Biography of Isoroku Yamamoto,
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Born Isroku Takano, adopted by the Yamamoto
family. Wounded at Battle of Tsu-Shima, 1905. Studied at Harvard
University 1919-1921. One of the major advocates of Japanese naval
aviation, as Commander of the 1st Fleet, Yamamoto was responsible for the
plan for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and for the many Japanese naval
successes in the opening months of the Pacific War. Ironically, he was
opposed to going to war with the United States, which he knew would be a
more dangerous opponent than many Japanese imagined. His statement that
Japan would "...have to dictate the peace treaty from the steps of the White
House!" was not the ruthless invasion plan that Allied propagandists made it
seem, but, rather, a warning to his peers that Americans would not accept
defeat in the kind of limited war that Japan could afford to fight. However,
once the decision to go to war had been made, he supported it in spite of his
doubts. His bold plans for the opening moves of the war worked far better
than he had expected; but his second campaign, to finish off the U.S. Pacific
Fleet, ended in disaster at Midway. Thereafter, he operated on the
defensive, waiting for a chance to strike another crippling blow, but that
chance never came. He was killed in 1943, when USAAF P-38 fighters
intercepted the bomber carrying him on an inspection tour of forward bases.