Day of lightning, years of scorn : Walter C. Short and the attack on Pearl Harbor / Charles R. Anderson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-232) and index.

"Walter C. Short is remembered as the U.S. Army general who parked his airplanes wingtip to wingtip on open runways at Pearl Harbor, making them easy targets for the Japanese pilots who attacked on 7 December 1941. History's harsh indictment of his actions as commander of the Army's Hawaiian department is the result of a series of investigations that placed blame for the disaster on General Short and his Navy counterpart, Adm. Husband E. Kimmel. Other books that have been published on the subject present Short and Kimmel either as fools or scapegoats for Washington officials attempting to hide their own errors. Here the general emerges as an honorable man who made some mistakes." "As the title of this long-overdue biography suggests, a single day undid General Short's exceptional military career but not his sense of integrity, honesty, and loyalty to the institutions and leaders who damned him. Charles Anderson's balanced portrayal acknowledges that Short bore responsibility for certain charges made against him. At the same time, however, the author provides ample evidence that Short's superiors worked hard to shift the blame from Washington to Hawaii to avoid their own culpability. Anderson's thorough research gives readers a new understanding of the larger issues involved, including the glaring lack of interdepartmental cooperation and coordination, particularly intelligence sharing. In examining the general's entire career, Anderson places Short in the context of the early-twentieth-century Army and offers a new assessment of the various investigations and a new interpretation of the general's conduct in the face of blistering, and often unfair, criticism in the years following the devastating attack." "This biography is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army."--BOOK JACKET.