A Luxurious Detention: How the U.S. Held Axis Diplomats after Pearl Harbor

In the chaotic days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration made a controversial decision. To encourage reciprocal treatment of U.S. diplomats trapped abroad, it sent hundreds of Axis diplomats living in the United States to remote luxury hotels. Already stunned by the attack on Honolulu that killed more than 2,400 service members and civilians, many Americans were enraged by the government’s magnanimity towards its enemies. Writer Harvey Solomon makes this story come alive.