More than 2,400 military personnel and civilians were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor

December 8, 1999
Web posted at: 11:23 a.m. EST (1623 GMT)

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On the 58th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the debate still rages -- how could the United States have been caught so unprepared? In his search for the truth, Edward Kimmel hopes to influence history's verdict on his father.

Adm. Husband Kimmel and Gen. Walter Short -- the two senior commanders of U.S. military forces in the Pacific at the time of the December 7, 1941 attack -- later were relieved of their posts.

A panel appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt accused Kimmel and Short of dereliction of duty in not anticipating the Japanese attack, a claim that was later dropped.

Even so, both Kimmel and Short were demoted from their wartime ranks of four-star admiral and lieutenant-general and both officers retired in disgrace in 1942.

While both are deceased, the controversy lives on, due in part to Kimmel's only surviving son.

Edward R. "Ned" Kimmel of Wilmington, Delaware, has been working for years to clear his father's name -- just as Husband Kimmel himself fought to do until his death in 1968.

VIDEO Reporter Jonathan Aiken visits with Kimmel's son. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     December 7, 1941 Beginning at daylight, two waves of Japanese warplanes attacked U.S. military bases at the Hawaiian port of Pearl Harbor. Of the approximately 90 U.S. warships in port, 18 were sunk or heavily damaged, including five battleships; 188 planes were destroyed, 2,403 military personnel and civilians were killed. The most deadly hit came when an armor-piercing bomb crashed through the battleship Arizona, causing a fuel tank and gunpowder explosion that killed 1,177 of the 1,511 aboard. The next day, as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan, President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 "a date that will live in infamy."     ALSO Special: Cold War Army officer who failed to sound alarm at Pearl Harbor still comfortable with his decision First of USS Arizona's 'unknowns' may be identified     MESSAGE BOARD U.S. military     IPIX Click here for a 360° look at the USS Arizona Memorial. (IPIX plugin required)

Defenders of Kimmel and Short say their superiors in Washington -- some say Roosevelt himself -- had advance knowledge of Japanese actions. It was information his father lacked "that showed there was an attack coming on the 7th of December," Edward Kimmel told CNN.

Some historians disagree, saying Kimmel and Short were warned that war with Japan was imminent. "After they received a message on November 27 that began, 'Consider this a war warning,' we saw virtually no actions by either of them," says naval historian Norman Polmar.

But a 1995 Pentagon report supports claims that Kimmel and Short were scapegoats, and in May of this year the Senate voted 52 to 47 to give posthumous promotions to both officers that would restore the ranks they held prior to the attack.

"They were held responsible for what happened in Pearl Harbor. And that is not fair. And that is not just," said Sen. William Roth, R-Delaware, chief sponsor of the legislation to clear their names.

But Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, who was Navy secretary during the Nixon administration, strongly opposed the move, suggesting his fellow World War II veterans and members of the generation that followed were trying to rewrite history.

"There's no new evidence before the Senate," said Warner, noting that the dispute had been the subject of several separate inquiries over the past five decades, and that none of them had cleared the two officers.

Warner said it was military tradition for officers to be held "directly accountable" for the welfare of those under their command.

While Edward Kimmel sees hope his father's reputation can be restored for the record, only the president of the United States can do that, and President Clinton hasn't made a decision.

On this 58th anniversary of the attack, the controversy is being debated yet again. This time, at a gathering of naval historians sponsored by the Naval Historical Foundation in Washington.

Edward Kimmel won't be there. "If they get up there and start saying bad things about my Daddy, I'm liable to get emotional," he said. Instead, the son sees this December 7th as another chance to tell his father's story -- hoping to clear the infamy that surrounds his family's name.

Reporter Jonathan Aiken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.