Read FDR’s executive orders for 12/8/41-1/7/42 and you will see a man totally in command.
Oh, I have no doubt of that at all and never said that he was not in command. I have read Leahy and Marshall as well and take from both of their writings that they answered to FDR but still had great latitude.
I wonder about the claims of how flat footed we were entering the war since I read that many had begun thinking about it and doing as much as they could to prepare way back in ‘38. It was clear the war drums were banging and getting louder from the mid-30s.