Biography of Isoroku Yamamoto,

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Born Isroku Takano, adopted by the Yamamoto family. Wounded at Battle of Tsu-Shima, 1905. Studied at Harvard University 1919-1921. One of the major advocates of Japanese naval aviation, as Commander of the 1st Fleet, Yamamoto was responsible for the plan for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and for the many Japanese naval successes in the opening months of the Pacific War. Ironically, he was opposed to going to war with the United States, which he knew would be a more dangerous opponent than many Japanese imagined. His statement that Japan would "...have to dictate the peace treaty from the steps of the White House!" was not the ruthless invasion plan that Allied propagandists made it seem, but, rather, a warning to his peers that Americans would not accept defeat in the kind of limited war that Japan could afford to fight. However, once the decision to go to war had been made, he supported it in spite of his doubts. His bold plans for the opening moves of the war worked far better than he had expected; but his second campaign, to finish off the U.S. Pacific Fleet, ended in disaster at Midway. Thereafter, he operated on the defensive, waiting for a chance to strike another crippling blow, but that chance never came. He was killed in 1943, when USAAF P-38 fighters intercepted the bomber carrying him on an inspection tour of forward bases.