James O. Richardson

James Otto Richardson (18 September 1878 – 2 May 1974) was an Admiral in the United States Navy who served from 1902 to 1942.

Early life and career

Richardson was born in Paris, Texas. He entered the Naval Academy in 1898 and graduated fifth in a class of eighty-five with the Class of 1902. His first duty assignments were in the Asiatic Squadron, took part in the Philippine campaign, and, after 1905, in the Atlantic. During 1907-09, Lieutenant Richardson commanded the torpedo boats "Tingey" and "Stockton" and the Third Division, Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla. He was a member of the first class of the Navy's Post Graduate Engineering School in 1909-11, then served as an engineer in the battleship "Delaware" and on the staff of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. In 1914, Richardson was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was attached to the Bureau of Steam Engineering at the Navy Department, where he worked to assure the Navy's supply of fuel oil.

World War I and interwar years

In 1917-19, Commander Richardson was Navigator and Executive Officer of the battleship "Nevada". Following a tour at the Naval Academy, he was given command of the gunboat "Asheville" in 1922 and took her out to Asiatic waters, where he also had command of the South China Patrol. Captain Richardson was Assistant to the Chief, Bureau of Ordnance, in 1924-27. In the later 1920s, he commanded a destroyer division, then returned to the Navy Department for service with the Bureau of Navigation.

In January 1931, Captain Richardson placed the new heavy cruiser "Augusta" in commission and commanded her for more than two years. After a tour as a Naval War College student in 1933-34, he was Budget Officer at the Navy Department, receiving promotion to Rear Admiral while in that position in December 1934. His early duties as a flag officer included command of a Scouting Force cruiser division, service as Chief of Staff and Aide to the United States Fleet's commander, and a tour as Commander Destroyers, Scouting Force. He became Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations in June 1937 and a year later became Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.

In June 1939, Richardson went back to sea as Commander, Battle Force, U.S. Fleet, with the temporary rank of Admiral. Beginning in January 1940, he was Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, holding that position during a stressful period marked by the fleet's forward deployment to Pearl Harbor from its traditional base in San Pedro, California.

Richardson protested this redeployment, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to other politicians in Washington, arguing that the burden of defending a perimeter so far removed was not possible, however odious Japan's rape of China may be and whatever promises had been made to the British to come to their aid if attacked. Roosevelt replied, "Jim, you just don't get it." He then dismissed Richardson as commander in chief of the Pacific fleet and replaced him with Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in February 1941.

Pearl Harbor Attack

Richardson is consequently a main focus of historical revisionists, who claim pre-war intelligence that heavily suggested Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy in early December was deliberately witheld from the military commanders at Pearl Harbor by the Roosevelt administration. As is always the case with conspiracies, however, the ability of conspirators to dispose of or withhold the evidence implicating them in treasonous/criminal activities, outweighs the conspiracy theorists' abilities to gather the said evidence. However, one can hardly blame the revisionists when considering the secrecy with which the US government, nearly 70 years after the fact, treats Pearl HarborPOV-statement|date=August 2008. In fact, the NSA still refuses to release many of the JN-25 codes deciphered before Dec. 7, 1941, 2/3 of a century laterFact|date=July 2008.

World War II and afterward

Upon his firing by President Roosevelt, "Richardson reverted to his permanent rank of rear admiral and served as a member of the General Board, Navy Department, and in the office of the secretary of the navy prior to his retirement on October 1, 1942." [ [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/fri38.html The Handbook of Texas Online: James Otto Richard ] ]

Transferred to the Retired List with the rank of Admiral in October 1942, he remained on active service with the Navy Relief Society, as Senior Member of a "Special Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee" on the reorganization of the National Defense, and as a witness before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Released from active duty in January 1947, he thereafter resided in Washington, D.C.

Richardson died on 2 May 1974.

References