New Book by Ed Steers - "Hoax"

[Mike B.]

There is a new book by Ed Steers which I got for review.

It is called "Hoax."

It deals with many of the world's most famous hoaxes or frauds like the Piltdown Man, Hitler Diaries, Shroud of Turin, and the pre-knowledge of Pearl Harbor by FDR.

There are some chapters related to the Lincoln assassination such as the missing pages from the Booth diary.

I have not read the book, but for those who don't know, Ed is very prominent and influential Lincoln assassination scholar.

[RJNorton]

Ed's book titled Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes, and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President is outstanding. This new one sounds wonderful, too.

[LincolnMan]

I looked for it on Amazon.com but didn't find it. Where can we purchase it?

[Laurie Verge]

Hopefully at Surratt House in the very near future. We had hoped to have Ed at the Authors' Hour at the Surratt conference, but the book didn't come out in time.

[JMadonna]

Personally, I've done a lot of research into the Pearl Harbor issue and I believe FDR did have pre-knowledge of Pearl Harbor. But, that's an issue for another web site. I hope to live long enough to read the secret British Files which remain sealed.

[Ed Steers]

Many thanks to all for the kind words. The book is available at Amazon.com as both a print and eBook. The subject matter of the book is a series of hoaxes that for a brief moment in time became part of our history. Some, not all, remain fixed in many people’s minds as true history while others have been successfully debunked. In “Oath of a Freeman” the skill of the forger was such that it easily fooled the experts. Only when the forger panicked forcing him to resort to murder did his scheme collapse. In “Pearl Harbor” the intense dislike, bordering on hatred, of President Roosevelt was enough to sustain the fraud even to this day despite evidence to the contrary. The “Shroud of Turin” and “Piltdown Man” are excellent examples of wanting to believe for ideological reasons. In these two instances belief trumps science. In the case of Piltdown Man, an entire nation felt uplifted that they could now join Asia and the rest of Europe as a part of the dawn of man. In “The Missing Pages from John Wilkes’s Diary” we see conspiracists at their extreme. Here we find most of the elements of conspiracy run amok. Treason in the highest levels of government is accompanied by claims that defy logic. It is perhaps the first example of “the big lie.” Nazism and Communism taught us that the bigger the lie the more believable it becomes.

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(04-04-2013 09:08 AM)JMadonna Wrote:  Personally, I've done a lot of research into the Pearl Harbor issue and I believe FDR did have pre-knowledge of Pearl Harbor. But, that's an issue for another web site. I hope to live long enough to read the secret British Files which remain sealed.

I would love to see/read some of your research on FDR and Pearl Harbor. I have spent considerable time in the NSA files and with the new "West Wind Clear" publication as well as Phil Jacobson's (the intelligence agent who cracked the Japanese plan to attack Midway) article stating there is not a shred of evidence to support the pre-knowledge claims. Jacobson, after all, was head of the intelligence group monitoring the japanese Naval code JN-25 at the time of Pearl Harbor. Are you familiar with the telephone transcripts of calls between FDR and Churchill re Pearl Harbor?

[BettyO]

Thanks, Ed! Looking forward to this one -- congratulations!!

[JMadonna]

Ed,
I'd be glad to share with you what I have but most of what I have stored is in a computer in Michigan. Hopefully, I'll be able to get my hands on it next week.

With all do respect to Mr. Jacobson there is more than a single shred of evidence. The story itself has changed from one of complete surprise to 'well we knew an attack was imminent but didn't know where' to 'yes FDR gave the Japanese no choice but attack'.

Some of the authors I've read include British investigate reporter John Costello and Admiral Layton author of " And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway--Breaking the Secrets ".

[JMadonna]

(04-04-2013 09:28 AM)Ed Steers Wrote:  Are you familiar with the telephone transcripts of calls between FDR and Churchill re Pearl Harbor?

I have read quite a few of the ones that have been released. Tricycle,(code name for the spy that James Bond was based on) told J. Edgar Hoover that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor, so one has to assume that Churchill was aware. Reportedly, the British confirmed it via Enigma transcripts after the Japanese ambassador told the Germans.

[Thomas Thorne]

I believe the Pearl Harbor revisionist theory presumes FDR had a psychic quality he did not have.

He could hardly have appreciated that the BB's sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor were obsolete or that stormy weather would have prevented Enterprise from being a sitting duck. He did not know the Japanese planners made no provision for attacking the tank farms and dry dock and repair facilities although every pre-war attack on Pearl Harbor war game or even Hector Bywater's novel supposed such an attack-which would have had far greater consequences than the actual onslaught-would take place without the US Fleet even being there.

As no one can fairly accuse Short and Kimmel of being participants in the conspiracy how could Roosevelt have presumed that their reaction to the War Warnings would have more casual than their counterparts in California and the Canal Zone?

An underlying premise to Pearl Harbor revisionism is the idea that without a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor there would have been no war. Yet if bad weather had prevented Pearl Harbor, Japanese attacks on the Philippines would have resulted in war. FDR was preparing a message to Congress asking for a declaration of war if Japan only attacked British Malaya. Certainly the Japanese were committed to attacking Pearl Harbor even without the element of surprise and an attack against alert U.S. military and naval forces would have aroused the American people.

Remember that bad things can happen without permission.
Tom

[LincolnMan]

Yes, the book is available in both hardcover and Kindle at Amazon. Like Ed's other books, I wish there were audiobook versions too!

[JMadonna]

(04-04-2013 10:29 PM)Thomas Thorne Wrote:  I believe the Pearl Harbor revisionist theory presumes FDR had a psychic quality he did not have.

Supporters of the "one mad actor - one mad act" theory could make the same argument. The trail of evidence always falls one link short of implicating the top guy.

[Laurie Verge]

I may have already mentioned this before, but Mr. Hall's theory on the "one mad actor" claim was that it was created by the Confederacy in order to distance themselves from Booth. Make him the crazy actor and take the heat off of the Confederate high command.

[Jim Garrett]

My Grandfather was the US Army Judge Advocate at Hickam Field. On November 12, 1941, my grandmother wrote a letter back to her sister in Washington, D.C. Her last few lines were:

"As I went to the new house today to take a lead of things the enclosure is what greeted me. It made me sick. I don't want to be separated from Neal (my grandfather) above all things, but I guess we have nothing to say about the turn of things. Don't say anything about the enclosure, but I thought you might like to know the way the wind is blowing."

the enclosure was:
HEADQUARTERS HICKAM FIELD
Office of the Commanding Officer

Hickam Field, T.H.
Memorandum:
TO: Officers, Noncommissioned Officers, and their Wives.

GENERAL: Because of the general status of world affairs, it is imperative that all personnel of the army get their affairs into such shape that they can leave their stations on short notice for indefinite periods without hardship to their families. It is also important that heads of families so adjust their current expenses that they have no large outstanding indebtedness and wherever possible a savings account to serve as a back log.
By order of Colonel FARTHING:


I have the letter, enclosure and originl envelope postmarked Novemeber 13, 1942. Hickam Field. I also have an original mimiographed copy of General Order #3, written on December 7, putting the Hawaian Territory under Marshall law.

[Thomas Thorne]

I look forward to reading the Steers book but I have certain reservations about the title "hoax" as it implies all of the 'hoaxes" mentioned were originally concocted by fraudsters who knew their creations were false but sought to convince the public of their validity.

Certainly the Piltdown Man and the Hitler Diaries meet this definition. Lumping the idea of FDR's foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor into this framework makes no sense. The idea of Pearl Harbor revisionism has a long trail of articulate,honorable and in my view wrong headed proponents. Their view was that the available incomplete information indicated FDR's foreknowledge and expressed faith that release of all the historical record would vindicate their opinion.

A more fascinating situation are proponents of historical theories who are so convinced of the truth of their ideas and so eager to convince people of their validity, they feel justified to manufacture fake evidence. One of the most famous examples was the Dreyfus affair in France in the 1890's. The French Army foolishly convinced that one of its officers,Capt. Dreyfus,was guilty of espionage and fearful of the effects on its prestige if the accusations were shown to be wrong,used-our knowledge does not allow us to use the stronger word authorize-evidence created by one or more of its officers against poor Dreyfus.

I have not read very much about Finis Bates and the Booth mummy. Do people think that Bates really thought he had Booth's body or was he knowingly hoaxing the public? What about the Baker-Neff papers of more recent times? Libel laws might make people reluctant to publicly cast judgement until all the actors are dead. Was this a Hitler Diary or a Dreyfus?
Tom