Budget Activity
In fall 1941, the Red Cross conducted its most aggressive peacetime annual "Roll Call" fundraising campaigns, with national coverage and using well-known personalities and heavy business involvement. Most of the cabinet officers, particularly high military officials, gave significantly throughout the fall on behalf of the Roll Call. Behind the scenes, some unusual budgetary activity was taking place. Red Cross records show the change from peacetime to wartime before the Pearl Harbor attack.
At the meeting of the American Red Cross Central Committee on 24 June 1941, committee members adopted its first resolution moving it to a war footing:
That the Central Committee hereby approves the following general provisions with reference to a possible campaign for a national Defense Fund, or for a War Relief Fund in the event of the involvement of this country in war. It is recognized that the development of events and other unforeseen conditions may require some adaptation of these general provisions and the Chairman is authorized to take such steps in this connection as seem to him wise and necessary.16
The provisions that follow the resolution recognize:
That the National Defense activities or the War Relief activities, if this country becomes involved, will require the participation of practically the entire organization and activities of the Red Cross, and that it is not practicable to segregate these activities in such a way as to finance some of them from the General Fund and others from the National Defense or the War Relief Fund or the Foreign War Relief Fund.
The Chairman is authorized, if in his judgment the timing of events makes such a step necessary, to combine the fund raising campaign with the regular annual Roll Call and the Junior enrollment, under such terms and conditions as he may approve.
At the 16 September 1941 meeting of the central committee, the chairman was authorized to make special arrangements for the national office to receive more than the usual 50 cents from some of the larger membership gifts in the intensified Roll Call drive.17 A member was defined as anyone giving more than one dollar. The standard peacetime practice was for the national office to receive 50 cents per membership, and the remainder of the gift would remain with the chapters to fund their activities. The reason for the change appears in the statement approved by the central committee:
It was recognized that major emergencies might develop before the Roll Call which would require changes in the fund raising plans and the Chairman was authorized to take appropriate steps should such emergencies occur.
On Saturday, 29 November 1941, DeWitt Smith sent three memos to key Red Cross managers with an attachment for $1 million to finance expenditures not covered in the current budget. This had been approved by the chairman the day before, using the emergency authority. Smith also wrote in the cover memo that they should not wait until the end of December as planned to revamp the budget but should do so at the end of November. The date of the memo being 29 November, this was an order to make an immediate revision of the budget, because the next day was the end of the month.18 Most of the materials were for running a massive support system for servicemen after the war had begun. But the war had not begun; this was eight days before the Pearl Harbor attack.
Assessment
The role played by the Red Cross at Pearl Harbor has been neglected by historians, mostly because accounts inevitably focus on the military attack. In all of the confusion after the Japanese attack and with military censorship, the arrival and activities of Red Cross medical workers at all of the major military locations immediately before the Pearl Harbor attack were not questioned, most likely because of the high esteem in which the organization always had been held. Their arrival had been coordinated quietly from Washington and even most of the workers themselves--although some seem to have had more information--thought it a mere coincidence that they were there just before the attack. But thanks to Don Smith's daughter, it is now known that it was no accident that specific pieces were in place in the nick of time. It appears to have been part of a planned operation within the rapid overall growth of the Red Cross.
In 1941, only a small group of people close to President Roosevelt were the real players and were actually part of the decision-making process. Many of these same people were also on the Red Cross Board. In effect, the Red Cross became an extension of their policy-execution process, which explains why the personnel and budget activities so closely paralleled White House insiders' knowledge and decision-making. They could operate quietly, without the rest of Washington knowing. The location of the Red Cross two blocks from the White House and the State Department (now the Old Executive Office Building) made this even easier. And in the case of the Red Cross, some of President Roosevelt's closest war advisers and some who received MAGIC intelligence were the same ones who served on the Red Cross board and sat on its central committee. This included the President's physician, Rear Admiral Ross T. McIntire, the Navy Department representative and the Navy Surgeon General; Sumner Wells, the Under Secretary of State; and Harry Hopkins (who was closely involved with the Red Cross Roll Call in fall 1941 and was appointed to the central committee in 1942).19
The relationship between the Red Cross, the military, and the White House always has been close, but at no time does it appear to have been closer than just before the outbreak of the Pacific War at Pearl Harbor.
Department of Defense Investigation, "Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense: Advancement of Rear Admiral Kimmel and Major General Short" (also known as the "Dorn Report") signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Edwin Dorn, 15 December 1995.
Annual Report for the Year Ending June 30, 1940, Hawaii Chapter of the American Red Cross, p. 1. The Hawaii Chapter and the National Archives do not have copies in their collections. What is likely the last existing copy of the document is in the Hawaii War Records Depository, University of Hawaii, Manoa, document #59.02.
LGEN Walter C. Short, Army Day Speech, Exhibit 1-O, "Proceedings of the Army Pearl Harbor Board," found at pp. 2607-2610, Part 30, in the Hearings before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, U.S. Congress, 1946.
American Red Cross, 1935-1946, National Archives Record Group 200 (Hereafter cited as ARC 1935-1946, RG 200), "1940-1941 Annual Report of Military and Naval Welfare Service." The general history of the ARC in World War II is in Box 1.
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 1705 Serial Code 900.11/6131 P.O.A., File: "Station Hospital, Hickam Field, TH."
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 1705, Serial Code 900.11/6131, P.O.A., File: "Hawaii Area--218th General Hospital."
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Boxes 456-457, Serial Code 187.211 (C 141.02).
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 14, Serial Code 020.1801, Press Release # 67107, 12 December 1941. The success of the civilian defense organization and credit for its planning belongs to LGEN Short, who devoted great effort to this throughout 1941. Correspondence from a major Hawaiian business owner after the war in Shortis papers at the U.S. Army Military History Institute and Army War College Library, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, attest to this.
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 14, Serial Code 020.1801, Press Release #67047, 8 December 1941.
Same citation as in endnote 8.
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 164, Serial Code 140.18.
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 591, Serial # 300.02. Memorandum of 2 December 1941, with attachments; to Mr. Hunt, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Schafer; from DeWitt Smith, "Subject: Proposed utilization of volunteers on the national organization staff."
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 185, Serial Code 140.14 Document at this location is coded 140.18 H.S.
Diaries of William Richardson Castle, unpublished, Houghton Library, Harvard University, ms Am 2021, vol. 42, page 320.
Hearings before the Joint Committee of the Pearl Harbor Attack, U.S. Congress, Part 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, and 20 February 1946, pp. 5280-5283.
"Minutes of the Central Committee Meeting," 24 June 1941, memorandum dated 25 June 1941. ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 112, Serial Code 114.22, File: "Central Committee."
"Minutes of September 16, 1941, Meeting of the ARC Central Committee," memorandum dated 18 October 1941. ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 112.
ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 579, Serial code 240.12 S.A. 7. Memorandum from DeWitt Smith, Director, Domestic Operations to Mr. Betts, dated 29 November 1941, "Additional Appropriations."
Two American Red Cross lists provide a good overview of board composition during this critical time period: "Members of the Central Committee During the World War II Period" and "Members of the Central and Executive Committee for 1941." ARC 1935-1946, RG 200, Box 110. McIntire's whereabouts on 7 December 1941, are described generally in his autobiography, Ross T. McIntire, White House Physician (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1946), pp. 136-137.
Mr. Borgquist is media affairs officer for the Community Relations Service Headquarters, U.S. Department of Justice. He also is a U.S. Naval Reserve public affairs officer. The views reflected here are his own. This article was not prepared as part of any of his offical duties.