Presented by:

World War II Magazine The Brown Foundation, Inc. AT&T

Additional Support from:

Pritzker Military Library and Tawani Foundation The Times-Picayune

FROM PEARL HARBOR TO GUADALCANAL

December 7–9, 2011

Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the International Conference on WWII explored America's daunting entry into the war after that fateful December day, the harrowing battles in the Pacific and the victory at Guadalcanal. Leading WWII scholars, authors, experts and veterans — including four surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders — addressed the war's biggest questions, such as why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today. The International Conference on WWII provides the rare opportunity to hear from the brave men who risked everything to defend our nation. This year's conference was the first in a series of five annual conferences on WWII that will bring a new level of insight and understanding about the war that changed the world.

CONNECT:

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

At The National WWII Museum

9:00 am – 5:30 pm

Registration at The National WWII Museum

5:30 pm

Shuttle service from Astor Crowne Plaza lobby to Museum begins

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Opening Reception in the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion
Museum Galleries Open

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Opening Keynote Lecture, Presented by Tawani Foundation in association with the Pritzker Military Library
Richard Frank "New Discoveries on the Road to War: 1931 – 1941"

7:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Book Signing

8:00 pm – 9:15 pm

Evening Concludes

9:15 pm

Last shuttle from Museum to Astor Crowne Plaza

Thursday, December 8, 2011

At the Astor Crowne Plaza Grand Ballroom and Floor

8:00 am – 8:05 am

Welcome and Housekeeping

8:05 am – 8:15 am

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Pearl Harbor: In Their Own Words"

8:20 am – 10:00 am

"December 7, 1941 — A Date Which Will Live in Infamy"

  • Gerhard Weinberg "German Influence on the Japanese Decision to Strike"
  • Jonathan Parshall "Operation Z: The Japanese Attack"
  • Takeo Iguchi "Demystifying Pearl Harbor"
  • Joe Persico "Pearl Harbor: Conspiracy or Catastrophe?"

10:00 am – 10:30 am

BREAK and Book Signing

10:30 am – 11:30 am

Edward J. Drea "From Singapore to Java: The Rising Sun in Asia"

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

BREAK, Book Signing and Box Lunches

12:00 pm – 12:10 pm

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Defending America Abroad"

12:10 pm – 1:40 pm

"These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls: Defending America Abroad"

  • Stephen L. Petranek Special Introduction, editor in chief, Weider History Group
  • Hugh Ambrose "The Fall of the Philippines"
  • Gregory J.W. Urwin "The Defense of Wake Island"
  • James Hornfischer "Ship of Ghosts: USS Houston at the Battle of Java Sea"

1:40 pm – 2:00 pm

BREAK and Book Signing

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

"American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in WWII"

  • Joe Persico "FDR and His Executive Order 9066"
  • Eric Muller "American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II"

3:00 pm – 3:20 pm

BREAK and Book Signing

3:20 pm – 3:30 pm

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Dire Straits Down Under"

3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

"The Breaking Point"

  • Bruce Gamble "LARK Force and Fortress Rabaul"
  • Steven Bullard "Japan's Intentions in New Guinea: Prelude to an Invasion of Australia?"
  • John B. Lundstrom "The Carrier Raids"

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Book Signing

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

"The Doolittle Raiders: In Their Own Words"

  • Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole
  • Maj. Thomas "Tom" Griffin
  • SSgt. David Thatcher
  • Lt. Col. Edward Saylor
  • Col. CV Glines (Historian)
  • Tom Casey (Manager)

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Meet The Speakers Reception
Brought to you by The Times-Picayune
Astor Ballroom I, Foyer and Gallery, 2nd Floor

Friday, December 9, 2011

Daytime Sessions at the Astor Crowne Plaza Grand Ballroom, 2nd Floor

8:00 am – 8:15 am

Welcome and Housekeeping

8:15 am – 8:30 am

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Striking Back at the Rising Sun"

8:30 am – 10:00 am

"Striking Back at the Rising Sun"

  • Joe Persico "FDR's Decision to Launch the Doolittle Raid: An Introduction"
  • John Lundstrom "The Battle for the Coral Sea"
  • Jonathan Parshall "Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway"

10:00 am – 10:30 am

BREAK and Book Signing

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

"Turning the Tide in the South Pacific"

  • Bruce Gamble "Building Up the 5th Air Force"
  • Edward J. Drea "Regaining the Initiative: The Allies Take Buna"
  • Karl James "The Kokoda Trail"

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm

BREAK, Book Signing and Box Lunches

12:30 pm – 12:40 pm

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Guadalcanal Diaries, Pt. 1"

12:40 pm – 1:40 pm

Keynote Lecture
Richard Frank "Guadalcanal: The First Offensive"

1:40 pm – 2:00 pm

BREAK and Book Signing

2:00 pm – 2:10 pm

A National WWII Museum Oral History Showcase
"Guadalcanal Diaries, Pt. 2"

2:10 pm – 3:40 pm

"Guadalcanal: The First Offensive" Panel Discussion

  • Don Miller Moderator
  • Allan Millett "The Marines' Ground War: From Defense to Offense"
  • James Hornfischer "Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal"

3:40 pm – 4:00 pm

BREAK and Book Signing

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

"With the Old Breed at Guadalcanal"
A Conversation with a Veteran

  • Hugh Ambrose Interviewer
  • Richard Greer 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division

5:00 pm – 5:20 pm

Book Signing

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Shuttle service from Astor Crowne Plazza lobby to Museum

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Closing Banquet at The National WWII Museum featuring Nick Clooney

  • 7:00 pm – 7:45 pm — Seating and Dining
  • 7:45 pm – 8:00 pm — Dr. Gordon "Nick" Mueller Special Introduction, President & CEO, The National WWII Museum
  • 8:00 pm – 8:30 pm — The General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Distinguised Lecture on World War II
    Nick Clooney "The Movies That Changed Us"
  • 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm — Nick Clooney Question and Answer Session
    Led by Dr. Donald Miller

9:00 pm – 9:15 pm

Conference Adjournment and Book Signing

9:15 pm – 10:00 pm

Shuttle service from Museum to Astor Crowne Plazza

 

Noted historian Hugh Ambrose has served as vice president of The National WWII Museum, a consultant for HBO's The Pacific miniseries, (which was based upon his book of the same name), and worked alongside Steven Spielberg as executive producer of the documentary Price for Peace.

A senior military historian at the Australian War Memorial, Steven was recently awarded a grant from the Japan Foundation to translate extracts from the Senshi Sosho (War history series), the official account of the Japanese experience of the Second World War.

 

Starting out as a disc jockey for the American Armed Forces Network in Germany, Nick Clooney spent much of his career as a journalist and news anchor, and later gained prominence working as a host and researcher for AMC, where he introduced classic films.

Edward J. Drea is the recipient of the Society for Military History's Samuel Eliot Morison Award for lifetime achievement and author of several books on the war in the Pacific, including MacArthur's ULTRA: Codebreaking and the War against Japan.

 

Esteemed writer Richard B. Frank is the author of Guadalcanal, MacArthur, and Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, which has been called one of the six best books in English about World War II.

With four titles now in print, Bruce is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most respected authors on the war in the Pacific and is the featured historian in documentaries produced by The History Channel, FOX News Channel, PBS and the Pritzker Military Library.

 

The author of Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal and two other critically acclaimed books on WWII naval history, James D. Hornfischer has appeared on The History Channel, FOX News Channel's War Stories with Oliver North and C-SPAN's BookTV.

Richard Greer volunteered for the Marine Corps on December 8, 1941, and served with distinction in the Battle of Guadalcanal, later rising to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant; more recently, he was a consultant for both the HBO miniseries, The Pacific, and the companion book of the same title by Hugh Ambrose.

 

The Honorable Takeo Iguchi is a Professor Emeritus at Shobi Gakuen University and author of the book, Demystifying Pearl Harbor, published by International House of Japan.

Karl James has worked as a historian at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra since 2006, where he has undertaken extensive research into Australia's involvement in the Second World War and served as exhibition curator for the refurbishment of the Second World War galleries.

 

John B. Lundstrom is Curator Emeritus of History at the Milwaukee Public Museum and the author of five books, including Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal and The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway.

Donald L. Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College, is the author of eight books, among them The Story of World War II and D-Days in the Pacific. He is also the screenwriter and historical consultant for The History Channel's Emmy-winning series WWII in HD.

 

A retired colonel of the Marine Corps Reserve, Dr. Millett is a specialist in the history of American military policy and currently directs the Eisenhower Center for American Studies, founded by historian Stephen Ambrose at the University of New Orleans.

UNC Law professor Eric Muller's book Free to Die for their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters of World War II was highly acclaimed; American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II, was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2007.

 

The founder of the web's foremost site on the Japanese Imperial Navy, Parshall has written for the U.S. Naval War College Review, Naval Institute Proceedings, and World War II magazine, and has contributed to several books on the Japanese navy.

After serving in the U.S. Navy and working as speechwriter for Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Persico turned his attention to historical writing, penning books like Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial and Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage.

 

Gregory Urwin is a Professor of History at Temple University and the author of such books as Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island, which he followed up with Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity.

An internationally recognized authority on Nazi Germany and the origins and course of World War II, Dr. Weinberg is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author or editor of numerous books and articles on twentieth-century European and world history.

 

The Museum has collected important Oral Histories of the men and women who took part in the war that changed the world. The four clips below are a small sampling of some of the stories that will be featured during the Conference's Oral History Showcases.

Glenn Frazier
Sergeant, 75th Ordnance Company, U.S. Army
December 1941 to April 1942
Bataan Peninsula in the Philippine Islands

Zenji Abe
Val Dive Bomber Pilot, Imperial Japanese Navy
December 7, 1941
Pearl Harbor

Ron Graetz
Aviation Radioman 3rd Class, Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6), USS Enterprise
February 1, 1942
Kwajalein Anchorage, Marshall Islands

Richard Greer
USMC
October 24 – 25, 1942
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

If you couldn’t make it to New Orleans to attend the Conference in person, you can still view all of the lectures and panel discussions through the Webstreaming archive, which you can watch at your convenience.

The Astor Crowne Plaza

739 Canal Street at Bourbon • New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

The Astor Crowne Plaza, located at the Gateway to the French Quarter where Canal Street meets Bourbon Street, is one of the most popular New Orleans hotels. The excitement of the French Quarter awaits you right outside the door of the Astor, unmatched among Bourbon Street hotels. Whether you are looking for world-renowned dining or the intoxicating sounds of New Orleans’ jazz or blues, you are in the heart of it all. Few New Orleans Hotels offer easier access to nearby attractions like Harrah’s Casino, the Aquarium of the Americas, Jackson Square, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Riverwalk Marketplace, the New Orleans Arena and the Superdome.

This 693-room, AAA 4-Diamond, Bourbon Street hotel is the “place to meet” for business or pleasure. The Astor Crowne Plaza New Orleans hosts over 32,000 square feet of elegant meeting and function space — perfect for a board meeting of twelve or a social gathering of over 700 guests. A top choice among New Orleans hotels with superior guest rooms, the Astor Crowne Plaza’s guest accommodations offer an array of amenities such as in-room safes, two dual-line phones with voice mail, high‐speed internet access, blow dryers, iron and ironing board, CD players, coffee/tea makers, as well as Crowne Plaza’s Sleep Advantage bedding with sleep amenities. The hotel’s services include a 24-hour business center, fitness room, outdoor pool and terrace, executive level accommodations and a concierge to assist you with your plans for the day or evening.

The hotel is home to Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House Restaurant and Seafood Bar. Enjoy true Southern cuisine and fresh seafood selections — for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The staff at the Astor Crowne Plaza New Orleans is truly versed in Southern Hospitality and ready to not just meet your expectations — but to exceed them. Mix a little pleasure into your next business trip or if your agenda is for pleasure only, let the good times roll at Astor Crowne Plaza New Orleans, one of the finest Bourbon Street hotels!