Stanley Washburn

He advocated that the US government support the Don Republic during the Russian Civil War and, in 1941, ahead of the attack on Pearl Harbor sent a message warning the leadership of the US Navy not to underestimate the Japanese.

[2] Washburn's reporting was generally favourable to Russia; he downplayed the discontent among the population caused by Tsar Nicholas II's order to close down vodka shops and did not mention the intense anti-Semitism that prevailed in the country during the period.

[2] Washburn was acquainted with many of the Tsarist generals and was an admirer of Mikhail Alekseyev; as a result of this he lobbied Robert Lansing to support the anti-Bolshevik Don Republic during the Russian Civil War.

[7] On November 29, 1941, he wrote to Frank Knox, a Republican serving as secretary of the Navy under Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt, to warn him not to underestimate the Japanese and advise that they "never do what they're expected to do".

[7] Knox passed the message on to the Chief of Naval Operations, Harold Raynsford Stark, who mailed it to Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the Pacific Fleet, on December 2.