Robert B. Stinnett (March 31, 1924 – November 6, 2018) was an American sailor, photographer and author. He earned ten
battle stars and a
Presidential Unit Citation. He was the author of ''
Day of Deceit
''Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor'' is a book by Robert Stinnett. It alleges that Franklin Roosevelt and his administration deliberately provoked and allowed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to bring the United States into ...
'', regarding alleged U.S. government
advance knowledge of the
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, plunging the United States into World War II.
Life
Stinnett participated in World War II from 1942 to 1946
[ as a naval photographer in the ]Pacific theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, serving in the same aerial photo group as George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
. After the war he worked as a journalist and photographer for the '' Oakland Tribune''.[ He resigned from the ''Tribune'' in 1986 to research and write.][
Stinnett was a research fellow at the Independent Institute in ]Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
. He died on November 6, 2018, aged 94.
''Day of Deceit''
In 1982 Stinnett read ''At Dawn We Slept, The Untold Story Of Pearl Harbor'' by World War II veteran and historian Professor Gordon Prange
Gordon William Prange (; July 16, 1910 – May 15, 1980) was the author of several World War II historical manuscripts which were published by his co-workers after his death in 1980. Prange was a professor of history at the University of Maryland ...
. Stinnett went to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
to investigate and write a news story. His research continued for 17 years and culminated in ''Day of Deceit'', which challenges the orthodox historiography on the attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
. Stinnett claimed to have found information showing that the attacking fleet was detected through radio and intelligence intercepts, but that the information was deliberately withheld from Admiral Kimmel, the commander of the base.
First released in December 1999, it received a nuanced review in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and is frequently referenced by proponents of advance knowledge theories. Many historians of the period reject its thesis, pointing to what they believe are several key errors and a reliance on doubtful sources.
The Play
In 1982 Stinnett was working as a sports photographer for the ''Oakland Tribune''. With 4 seconds left in the Big Game (football game) between Cal and Stanford, Stinnett stationed himself behind the south end zone in California Memorial Stadium, at Berkeley. As it happened, Kevin Moen and teammates Dwight Garner, Richard Rodgers, and Mariet Ford pulled off " The Play", in which Moen fielded the Stanford kickoff, lateraled the ball, and five laterals later, received the final lateral, which he ran into the end zone through the Stanford Band. Stinnett was in perfect position for a famous photographic shot wherein Moen is on the zenith point of his leap, roaring in triumph, the football held high over his helmet, and about to land on Stanford trombone player Gary Tyrell.
Bibliography
* ''George Bush: His World War II Years'' (Brassey's, 1992)
* ''Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor'' (Simon and Schuster, 1999)
See also
* McCollum memo
The McCollum memo, also known as the ''Eight Action Memo'', was a memorandum, dated October 7, 1940 (more than a year before the Pearl Harbor attack), sent by Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum, who "provided the president with intelligence ...
References
External links
Downloadable audio interview
with Scott Horton
Radio interview about Pearl Harbor
Unwelcome Guests: "Fooling Most of the People Most of the Time"
List of Stinnett presentations about ''Day of Deceit''
Rebuttal of Robert Stinnett's "Day of Deceit" with extensive, updated citations by Rear Admiral Richard E. Young, USN (Ret)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stinnett, Robert
1924 births
2018 deaths
American non-fiction writers
United States Navy sailors
American conspiracy theorists
United States Navy personnel of World War II