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Lieutenant (junior grade) Stephen Jurika's correspondence reveals American subterfuge in Japan prior to World War II-and the information he uncovered there would ultimately be used to inform the Doolittle Raiders.
In the months between the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States stood on the precipice of world war. During this time, the Americans on the frontlines did not fly aircraft or lead troops against a heavily defended position. Instead, they were in the presence of potential enemies, serving as naval and military attachés at embassies from Berlin to Tokyo. A revealing portrait of life in Tokyo emerges in the letters of Lieutenant (junior grade) Stephen Jurika, who served as an assistant naval attaché in the Japanese capital from 1939 to 1941.
Jurika's unique background prepared him for the assignment despite his relatively junior rank. Though born in California, he was raised in the Par East, where his Czechoslovakian-born father was a businessman. Jurika attended school in the Philippines, China, and Japan. His classmates in the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1933 recognized the traits that would prove ideal for his career. "He is gifted with an easy flow of speech and tact, makes friends easily and retains them indefinitely," read an entry in the Lucky Bag, the Academy's yearbook. "With a keen and appreciative sense of humor, impulsive sound judgment, and a willingness to question anything, Bob [a Naval Academy nickname] is eminently qualified to handle one of Uncle Sam's battle canoes."
Yet Jurika's future lay not on the battle line but as a naval aviator, and he earned his wings in 1936. Three years later and now married to Lillian Ursula Marie Smith, the daughter of Marine Colo nel Harry Locke Smith,...