Roberta Wohlstetter
Roberta Wohlstetter, widow of the late Albert Wohlstetter, is one of America's most important historians of intelligence. Her most influential work was Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1962), a study which attempts to explain the causes of the U.S. intelligence failures that led to Imperial Japan's 1941 surprise attack.
Born Roberta Morgan in 1912, she is the daughter of Edmund M. Morgan, Jr., a noted Harvard law professor who helped to simplify the federal rules for civil procedure, and to modernize the U.S. code of military justice.
President Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, November 7, 1985:
"Roberta Wohlstetter, a generation ahead of her time, asserted her influence in areas dominated by and, in some cases, reserved for men. She rose above all obstacles and has had a profound influence. Her inquiries went to the heart of the system of our society, focusing on essential questions. Her analysis of the problems of terrorism, intelligence, and warning and, with Albert Wohlstetter, the problem of nuclear deterrence broke new ground and opened new alternatives for policymakers. I daresay that she has blankly enjoyed posing the same penetrating questions to her husband that she has to the intellectual and political leaders of the country. And that is certainly one explanation for the clarity and persuasiveness of his own voluminous words on strategy, politics, and world affairs."
External links
- The Writings of Albert Wohlstetter, RAND Corporation includes writings with Roberta Wohlstetter.
- Albert Wohlstetter Dot Com, a website that examines the careers and writings of the late Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter.
- Percy L. Greaves, Jr., The Mystery of Pearl Harbor, Journal of Historical Review, Winter 1983.
- Barry D. Watts, "The Intractability of Strategic Surprise", Chapter 6 in Clausewitzian Friction and Future War, 2nd Edition, 2000. Book re Prussian military thinker Carl von Clausewitz footnotes Roberta Wohlstetter's book on the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
- James Johnson and Robert Zarate, A Slow Pearl Harbor: Some Foreign Policy Disasters are a Long Time in the Making, The Weekly Standard, December 19, 2005.
- RAND Corporation Press Release, Obituary: Roberta Wohlstetter: Pioneering RAND Policy Analyst and Historian of Military Intelligence, January 9, 2007.
- Richard Pyle, Intelligence Expert who Analyzed Pearl Harbor Dies in NYC at 94, Associated Press (via Newsday), January 9, 2007.
- Stephen Miller, Roberta Wohlstetter, 94, Defense Analyst, The New York Sun, January 10, 2007.
- Patricia Sullivan, Roberta M. Wohlstetter; Military Intelligence Expert, Washington Post, January 10, 2007.
- Elaine Woo, Roberta Wohlstetter, 94; Wrote Pearl Harbor Study, Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2007.
- Dennis Hevesi, Roberta Wohlstetter, 94, Military Policy Analyst Dies, The New York Times, January 11, 2007.
- ABC News, In Memoriam: Lives of Note 01.14.07, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, January 14, 2007.
- Robert Zarate, First Lady of Intelligence: Roberta Wohlstetter, 1912-2007, The Weekly Standard, January 22, 2007.
