Why Kimmel took Pacific Fleet command

How was Kimmel chosen to command at Pearl Harbor?

Nimitz reportedly declined the post, and Kimmel accepted rather than see another named officer take it; he was a rear admiral acting at higher rank.

Kimmel was a comparatively junior rear admiral elevated into a difficult command rather than an obvious first choice. Chester Nimitz had reportedly declined what he regarded as a poisoned chalice, while Kimmel accepted after learning which other officer might receive it. Kimmel therefore held the authority of a higher temporary rank while remaining substantively a rear admiral. The appointment was politically fraught before the attack and cautions against treating one fleet commander as the source of a wider institutional failure.