Cliff May Need Some Remedial Education

Cliff May, the slack-jawed yokel charged with feeding slop to the readers of National Review Online, says this:

"President Roosevelt waited until after World War II to put in place a commission to investigate what mistakes led to Pearl Harbor."

Here are the facts. I'll use bold so the typical NRO reader can follow along:

"JAPANESE ATTACK UPON PEARL HARBOR

JANUARY 23, 1942

[To] The PRESIDENT,
The White House


SIR: The undersigned were appointed by Executive order of December 18, 1941, which defined our duties as a commission thus:

'to ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

'The purposes of the required inquiry and report are to provide bases for sound decisions whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment on the part of United States Army or Navy personnel contributed to such successes as were achieved by the enemy on the occasion mentioned, and, if so, what these derelictions or errors were, and who were responsible therefor.'

The Congress speedily supplemented the Executive order by granting the Commission power to summon witnesses and examine them under oath.

The Commission held three meetings in Washington, December 18, 19, and
20, and, on the latter day, proceeded to Honolulu, T. H., where the Commission arrived December 22 and held meetings December 22, 23, 24, and 26 at the headquarters of the Hawaiian Department, Fort Shafter, and December 27, 29, 30, and 31, 1941, and January 2 and 3, 1942, at the submarine base, Pearl Harbor; and January 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu. January 10 the commission left Honolulu for Washington, D. C.; held meetings January 12, 13, and 14; arrived at Washington January 15 and held further meetings January 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.

The Commission examined 127 witnesses and received a large number of documents. All members of the Military and Naval Establishments, and civil officers and citizens who were thought to have knowledge of facts pertinent to the inquiry, were summoned and examined under oath. All persons in the island of Oahu, who believed they had knowledge of such facts, were publicly requested to appear, and a number responded to the invitation and gave evidence."

To summarize: By executive order dated December 18, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed a commission to determine whether mistakes led to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Is it possible to be more wrong in one sentence than Cliff May is?

Incredibly, there's a more fundamental mistake in May's sentence that I haven't touched on -- one that should be evident to any junior high school student in America. What else is wrong with this sentence?

President Roosevelt waited until after World War II to put in place a commission to investigate what mistakes led to Pearl Harbor.