The signs were there, but only he saw them.
From Commodore Matthew Perry’s 1853 voyage into Japanese waters to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and Japan were on a collision course. Gen. Billy Mitchell recognized the signs and foresaw the eventual showdown between the two nations—eighteen years before the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. Yet his predictions were dismissed out of hand. Mitchell’s attempts to have his theories taken seriously led to scorn and a subsequent court martialing. Primary-source documents, memoirs, and firsthand testimonies deliver an exhaustive background to Mitchell’s prescient reports. Now, historian Ronald J. Drez finally gives credence to the man called the “Cassandra General.”
Author, lecturer, and historian Ronald J. Drez is a Tulane University alumnus and a recipient of an MA in history from the University of New Orleans. He is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having received two Bronze Stars for his service in the Marine Corps. As a member of the General Society of the War of 1812, the American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, he has published numerous books on military history. He has written and edited for a number of magazines and publications, including World War II magazine, Vietnam magazine, and American History magazine.