wouldn’t be my secretary of war if he didn’t. You know better.” Roosevelt pointed a finger at him. “Which is why our fleet must be maintained in Hawaii. I tried to explain that to Admiral Richardson, and he offers me insults, as though a mere civilian cannot possibly grasp such weighty military matters. It sounds to me as though you grasp them pretty well. Stimson said this morning that by keeping our fleet in Hawaii, at the very least we are communicating to everyone, friend and potential foe, that we’re watching, we’re paying attention.”
Roosevelt paused, seemed to sag in his chair. “Richardson doesn’t understand. I find that astonishing. Even if we’re talking about our own territories, we’re vulnerable ourselves, from the Philippines to Wake, Guam, Midway, and every other damn place in between. He just doesn’t understand his role on this stage. The world, the entire world seems poised for some kind of explosion, and yet this man is hell bent on yanking our most valuable and powerful weapons out of Hawaii and hauling them back to California. And he’s damned profane about how he talks to me about it.”
“Mr. President, I heard much of this back in October. So, what stirred the pot now?”
“Right. Yes. This week, yet another damned letter from Hawaii, from Admiral Bloch, endorsed by Richardson. More of the same complaining, the same arguments, the same show of defiance.” Roosevelt stopped, seemed to fight for energy. Hull had seen this before, knew to let the president take his time. “You know, Richardson served under me when I was secretary of the navy. Even then, I tried my damnedest to like the man. Didn’t work. Now, I’ve given up liking him at all. Pretty certain he feels the same about me.”
“That doesn’t give him permission to disrespect his commander in chief.”
“You’re right. And so, right now, I have to perform the parts of this job that are both happy and miserable. I have the power to fire people who don’t do what they’re told. And sometimes I’m forced to fire someone who has served his country honorably for decades. In this case, it’s the same man.”
“So, you’re going to relieve him?”
Roosevelt looked down, nodded slowly. “Hawaii is a long way away. We need a man out there who recognizes that there are capable people in Washington who know what they’re doing, and when we tell him what to do, he doesn’t bitch about it.”
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.—TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1940
He respected the secretary of war, could see the age in the man’s face, the slow effort to pull himself up the stairs. Henry Stimson was four years older than Hull, and had even more experience in the highest workings of the government than Hull did. Stimson had been secretary of war for President Taft, secretary of state for Herbert Hoover, and in between had served in two wars, including a stint as governor-general of the Philippines. Now he was secretary of war yet again; in an unusual move by Roosevelt, he had chosen the man based on his extraordinary depth of experience, regardless of the fact that Stimson was a Republican.
Stimson was also staunchly in favor of Roosevelt’s policies regarding the war, extremely aware that whatever the situation today, everything could change tomorrow, and probably would.
“Is he going to fire Admiral Richardson?”
Stimson leaned back in the chair, nodded slowly. “I believe the correct word is ‘relieve.’ Military people put a great deal of stock in those kinds of details.”
Hull said, “Not sure if you know this, but there is a new ambassador from Japan. He’ll be here next month sometime. Maybe we can reach some sort of understanding, find a way to defuse any potential problems.”
Stimson laughed. “You still talk like a politician. Here’s what you do. You meet with the Japanese ambassador…what’s his name?”
“Nomura.”
“Right. You meet with Mr. Nomura, and the first thing you do is smack him on the side of the head. Nice crisp shot. Knock his glasses across the room. I assume he wears glasses? They usually do.”
“Actually, he has only one eye.”
“Well, don’t smack him too damn hard. Point is, you show him, Look, Mr. Ambassador, this is what we do to our enemies. You wanna be our enemy? Should work miracles in Tokyo.”
Hull knew when he was being poked. “I assume that’s what you did, when you sat in this office?”
“Oh, hell no. Might have started a war or something. But it looks to me like we’re headed for a war anyway. Might as well get the first lick in.”
Hull shook his head. “Or, I could talk to him first. Maybe avoid a war. Isn’t that part of my job?”
Stimson stared at him. “Question is, is it a part of Mr. Nomura’s job? Or is he just here to observe us, to see how we’re observing him? Chess match. And I don’t trust those bastards one bit. They’ve cozied up to Hitler, for God’s sake. Whatever they’re trying to do, it won’t be in our favor.”
“I suppose it’s my job to figure that out, and if there’s a bomb here, like so many of you military people seem to believe, it’s my job to defuse it. That reminds me, I need to inform our own ambassador to Japan, Joe Grew, just what’s going to happen with Admiral Richardson. If there is a front line to all this potential mess, Grew’s on it.”