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Contact Info
Home Town San Francisco, CA
Last Address Boston, MA
Date of Passing May 13, 1957
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Robert Alfred Theobald (January 25, 1884-May 13, 1957) was nicknamed "Fuzzy" while at the Naval Academy. He was a United States Navy Rear Admiral and, most notably the author of the 1947 book The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor: The Washington Background of the Pearl Harbor Attack.
Born in 1884, Theobald graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1907. By 1939, Theobald had been appointed chief-of-staff under Admiral Claude C. Bloch and, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was named commander of the Destroyers Pacific Fleet in December 1941.
In 1942, Theobald was promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of Task Force 8 based in Alaska. After suffering minor defeats against Japanese naval forces, including the Japanese capture of the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, Theobald was subsequently replaced by Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid. Remaining inactive until his retirement in 1945, Theobald gained considerable notoriety with his book The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor: The Washington Background of the Pearl Harbor Attack, which accused the Roosevelt administration of "arranging" the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as provocation to enter World War II.
Chain of Command Theobald served as Executive Officer of the Naval Postgraduate School from 1919-21, then spent the years 1922-24 serving in Destroyer Command, Asiatic Fleet, before returning to the School to serve as Commanding Officer in 1924-27. He then spent two years as the Executive Officer of the battleship West Virginia, before studying in the Senior Class of the Naval War College.
