U.S. SEEKS SOVIET BASES, JAPS SAY
Japan today charged that the U.S. seeks Russian bases near Alaska to “encircle” Japan. The map above shows Kamchatka Peninsula, site of the “proposed” bases and their relation to Alaska, and Vladivostok, the only Russian port open for U.S. supplies from the Pacific.
AMERICA HALTS PRODUCTION OF CIVILIAN SILK
…
175,000 workers thrown out of jobs by OPM order to aid defense
…
By John D. Gonzales, United Press staff writer
Washington, Aug. 2 –
The United States ordered today that the use of silk in the manufacture of hosiery and other civilian items be abandoned in favor of production of silk powder bags and parachutes for the Army and Navy.
The Office of Production Management’s Priorities Division issued the order, effective at midnight tonight, after the Army and Navy said their minimum requirements for silk in the next two years would equal stocks now on hand in the United States.
The order will throw out of work 175,000 employees in silk mills, which will suspend civilian production when stocks of thrown silk – a semi-processed stage ready for weaving or knitting – are consumed.
Expect Jap retaliation
Government action to halt civilian production was taken after it had become apparent that imports from Japan, America’s chief source of supply, would dwindle rapidly or cease altogether as a result of the economic warfare between the U.S. and Japan.
There has been only one shipment of raw silk from Japan since President Roosevelt last week ordered the freezing of Japanese assets in this country, a step which subjected Japanese trade here to strict licensing.
While the NYK liner Tatsuta Maru was unloading a $3 million silk shipment, the U.S. last night moved a step further in the warfare by tightening controls over oil shipments to Japan. It was anticipated that the Tokyo government would retaliate by shutting off silk supplies to this country.
The OPM had ordered complete control of silk stocks in warehouses and restricted processing to the level prevailing July 26. Today’s order extends the government’s control to mills which “throw, spin or otherwise process raw silk” for civilian manufacture and halts all processing.
Must expand synthetics
Because of speculation in raw silk futures ion the New York Commodity Exchange, Prince Control Administrator Leon Henderson has asked the suspension of all trading and announced a price ceiling will be imposed soon on the commodity. Silk prices, he said, moved from $3.04 to $3.65 a pound within five days recently.
The OPM’s order will suspend production of silk hosiery, thread, ribbons, hat bands, som e velvets, necktie fabrics, dress goods and similar civilian items.
Officials said plans are underway to expand the nation’s production of synthetic fibers such as rayon and nylon. Present capacity, however, will have to be expanded from about 476 million pounds annually to at least 525 million pounds to replace silk manufacture and there is a shortage of machinery and materials needed for such an expansion program.
Recognizing the need for stimulating the production of silk substitutes, Mr. Henderson amended the price ceilings on super-fine cotton yarns to allow manufacturers to charge as much as 24¢ a pound for their product instead of previous maximum of 11¢. The revised prices, he said, are equitable because of the higher cost of producing these yarns.
Mr. Henderson said:
Also taken into account in the higher prices are the probable increased demand for these high-count yarns in hosiery manufacture and the need of special efforts to increase production.
Await Army, Navy orders
Silk mills cannot resume operation until they have obtained government orders for Army and Navy supplies.
Meanwhile, the OPM, industry and labor representatives began a study of problems connected with the displacement of the large numbers of workers.
Emil Rieve, president of the Textiles Workers Union (CIO), proposed that the United States be made non-dependent upon Japanese silk supplies by using American synthetic yarns. He charged that Japanese interests have victimized American processors through “wanton manipulations” in the price of raw silk.
He estimated that 100,000 hosiery workers and 75,000 silk thread workers would be affected by the shutdown.
Paul Leary, an official of OPM, said he favored creation of silk substitutes.
Japanese Foreign Office (August 2, 1941)
From: Tokyo (Toyoda)
To: Panama
August 2, 1941
J-19
#63
If possible, I would like you to telegraph me concerning the transit of the canal by English and American merchant ships.
ARMY 23506 Trans. 10-15-41 (S)
From: Manila (Nihro)
To: Tokyo
August 2, 1941
Purple
#474
Anchored warships-Dfionomi.
There is (are) anchored Danish ship(s) _ _ _ _ _ _ garbled _ _ _ _ _ _ loading at Webu (Ebu?) will leave for America. In addition two ships touched port on the 1st and 2nd from Orongabo.
Harrison and Coolidge entered port on the 31st and 1st respectively.
20513
ARMY Trans. 8/5/41 (6)
From: Manila (Nihro)
To: Tokyo
August 2, 1941
Purple
#476
Re your #245.
In observing planes on practice flights, I notice that the color of military and naval planes has not been changed and that they are not camouflaged. However, I have heard that among the naval planes there are those which have been observed to be painted a light green.
Though I am making additional secret investigations, that is all for the time being.
Furthermore, in recent times, the number of planes flying above the city has decreased considerably.
ARMY 20641 Trans. 8/7/41 (6)
From: Havana (Nanjo)
To: Tokyo
August 2, 1941
J-19
#44 (Strictly secret)
Between the 16th and the 24th of July, the following American warships were anchored in the naval harbor of Guantanamo: 2 battleships; 4 light cruisers; 4 destroyers; 2 Coast Guard cutters; 2 (long range?) heavy bombing planes.
ARMY 23382 Trans. 10-13-41 (2)
The Pittsburgh Press (August 3, 1941)
FAR EASTERN FUSE SPUTTERS
By Robert Bellaire, United Press staff writer
Tokyo, Aug. 3 –
Japan completed the greatest mobilization of armed might in her history today, as officials warned of the danger of a Far Eastern “explosion” and the press predicted military expansion into Thailand.
The newspaper Hōchi, in a Sunday editorial, accused the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Russia and China of:
…laying every possible plot in an effort to oppress Japan.
…and added:
It is all too obvious that Japan faces bitter failure in her efforts to establish a co-prosperity sphere through peaceful economic measures.
Hōchi said that Japan’s recent occupation of Indochina had proved her “encirclers” would retreat and, apparently alluding to Thailand, added that:
We are pleased to get this clue as to how to go a step further toward completion of the southern sphere.
Unofficial estimates placed the number of men under arms in Japan at about 2 million.
The Japanese Dōmei News Agency hinted in a dispatch from Bangkok that action similar to that taken in French Indochina might be in the cards for Thailand. The dispatch said the Thailand situation should “be looked upon with considerable concern” because, it added, British diplomatic officials there are:
…working vigorously behind the scenes in an attempt to disrupt the friendly Thai-Japanese relations.
Military preparations proceeded at such a pace and on so great a scale it was obvious that the nation was getting set for any emergency. The nature of the preparations cannot be disclosed, but it was apparent that they were unprecedentedly extensive.
The mobilization of manpower has created a severe labor shortage.
It was Commerce Minister Seizō Sakonji who warned that:
The current international situation is so tense that a single spark may be enough to cause an explosion.
Other officials warned that Japan was determined to force its way through the British-American “blockade” with force if necessary. Retired Rear Admiral Tanetsugu, writing in the newspaper Hōchi, issued a direct warning to the United States and Great Britain. With the Japanese Navy controlling the great Cam Ranh Bay naval base in Indochina and with Japanese soldiers marching near the Thai border, he said, Japan has “already dealt a deadly blow” to encirclement.
He said:
The Anglo-American Maginot Line in the southwest Pacific is not impregnable.
With the United States, Britain and the Dutch East Indies exerting new economic pressure daily against Japan, Hōchi said the new trade agreement with Thailand, which lies between Singapore and Burma and is within 400 miles of the Great British naval base, was:
…a timely bomb in defiance of Anglo-American intimidations and pressures.
The Dōmei News Agency reported from Saigon that Japanese officials in French Indochina were “fully confident” that neighboring Thailand, too, would:
…fully cooperate with Japan’s “new order.”
The press professed to see a danger of joint operations by the United States and Soviet Russia to Imperial Japan and, although officials remained silent on this aspect of the Far Eastern situation, the Navy Ministry decreed that retired naval offices and non-commissioned personnel might re-enlist to meet the “super-crisis.”
JAP TROOPS STREAM INTO INDOCHINA
Saigon, Aug. 2 (UP) –
Japanese transports in a seemingly endless stream continued to disembark thousands of Japanese troops and airplanes in Indochina tonight, and it was reported that points near the Thai border were being hastily garrisoned.
In Chungking, Chinese Foreign Minister Quo Taichi asserted the Japanese were:
…not only moving toward, but were actually in Thailand.
In addition to troops, which were quickly loaded into motor trucks and taken into the interior, the Japanese transports discharged motorized equipment, horses, great quantities of aerial bombs and a surprisingly large stock of aviation gasoline.
Japanese military planes were lined up row or row in an open field because there was insufficient hanger space.
Officials here refused to comment on reports from London that Japan had demanded military bases from Thailand, part of which lies athwart the peninsular connection between the British naval base at Singapore and Burma, and the reports could not be confirmed locally.
U.S. Department of State (August 4, 1941)
711.94/2273Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State
Washington, August 4, 1941.Mr. Wakasugi, Minister of the Japanese Embassy, called to see me at his request.
Mr. Wakasugi commenced the conversation by stating that as I had been informed by his Ambassador, he was leaving Washington tonight in order to report by instruction of his Government. He stated that he would report personally and directly to Prince Konoye, and likewise personally and directly to the Foreign Minister, Mr. Toyoda. He stated categorically that he represented the Prime Minister’s personal establishment here in the United States; and that owing to his intimate association with Admiral Toyoda from the time they were both stationed in the Japanese Embassy, London in 1922 and 1923, he was in direct communication with the Foreign Minister likewise. He said that what he wished to ask me to be good enough to give him was my analysis of the present state of relations between the United States and Japan.
He said that he felt it was necessary for his Government without a moment’s delay to realize what the policies of the Government of the United States actually were and what the feeling of the people of the United States actually was, since he felt that nothing was more needed in Tokyo today than a clear vision on the part of the responsible leaders of the Japanese Government of the two points he had asked me to discuss with him.
I said that I would be glad to respond to his request because I shared his point of view in one regard, at least, completely. I said I was sure, of course, that the Japanese Ambassador and he himself had been reporting accurately and fully to their Government, but that I wondered whether perhaps from other sources the Japanese Government might not have obtained a partial and prejudiced or distorted point of view with regard to public opinion in the United States and with regard to the policy which this Government was intending to carry out in its relations with the nations of the Pacific.
I said that perhaps Mr. Wakasugi was not aware of the fact that I had had the privilege myself of living three years in Japan in the old days and that I had then had the opportunity of knowing well at least some of the Japanese statesmen and intellectual leaders of an earlier period, and that I had throughout the intervening years always remembered with keen appreciation the personal benefits I had derived from those friendships. I said that for this reason I had always personally stood for the maintenance of very friendly relations between our two countries, not only because of my own knowledge and appreciation of Japan and the Japanese people, but also because of my conviction that there was no real fundamental reason, in so far as the best interests and desirable objectives of the two countries were concerned, for the two nations ever to be involved in conflict. I said that as I now looked back it seemed to me incredible that the relations which existed in those happier days between Japan and the United States could have degenerated into the relations which unfortunately existed between our two countries today. I stated that I had felt warranted in making this personal digression because I wished Mr. Wakasugi to appreciate that what I had to say was being said in a friendly spirit and because of my belief that at this late moment the truest evidence of friendship on my part was complete and unmitigated frankness in speech.
Mr. Wakasugi then said that he himself had been educated in this country and had spent, off and on, the better part of 30 years in the United States. He said that he felt very much about this country as I said I felt about his own nation, and that he felt bound to say in response to my frankness that in all of the 30 years of his experience, relations between the two nations had never at any time approached the critical point to which they had now unfortunately come.
I then resumed the conversation and said that Mr. Wakasugi had asked me what the policies of this Government might be. I said that the policies of my Government had been made clear time and again in our interchanges with and in our communications to the Government of Japan since the spring of 1933. I referred to letters exchanged between the Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister, to public statements made by the Secretary of State and by the President and other officials, and by innumerable other clear-cut and detailed analyses of our position with regard to the Pacific and more specifically, vis-à-vis Japan. I said that in addition to all of this, the policy of this Government had been made completely clear in the most painstaking way by the Secretary of State himself in the conversations which he had held during the past five months with the Japanese Ambassador. Finally, I said, the policy of this Government was clarified and summarized to the fullest extent possible by the proposal which the President himself had made to the Japanese Ambassador on July 24 and to which this Government had not as yet received any reply.
I said that I doubted whether in the history of the past 50 years any great power in its dealings with another great power had consistently shown such utter and complete patience as had the Government of the United States in its dealings with Japan.
At this point Mr. Wakasugi nodded his head.
I said that if Mr. Wakasugi nevertheless desired me once more to summarize the policy of this Government, I should define it succinctly as a policy which contained, as its fundamental premise, the maintenance of peace in the Pacific; the renunciation by all of the powers interested in the Pacific of force and of conquest as their national policy; the recognition of the rights of independent and autonomous peoples of the Pacific to independence and integrity; and equal opportunity and fair treatment for all, and exclusive preference or privilege for none. I added that it seemed to me that the policy of the United States made it fully clear to the Government of Japan that the American Government and people desired in no way to impede or to limit the equal rights of the Japanese people to economic and commercial opportunity, either in the Pacific or, for that matter, throughout the world, or the enjoyment of equal opportunity in obtaining free access to raw materials and food supplies required in the national economy of Japan; and afforded Japan complete assurance that so long as Japan adopted similar policies the United States could never remotely be regarded as endangering by military or naval force the national security of the Japanese Empire.
I said that I wished to emphasize by repeating the fact that American policy, if Japan followed an identical course, afforded Japan the fullest measure of security both physical and material. However, I said, at the same time that this policy had been enunciated over and over again to Japan, Japan had been following more and more openly a completely diametrical tendency.
The result was that during these recent years our national policies, instead of converging, had been moving steadily apart and the result was that today this Government was forced to the conclusion that the policy finally and definitely adopted by Japan was a policy of expansion through the use of force and by conquest. I said that I wished, therefore, to make it very clear to Mr. Wakasugi that in my considered judgment, if Japan continued on an aggressive policy of force and undertook moves of expansion which would result in acts of aggression upon additional peoples in the Far East, in the south or in other regions of the Pacific, the aim of Japan could only be regarded by the United States as the creation of a military overlordship of the Japanese Empire imposed over all of the peoples of the Far East, the Southern Pacific, and perhaps over other areas as well. If this were in reality the objective of the Japanese Government, I thought it necessary at this stage to say that in my judgment such a situation as that would inevitably be regarded as intolerable by the United States and by other peace-minded nations having direct interests in the Pacific, and that, consequently, whether it came tomorrow, or next month, or next year, or even later, the pursuit of such an objective by Japan would inevitably result in armed hostilities in the Pacific.
At this point Mr. Wakasugi interjected to say that what I had stated confirmed his own fears that the situation would now reach an exceedingly critical stage. He said that there were certain underlying factors which the Japanese people could never explain to themselves. He said that when Japan first awoke in the middle of the last century from her long sleep of isolation, she found herself completely surrounded by the imperialistic encroachments which occidental nations had made, not only in China, but in all the Pacific region as well. He said that the United States had been a rapidly expanding and growing country but that Japan was likewise a rapidly expanding country, obviously not on the same scale as the United States, but nevertheless on the same general trend. He said that the Japanese people could not indefinitely be confined to their own poor land and that they had to find, in view of their ever increasing birth rate and their rapidly rising power as a great nation in the world, some means of expanding outside of their own territories. At the very moment that the Japanese people were beginning to realize their situation along these lines, he said, the other great powers of the world had been undertaking exactly the same kind of action, by acquiring colonies and dominating other less advanced peoples, which we, the United States, were now reproaching the Japanese people for undertaking.
I said it would be ludicrous for me to attempt to argue with regard to the policies and measures undertaken by the great powers of the world ill the last century but that I was certain that in the years when I had first known Japan, Japan and the United States both agreed that a new and better era in the world was possible and that while, unfortunately enough, a better era had not been realized, I saw no reason for a retrogression in international policy which Mr. Wakasugi seemed to be recommending as a justification for the policy of conquest upon which his country now seemed to be embarked. I said that if it came to a question of expansion, I could quite understand the need for an energetic, able, and rapidly growing race like the Japanese to undertake in their own national interest certain forms of expansion outside of their own national boundaries, but I said that in the considered judgment of this Government the people of Japan would be infinitely more benefited and rendered infinitely more secure by the kind of expansion for which this Government stood than by the policy of expansion for which the present Government of Japan stood. I said that the kind of expansion which I had in mind was the kind of peaceful and productive expansion which resulted in the expansion of Japanese commercial activities in other countries along the lines of equality and non-discrimination which had been for so many years now upheld by the United States. I said I could conceive of no way in which greater prosperity, and contentment and security could come to the Japanese people than by utilizing their great gifts for commercial enterprise and thereby enjoy the great markets which China and other nations of the Far East as well as other nations in other sections of the world offered for peaceful commercial enterprise of this character. I asked him to compare the situation of Japan today, bled as she had been by the militaristic efforts she had been making in one form or another since 1931, with the position which Japan would occupy today if she had embarked upon the other course which I had indicated. I said surely there was great accuracy in what the Japanese Ambassador himself had stated a few days ago when he said that by the occupation of China, Japan had been putting everything into China and getting nothing out. I said that almost inevitably that was the sole result which Japan could gain from her present militaristic course and that the eventual outcome would be, I felt, economic prostration, and possibly social and financial collapse.
Mr. Wakasugi did not appear to differ from the opinions I expressed but merely stated that he feared it would be very difficult for the Japanese people to comprehend the truths involved in my statements to him.
He then suddenly said:
The main task of statesmanship on both sides today is for us to avoid being drawn into conflict. How far can Japan now expand without running the risk of war with the United States?
I replied in as clear a statement as possible that it was quite impossible for me to answer this question categorically and precisely. I said that it was not, in my judgment a question of exactly where the line would be drawn by this country because, for that matter, the implementation already undertaken by Japan of her expansionist policy of conquest might, in my judgment, create a situation where the vital interests of this country might be directly affected. I said the problem was not what this country would agree to in the way of occupation by Japan of other independent countries, but the fact that Japan was bent upon a policy of conquest which, if pursued and persisted in, would, in my opinion, inevitably result in a situation where the vital interests of the United States and of other great powers directly interested in the Pacific would be directly involved. I stated that he was mistaken if he thought that this Government would say to the Japanese Government “You can occupy this, that, or the other country, but you can go no further.” I said that the issue was the fact that Japan appeared to be bent upon pursuing a policy which would result in the creation of a military overlordship by Japan of the Pacific area and that it was the policy itself which, in my judgment, prejudiced the security of the United States.
Mr. Wakasugi then changed the subject and said that he had been unable to understand at all from his Ambassador the proposal which the President had made. He asked if I would clarify the matter for him. I therefore repeated to him clearly and precisely exactly what the President’s proposal had been as covered in the memorandum of my conversation between the President and the Ambassador of July 24, and Mr. Wakasugi then said that he now understood for the first time clearly exactly what the President had in mind. He added of his own volition that he could not deny that what the President proposed, if consummated, would give security to his own country and to the other nations interested in the Far East.
Mr. Wakasugi then said that he had one final question to ask me and that was what the opinion of this Government might be concerning the solution of postwar problems.
He said that he had read with a great deal of interest the address which I had made which touched upon that subject and that since he himself had attended so many meetings of the League of Nations he wanted to express his own belief that a new league of nations, set up on the foundations utilized by the old League of Nations would not prove practical nor successful. He said he did not now want to argue about what nation or nations had been responsible for the failure of the old League of Nations, but he thought the time had certainly come to consider what better world order might be set up when peace again was restored.
He said as he envisaged it, the most practical solution was the creation of regional federations, one to consist of Europe and Africa, one of the Western Hemisphere, one of the Far East, and one of Russia.
I said that I had heard a similar point of view expressed by many others, but that I wondered if one took this approach as a solution for the problem how one could possibly anticipate that such matters as disarmament or equality of economic enjoyment could be solved by the creation of regional federations. I said, to be perfectly specific and conceive of a Far Eastern federation and a Western Hemisphere federation, how could the regional federation of the new world ever be satisfied that a real limitation of armament could be undertaken unless it was confident that the Fur Eastern federation was in actual practice limiting its armaments of all categories to exactly the same lines as those undertaken by the Western Hemisphere federation? In exactly the same way, I said, unless one undertook a universal approach, how could the economic difficulties from which the world had been so long suffering be solved through regional federation control. I said, however, that as he knew, I had never at any time been willing to express any opinion with regard to the precise mechanism that might be employed by the powers of the world when the appropriate opportunity was presented, but that I thought it was in fact highly desirable for all peace-minded nations to be considering these matters and exchanging views between themselves with regard thereto. I said I wanted to make it very clear, however, that of one thing I was completely confident and that was that no “new orders”, were they Hitler-inspired or Japanese-inspired, would tend to solve this problem, but rather quite the contrary.
Mr. Wakasugi then left, expressing his appreciation for the opportunity he had had of talking with me and expressing the hope that he might be back in Washington before many weeks had passed.
SUMNER WELLES
Japanese Foreign Office (August 4, 1941)
From: Manila (Nihro)
To: Tokyo
August 4, 1941
Purple
#480
Intelligence of primary order.
Two destroyers sailed on the fourth. All the war ships at anchor have sailed. There are, however, several small destroyers in the neighborhood of Corregidor (This was observed by the crews of the Koden Maru and the Kaisoku Maru).
About six-hundred American soldiers have arrived in Manila on the Coolidge (This was learned from the crew of the Coolidge).
ARMY 20634 Trans. 8/7/41 (6)
The Pittsburgh Press (August 4, 1941)
AMERICANS STRANDED BY TOKYO ORDER
…
Boats for South America may be blocked pending study of attitude
…
By Robert Bellaire, United Press staff writer
Tokyo, Aug. 4 –
All Japanese ship sailings to the United States were suspended indefinitely today and many Americans and other foreigners were virtually isolated.
It was understood that sailings would also be suspended to South America pending clarification of the attitude of the South American republics toward Japan.
More than 100 Americans had been scheduled to sail Thursday in the liner Nitta Maru, which was affected by the suspension order. Many of these Americans had already disposed of their homes, furniture, autos and reserve food supplies and were at once faced with the problem of living here.
Reports seeping through the strict Japanese censorship indicate that the food problem is becoming serious.
Can’t reach Shanghai
The suspension order almost isolated Americans and other foreigners in Japan because it is almost possible to obtain bookings for Shanghai. Ships are sailing to Shanghai from Nagasaki but police restrictions on travel by foreigners make it impossible to reach Nagasaki.
Bookings for ships from Kobe are filled for weeks ahead and furthermore foreigners are not permitted to sail through the Inland Sea which is adjacent to Kobe.
Americans who had intended to sail in the Nitta Maru, and many others were awaiting passage, had settled all their affairs after the fund freezing orders of the American and Japanese governments, in order to return permanently to the United States after long residence here.
‘Encirclement’ charged
The ship suspension order marked a fresh turn for the worse in Japanese-American relations.
The decision came as the newspapers, whose anti-American articles were censored heavily for a time last week, took an increasingly pessimistic view of Japanese-American relations, and emphasized alleged British, American and Chinese attempts not only to “encircle” Japan but to:
…bring Russia into the encirclement camp.
Nichi Nichi said in a Saigon dispatch that the Japanese Navy intended to fortify the great French Indochina naval base of Cam Ranh:
…as a base of operations against American, British and Chinese encirclement.
The newspapers were inclined now to the view, as Ashi put it, that there was no room, left for readjustment of Japanese-American relations.
Japanese Foreign Office (August 5, 1941)
[Secret]
From: Tokyo.
To: Washington.
5 August 1941.
(Purple) (CA)
#447 (In 2 parts, complete).
According to the various reports you have submitted on the subject the President and the Secretary of State are displaying considerable understanding in their attitudes towards Japan. You imply that they view the situation cool headedly, regardless of the trend of general public opinion.
On our side, however, there are quite a few persons who vigorously insist that the U.S. economic pressure on Japan is being daily in creased in intensity. For example, the newspaper Yomiuri carried dispatch from ------ on the 2nd, in which it was reported that the President of the United States had either ordered the complete suspension of, or curtail to the extreme, all exports of petroleum products. As a result of this order, the dispatch continued, even those exports for which permits had already been issued, had to be cancelled.
Regardless of whether there was any truth in the report or not and regardless of the extent of the alleged curtailment, such reports give the antagonists a strong talking point. This is a situation which causes us no end of anxiety
If such a policy as the above is adopted, we cannot guarantee that the trend will not be in directly the opposite direction from our goal of an improved U.S.-Japanese relationship. One should be able to see this clearly from the example set forth above.
If an improvement in the relations between the United States and Japan, as two equal powers on the Pacific, is sincerely desired, the points which will most effectively bring about such improvements must be given unbiased and cool consideration.
For the purpose of preventing the possibility of letting anyone, either within or out of the country, be under the impression that the negotiations were conducted under the threat of economic pressure, all measures which may be construed as being economic pressure should be abandoned at once. That we shall reciprocate in kind was made clear in the recent statement issued by the Minister of Finance.
Will Your Excellency make an effort to clearly impress this point on the President and the Secretary of State and at the same time draw their attention to the graveness of this matter.
In form, the proposal which is being forwarded herewith, is a reply to the President’s plan of the 24th. Our real motive, however, is to incorporate its provisions into the final agreement. With this instrument, we hope to resume the Japanese-U.S. negotiations which were suspended because of the delay in the delivery of our revised proposals of 14 July and because of our occupation of French Indo-China which took place in the meantime. Since that is our intention, please relay the matter contained in my separate message #448 without delay.
20615
JD-1: (D) Navy Trans. 8-6-41 (S-TT)
The Pittsburgh Press (August 5, 1941)
JAPAN OCCUPIES CITY NEAR THAILAND
…
U.S. threatening Thailand, Tokyo papers say
…
By Robert Bellaire, United Press staff writer
Tokyo, Aug. 5 –
Japanese troops have occupied a French Indochinese town near the Thai border, a Dōmei news agency dispatch disclosed today, after establishing bases in the interior of southwestern Indochina.
The dispatch did not name the town but indicated it was in Cambodia, the southwestern province (which is nearest to British Malaya).
Newspapers invited Thailand to follow Indochina’s example and accept “joint defense” with Japan. The chief government spokesman, Koh Ishii, asked regarding Japan’s intentions toward Thailand, would say only that for the present Japan was considering only “joint defense” with Indochina. Negotiations with Thailand, Ishii said, were confined to the economic field at the moment.
The ultra-nationalistic newspaper Kokumin, saying Thailand should enter a “defense” agreement with Japan, argued that:
The fact that Thailand was forced to say recently it was not oppressed economically or militarily by any country, bespeaks Thailand’s sorrowful plight.
Actually, Kokumin said, the United States, Britain and China were threatening Thailand.
Kokumin said the East Indies were an “indispensable element” in a “Japanese-protected Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” but Thailand was a matter of immediate concern.
The Japan Times and Advertiser, subsidized by the Foreign Office, said in defending the Japanese defense agreement with Indochina, that Japan had the right to live at peace with territories surrounding her.
American attempts to interfere with this naturally mutual sphere are aggressive and imperialistic, and they cannot be camouflaged by protestations of morality.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Japan Konstantin Smetanin conferred for an hour with Foreign Minister Admiral Teijirō Toyoda.
To conserve the gasoline reserve, the Railroad Ministry decided today to suspend service effective Aug. 10 on 38 railroad lines which are driven by gasoline motors.
The Ministry of Industry decided to expand its fuel rationing scheme, hitherto confined to gasoline and heavy oil, by including kerosene, light and machine oils.
Shipping still suspended
It was understood the ministry was considering a higher rate of admixture of alcohol in gasoline. Other measures believed due were consolidation of oil refineries, establishment of an oil control association and increase of artificial oil output to meet the situation caused by U.S. restrictions.
Chief spokesman Ishii said at a press conference that Japanese shipping to the U.S. would remain suspended pending settlement of the cargo of the Japanese liner Tatsuta Maru. Resumption of shipping depended, he said, on the question whether it would now be commercially profitable.
The Tatsuta Maru sailed from San Francisco yesterday, after unloading $2.5 million worth of raw silk and $500,000 worth of miscellaneous cargo.
Spokesman Ishii said he could not feel optimistic as to the future of Japanese-American trade but he believed on the basis of reports from Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura, ambassador at Washington, that neither country desired a total suspension.
Ishii said the question of oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies was being discussed and that Japanese tankers were in Indies ports awaiting cargoes.
A United Press Batavia dispatch said Japanese ships were now loading goods, including a very small quantity of oil, which had been paid for before the freezing orders became effective.
Ishii said, as regards the Japanese-American freezing orders, that Japan would release the funds of Ambassador Joseph Clark Grew if the U.S. released the funds of Admiral Nomura.
HEAVY JAP BOMBERS LAND IN INDOCHINA
Phnom Penh, French Indochina, Aug. 5 –
Many heavy Japanese bombing planes arrived today in this southwestern Indochina city, adjacent to the Thai frontier.
Travelers from Thailand reported heavy Thai infantry and artillery concentrations along the Indochinese border and many rumors circulated.
Japanese artillery and light armored units which arrived here last weekend left yesterday for an undisclosed destination.
U.S. Department of State (August 6, 1941)
711.94/22443/11Memorandum of a Conversation
Washington, August 6, 1941.The Japanese Ambassador called upon the Secretary at the Secretary’s apartment by appointment made at the Ambassador’s request.
In the course of a brief interchange of general remarks the Secretary observed that both he and the Ambassador were deserving of sympathy because of the developments which had led to a breakdown in their arduous efforts to bring about a better understanding between the United States and Japan. The Ambassador nodded assent and then came to the business at hand. He said that he had promptly referred to his Government the proposal which had been made to him by the President on July 24, but explained that as it took the Japanese Government a longer time than it did this Government to reach decisions on important matters it had not been until the previous evening that he had received instructions from his Government in reply thereto. He then drew out a paper which he proceeded to read. Subsequently he gave a copy of this paper to Mr. Ballantine. A copy is attached. After reading the paper, in which reference was made to a proposal by the Japanese Government, he handed the Secretary a document marked “Strictly Confidential. Proposal by the Japanese Government”.
The Japanese Ambassador seemed disposed to discuss the contents of the proposal, but the Secretary suggested that he thought that time would be saved all around if we postponed any discussion of it pending study of the document. The Secretary then proceeded to put the proposal in his pocket without reading it. The Secretary then said that he was frankly pessimistic over the prospect of getting anywhere with a proposal such as that referred to in the oral statement which the Japanese Ambassador had made. He dwelt on the arduous efforts which the Ambassador and he had made covering a period of months to try to bring about better relations between Japan and the United States and to lay the foundation of peace in the Pacific. He said that while these conversations had been going on we had been receiving continually reports of the agitation in the press of Japan, which was Government-controlled, in favor of a policy of force and of conquest. We had also received reports of statements by Japanese leaders advocating a course the very opposite of that which underlay the spirit of the conversations between the Ambassador and the Secretary. The Secretary also referred to the fact that the Government-controlled Japanese press was now talking about encirclement of Japan by the United States and Japanese leaders were voicing similar views. The Secretary remarked that the Germans, while waging their campaign in Russia hundreds of miles from their own territories, were speaking of acting in self-defense against aggression. Similar apologies were being made in connection with their military activities in other parts of Europe outside of their borders. The Secretary said that he did not see how we could usefully pursue any conversations or discuss proposals premised on the contention that the United States was endeavoring to encircle Japan. The Secretary observed that while on the one hand he and the Japanese Ambassador had been making sincere efforts to reach an understanding based upon the idea of peace throughout the Pacific area, on the other hand the Secretary was being charged in Japan with machinations to encircle Japan. In view of these circumstances the Secretary reiterated that he felt very discouraged indeed and felt doubtful that there was any prospect of being able to deal at this time with any proposal of the Japanese Government relating to the establishment of peaceful relations in the Pacific such as the Japanese Government appeared to have in mind. The Ambassador offered no particular comment and the matter was left that the Secretary would examine the proposal.
JOSEPH W. BALLANTINE
711.94/22443/11Oral Statement Handed by the Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary of State
Washington, August 6, 1941.The purport and nature of the measures taken by the Japanese Government in effecting a joint defense of French Indochina has already been explained by the Japanese Foreign Minister to the United States Ambassador in Tokyo as well as by myself to the President and the Acting Secretary of State. To summarise, the measures are of entirely peaceful character and for self-defense, and an intervention by any third Power would be wholly unwarranted. They were absolutely necessary in order to prevent from getting beyond control the Japanese public opinion which had been dangerously aroused because of the successive measures taken by the United States, Great Britain and Netherlands East Indies against Japan, and consequently in order to preserve peace in the Pacific.
As the United States Government has nevertheless manifested certain anxiety over the situation in regard to French Indochina, the Japanese Government, with a view to dispelling any such misgiving, has instructed me to transmit a proposal and to enter into negotiations in strict confidence and on an “off record” basis. The proposal is intended to serve as a reply in a way to the suggestion made by the President on July 24 during his conversation with me, and to provide a fresh basis for Japanese-American understanding on which informal conversations have been carried on during the past months. I have to add that any accord of views which may result from the present negotiations is to be incorporated in the general formula for the adjustment of the relations between our two countries.
At all events, the Japanese Government is convinced that it is more than ever necessary to examine calmly and with a spirit of understanding toward the standpoint of each other the diverse causes which have been responsible for the strained relations between Japan and the United States, and to endeavor for the removal and alleviation of such causes and conditions as will upset the military, political and economic equilibrium that should normally exist between the two countries. The Japanese Government believes that its views in this respect are fully shared by the Government of the United States.
711.94/22443/11Proposal by the Japanese Government Handed by the Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary of State
Washington, August 6, 1941I. The Japanese Government undertakes —
A) that, in order to remove such causes as might constitute a menace of a military character to the United States, it will not further station its troops in the Southwestern Pacific areas except French Indochina and that the Japanese troops now stationed in French Indochina will be withdrawn forthwith on the settlement of the China Incident, andB) that, in order to remove such causes as might constitute a menace of political and military character to the Philippine Islands, the Japanese Government will guarantee the neutrality of the islands at an opportune time on the condition that Japan and the Japanese subjects will not be placed in any discriminatory positions as compared with other countries and their nationals including the United States and its nationals, and
C) that, in order to remove such causes as might be responsible for the instability of the economic relations between Japan and the United States, the Japanese Government will cooperate with the Government of the United States in the production and procurement of such natural resources as are required by the United States.
II. The Government of the United States undertakes —
A) that, in order to remove such causes as might constitute a direct menace of military character to Japan or to her international communications, the Government of the United States will suspend its military measures in the Southwestern Pacific areas, and also that, upon a successful conclusion of the present conversations, it will advise the Governments of Great Britain and of the Netherlands to take similar steps, andB) that, in order to remove such causes as might be responsible for military, political and economic friction between Japan and the United States, the Government of the United States will cooperate with the Japanese Government in the production and procurement of natural resources as are required by Japan in the Southwestern Pacific areas, especially in the Netherlands East Indies, and
C) that, in conjunction with the measures as set forth in (B) above, the Government of the United States will take steps necessary for restoring the normal relations of trade and commerce which have hitherto existed between Japan and the United States, and
D) that, in view of the undertaking by the Japanese Government as set forth in I. (A) above, the Government of the United States will use its good offices for the initiation of direct negotiations between the Japanese Government and the Chiang Kai-shek régime for the purpose of a speedy settlement of the China Incident, and that the Government of the United States will recognise a special status of Japan in French Indochina even after the withdrawal of Japanese troops from that area.
The Pittsburgh Press (August 6, 1941)
Hull declares –
U.S. CONCERNED OVER THAILAND
…
American aid materials on way to Russia
…
Washington, Aug. 6 (UP) –
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today any move of Japan into Thailand would be a matter of concern to the United States.
Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, in a speech in the House of Commons today, warned Japan against aggression involving Thailand.
Mr. Hull said the United States had made clear many times its opposition to conquests by force.
The discussion of the Thailand situation followed disclosure that the United States has already sent the first shipment of war supplies to Russia.
The shipment included armaments and industrial machinery. The latter was ordered before the outbreak of Russo-German hostilities but the United States had requisitioned the machinery.
The Russians will install the machinery in munitions factories east of the Ural Mountains, it was understood. Soviet officials have advised this government that they are prepared to defend that industrial region even if the German invasion succeeds in virtually all of western Russia.
Go via Pacific
It was assumed here that the war shipments will go by way of the Pacific, despite veiled Japanese threats of interference. The Japanese press has hinted that any shipment of American munitions to the Russian port of Vladivostok might be considered unfriendly because of the Nipponese obligations as the Axis partner in the Pacific.
U.S. officials were inclined to minimize the threats, pointing out that Japan would not be likely to risk action that might lead to serious difficulties with both the United States and Russia.
In this connection, Paul V. McNutt, former High Commissioner to the Philippines, said in an interview that Japan, by its recent aggressive actions, had:
…welded her neighboring powers into an effective united front against herself. Japan inevitably faces the united might of the democratic nations.
Formidable barrier
Australia, the other members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, China, the Dutch East Indies and the United States constitute a formidable barrier to further Japanese aggression and they should take advantage of their strategic position.
These powers confront Japan from almost every direction. In the north, there is Russia whose national interests now lie in the same direction as ours. There is only one logical policy to be followed at present – Japan must be made to understand that she can move no further without fighting.
Mr. McNutt concluded:
I do not think she will choose to fight.
He said he is convinced that the United States can depend upon the loyalty of 16 million Filipinos in the event of a Pacific showdown. Regarded by Filipinos as one of their best High Commissioners, Mr. McNutt said he had found in the islands a deep devotion to the United States and an aversion to Japan.
May need ships
Although Russia has sufficient cash to pay for its war orders and does not need Lend-Lease assistance, the Soviet government is using the procurement service of the Lend-Lease agency to speed the flow of needed supplies, administration sources said.
In addition, officials said they are canvassing Russian shipping requirements to determine the amount of additional tonnage that will be needed to transport the war supplies.
Shipping sources here considered it doubtful that existing Soviet tonnage is adequate. One official said it may become necessary to divert to the Soviet service several foreign ships seized by the U.S.
Defense Oil Coordinator Harold L. Ickes announced that construction will be hastened on the 160-mile oil pipeline from Portland, Maine, to Montreal, Canada, because of its importance in the British aid program. He pointed out that completion of the line, which will have a daily capacity of 30,000 to 60,000 barrels, will have the effect of releasing capacity of three and a half tankers now ferrying oil to Montreal.
JAPANESE LINER DUE IN SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco, Aug. 6 (UP) –
The Japanese liner Asama Maru, flagship of the Nippon Yūsen Kaisha Line, was due today with a $3 million silk cargo, but she has not been heard from since last Friday and the Marine Exchange did not post her as “due to arrive.”
Some shipping men believe she had turned back to Yokohama rather than risk the incident which embarrassed her sister ship, the Tatsuta Maru. Dispute frozen Japanese credits in this country, the Tatsuta had to dump a $3 million cargo – $2.5 million of which was in raw silk – before she could sail last Monday. Importers had filed 18 libels against her general cargo.
Most of the Asama’s passengers got off at Honolulu rather than face the possibility of being carried back to Japan. There are still 98 passengers, 47 of them Japanese of American birth, aboard.
MORE BRITISH PLANES, MEN AT SINGAPORE
By the United Press
Singapore, Aug. 6 –
Britain has again strengthened her forces in the Far East and is prepared to meet any situation which may arise if Japan attempts to extend her military occupation of Indochina by moving into Thailand.
Large reinforcements of British and Indian troops and Royal Air Force personnel arrived yesterday, it was revealed, and immediately were dispatched to northern Malaya to reinforce thousands of troops of the Empire army which for months has been preparing strongly fortified positions on the borders of southern Thailand.
It was the second large group of reinforcements to reach here in recent weeks and followed last week’s announcement of reinforcements to British forces in Burma, to the northward, and the completion of a new chain of British military airfields in that country parallel to the Thai border.
British troops among the new arrivals came from the British Isles on ships which touched at Bombay, where contingents of the Indian Army joined the convoy.
JAPAN EMPHASIZES THAILAND’S STATUS
Tokyo, Aug. 6 (UP) –
Japan’s relations with Thailand and the importance of that country in Japan’s Greater East Asia sphere were again emphasized in the press today, giving rise to speculation that a new crisis in southeast Asia may be impending.
Straws indicating the way diplomatic and military winds may be blowing included:
The announcement that large British and Indian reinforcements have landed in Malaya.
A formal announcement here that Thailand has granted full diplomatic recognition to Japan’s ally, Manchukuo.
A report by the semi-official Japanese news agency, Dōmei, that two Japanese Army units yesterday entered an undisclosed town near the Thai-French Indochinese border.
Meanwhile, the government established strict new rationing regulations for gasoline and the nationalistic press launched a campaign suggesting that Thailand follow the example of French Indochina and:
…obtain defense through Japan’s assistance.
A Japanese Navy spokesman said today that Russia faces internal revolution, a development which could not leave Japan unconcerned. Another naval authority said Britain and the United States were about to encircle Japan by enlisting Russia’s aid.
The Navy spokesman, Commander Hideo Hiraide, said in a magazine article that Japan was on the verge of entering the world upheaval because of the Russian situation, and predicted that the United States would ask for bases in eastern Russia.
Assertions that the British and Americans were using Russia to complete encirclement of Japan were made in an article in the newspaper Hōchi written by Lt. Cmdr. Tota Ishimaru.
BILL DRAFTED TO PUT HAWAII ON WAR BASIS
…
Measure would give Governor of island powers for emergency
…
Washington, Aug. 6 (UP) –
The United States government today moved to put Hawaii on a war footing in event of a greater crisis in the Pacific.
The Department of Justice has drafted legislation to give the Governor of the islands emergency power over the activities of civilians, 100,000 of whom are Japanese.
Meanwhile, the government maintained a close watch on Far Eastern developments, prepared, if necessary, to invoke new and more drastic economic sanctions should Japan attempt a deeper thrust to the south.
Some observers suggested that if Japan moves into Thailand, the United States, with British support, will follow up its recent economic reprisals by clamping a complete embargo on oil exports.
A member of the Japanese military mission at Saigon, French Indochina, said reports that a British naval squadron had been sighted in the Gulf of Thailand “were likely.”
Another development apparently related to the Far Eastern situation was disclosure that two heavy U.S. cruisers – the Northampton and Salt Lake City have put in at Brisbane, Australia. A Navy announcement simply said the stop was made to refuel the ships.
On the Congressional front, Rep. Samuel Dickstein (D-NY) charged that American citizens are “being molested and pushed around” by Japanese authorities in Shanghai.
Japanese Foreign Office (August 7, 1941)
From: Tokyo.
To: Washington.
7 August, 1941
(Purple—CA)
#452
Through my previous messages on the subject, you are perfectly well aware of the fact that the Konoe Cabinets have been sincerely interested in the betterment of Japanese-U.S. relations. Through misunderstandings and manipulations by third countries, and in spite of our above described desires, Japanese-U.S. relations are, today, critically tense. We feel that a policy of laissez faire should no longer be pursued.
We are firm in our conviction that the only means by which the situation can be relieved is to have responsible persons representing each country gather together and hold direct conferences. They shall lay their cards on the table, express their true feelings, and attempt to determine a way out of the present situation.
Will you please make clear to them that we propose this step because we sincerely desire maintaining peace on the Pacific. Please sound out their attitude on this proposal.
(a) That we recognize the exceedingly criticalness of the situation and for that reason, the Prime Minister made up his mind to break all precedent to represent his country himself.
(b) That unless every possible effort is made to maintain peace on the Pacific, we would be failing to fulfill our duties to our people.
The subjects which will be discussed, undoubtedly will depend greatly on the time it is held. In general, however, the discussion will be conducted along the lines of the negotiations which were being conducted in an attempt to bring about better relations between Japan and the United States. In view of the fact that both the Prime Minister and the President have many uses for their time, arrangements should be made so that the discussions between them will last no longer than a few days. With a view to practicalness it is our hope that the delegations representing Japan and the United States will consist of the minimum number of persons.
For the purpose of security, we are not advising the U.S. Ambassador in Tokyo regarding this subject for the time being. This is for our information.
20699
JD-1: (D) Navy Trans. 8-8-41 (S-TT)
[Secret]
From: Washington.
To: Tokyo.
7 August 1941
(Purple—CA)
#663 (In 2 parts, complete).
U.S.-Japanese relations have now reached an extremely critical stage. However, this does not come unexpectedly; undoubtedly it as unavoidable and is the by-product of our government’s pursuing their essential policies.
I now wish to describe the recent general outlook in the United States. I realize, of course, that I may be too presumptuous, but do so only because I believe it might be of some interest to one whose time in office has been as short as yours.
We, therefore, carefully explained that Japan is guided solely by the principles of HAKKO ITIU (brotherhood of mankind) and that the Axis Pact, like the earlier Anglo-Japanese Pact, is merely an agreement within limitations. This explanation lead eventually to beginning the unofficial discussions.
Then, while the Secretary of State was on leave due to illness, the occupation of French Indo-China took place. The United States, refusing to accept our explanation that that was a peaceful occupation, discontinued the unofficial discussions then and there. Moreover, the United States returned to its original opinion with regard to Japan. Acting Secretary of State Welles made this clear in his statement and it was later confirmed by Secretary Hull himself. Last night, the Secretary expressed his deep disappointment to me. According to the Postmaster General, this disappointment on the part of the Secretary was all the deeper because he had been so very interested in bettering the relations between Japan and the United States I have already reported that Secretary Hull and his very good friend Walker were put in an exceedingly embarrassing spot in their relations with their Cabinet colleagues.
When Japan occupied French Indochina, the United States retaliated with the “freezing” order and the export embargo, a joint warning by Hull and Eden was issued with regard to any ambitions in the direction of Thailand. There is no doubt whatsoever that the United States is prepared to take drastic action depending on the way Japan moves, and thus closing the door on any possibility of settling the situation.
With regard to a northward move by us, it must be remembered that the United States has suddenly established very close relations with the Soviet Union. In view of this fact, it is highly doubtful that the United States would merely watch from the sidelines if we should make any moves to the north.
It is reported that the President accompanied by high army and nay, officials is meeting with Churchill. This indicates that careful preparations are being made to counter our every move without falling back a single time.
I have submitted my humble opinions before and they are unchanged today. Our country is at present standing at a most critical crossroads. My only desire is that we choose the right road, for the sake of the future of our country.
21045
JD-1: (D) Navy Trans. 8-15-41 (X)
The Pittsburgh Press (August 7, 1941)
U.S., BRITAIN PROMISE AID TO THAILAND
…
Supplies to be sent, if needed, with which to resist Japs
…
By John A. Reichmann, United Press staff writer
By taking Thailand, the Japanese would be on the land approaches to Singapore.
Washington, Aug. 7 –
The United States and Britain have pledged war supplies to Thailand with which to resist Japanese aggression, informed quarters said today.
The pledge served to emphasize their new warnings to Japan.
In parallel representations to the Thai government, the U.S. and Britain urged it to take a firm stand against any Japanese demands for military bases, it was said.
British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Secretary of State Cordell Hull warned Japan yesterday that any move infringing the independence of Thailand would place a grave strain on Japan’s relations with them.
An official spokesman in Tokyo rejected these warnings as:
…unwarranted and created from their own conjectures.
While American aid would be limited to war supplies, it is understood that the British had promised full military support, including troops. A Japanese thrust into Thailand would threaten British Burma and the naval base at Singapore.
Asked at his press conference whether he had had any conversations with or had made any representations to Thailand, Mr. Hull replied that he was not able to go into details now.
He declared, however, that a Japanese move into Thailand would be a matter of concern to this government, and indicated that economic penalties already imposed on Japan might be made more severe.
Meanwhile, the administration studied plans for the evacuation of more than 600 American stranded in Tokyo. A suggestion is understood to be under consideration whereby Japan would agree to clear tow U.S. vessels bearing refugees in return for clearance from ports here of Japanese vessels on similar missions.
The problem of returning Americans from Tokyo arose when the sailings of all Japanese vessels were cancelled last weekend.
Give me a break.
U.S. Department of State (August 8, 1941)
711.94/22444/11Document Handed by the Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador
Washington, August 8, 1941.The President’s proposal was that, if the Japanese Government would refrain from occupying Indochina or establishing bases there with its military and naval forces, or, in case such steps had already actually been begun, would withdraw such forces, the President would do everything in his power to obtain from the Chinese Government, the British Government and the Netherland Government, and the Government of the United States would of course itself give, a binding and solemn declaration, provided the Japanese Government would make the same commitment to regard French Indochina as a “neutralized” country in the same way in which Switzerland had up to now been regarded by the powers as a neutralized country; that such a binding and solemn declaration on the part of each of the Governments mentioned would imply that none of these Governments would undertake any military act of aggression against French Indochina and that each of those Governments would refrain from the exercise of any military control within or over French Indochina. The President’s proposal contemplated further that the Government of the United States would endeavor to obtain from Great Britain and the other interested powers a guarantee that, so long as the present emergency continues, the local French authorities in Indochina would remain undisturbed in control of the territory of French Indochina. Subsequently, the President’s proposal with regard to French Indochina was extended to include Thailand as well, and the Japanese Government was informed that, should the Japanese Government accept the proposal of the President and abandon its present course with regard to French Indochina, the President would request of the other Governments which he had mentioned in connection with his proposal concerning French Indochina the same declaration and guarantee with regard to Thailand.
The Government of the United States feels that its views in regard to a broad understanding which would be calculated to establish and maintain peace in the Pacific area to the benefit of each and every country concerned in that area have been made abundantly clear in various official utterances and acts and in the course of the long series of conversations which the Secretary of State has had during recent months with the Japanese Ambassador. It feels that the Japanese Government is well aware of its attitude, of what it is able and willing to do, and of what it cannot do. It therefore feels that the proposals advanced in the document handed to the Secretary by the Japanese Ambassador on August 6 are lacking in responsiveness to the suggestion made by the President, the specifications of which have been for convenience of reference reiterated above.
711.94/22444/11Memorandum of a Conversation
Washington, August 8, 1941.The Japanese Ambassador called at the Secretary’s request.
The Secretary handed the Japanese Ambassador a document marked strictly confidential and dated August 8, 1941 in reply to the proposal of the Japanese Government contained in the document handed by the Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary on August 6. The Secretary suggested that the Ambassador might care to glance over the document.
The Japanese Ambassador read the document and stated that he understood its import. He said that the Japanese Government was very desirous of adjusting relations with the United States and was anxious to find means of doing so. He asked whether it might not be possible for the responsible heads of the two Governments to meet, say in Honolulu, as was suggested in the original Japanese proposal presented to us, with a view to discussing means whereby an adjustment could be brought about.
The Secretary said that if an understanding of the nature which the Secretary and the Ambassador had been discussing for these last several months had been reached the two countries by now would have been able to go forward along a course of peace and of mutual benefit. The Secretary went on to say that this Government had been prepared to be patient and to move gradually and to be of all possible help it could to the Japanese Government in order to enable the Japanese Government to assert control over all groups in Japan so that the Japanese Government as a whole and public opinion could be brought into line to support policies such as those which the Ambassador and the Secretary had in mind. The Secretary pointed out that while this Government was proceeding along this patient course the Secretary had, at a time when he was recuperating from illness in the country, received word of measures taken by the Japanese Government which made it clear that those elements in the Japanese Government which favored peaceful courses had lost control and that accordingly he had directed officers of the Department to inform the Japanese Ambassador that, in the opinion of this Government, the measures now taken by the Japanese Government had served to remove the basis for an understanding such as the Ambassador and he had had in mind. Thus, the Secretary said, the understanding which the Secretary and the Ambassador had hoped to reach and which he felt that they had nearly reached failed of realization.
The Secretary went on to say that the Japanese press was being constantly stimulated to speak of encirclement of Japan by the United States. He said that today he had told press correspondents that there is no occasion for any nation in the world that is law-abiding and peaceful to become encircled by anybody except itself. The Secretary said that while in Japan the press was being officially inspired in ways calculated to inflame public opinion this Government was not treating Japan; in any such way but was doing all that it could to deprecate agitation.
The Ambassador replied that he thought that the efforts being made to inspire the press in Japan were motivated purely by a desire to invigorate the Japanese people and were not inconsistent with a sincere desire on the part of the Japanese Government to improve relations with the United States.
He asked whether what the Secretary had said could be taken as the Secretary’s reply to the suggestion he had made for a meeting of the responsible heads of the two Governments.
The Secretary went over once more the points which he had previously brought out and suggested that, in the light of what he had said and of the reply which he had handed the Ambassador, it remained with the Japanese Government to decide whether it could find means of shaping its policies accordingly and then endeavor to evolve some satisfactory plan.
The Pittsburgh Press (August 8, 1941)
ENCIRCLEMENT MOVE CHARGED BY JAPS
Tokyo, Aug. 8 (UP) –
Japan charged today that the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands East Indies and China were attempting to encircle her, and that it remained to be seen whether Russia was participating.
Koh Ishii, spokesman for the Government Information Board, said the encirclement move is directed also against Thailand.
A dispatch from Peiping said the Dutch government had advised its national to leave occupied China unless they had important business there, and a dispatch from Shanghai said this report had been confirmed by the Dutch consulate there and that about 450 Dutch in north central China would probably be evacuated to the Dutch East Indies.
The United States Embassy here yesterday assured the Japanese government of the safety of Japanese ships entering United States ports and guaranteed they would be given fuel for their return trips, but warned that cargoes would be subject to civil proceedings.
Repatriation considered
Ishii said if American ships called at Japan, they would be treated the same way Japanese ships were treated in America. He said the repatriation of Japanese from the United States was difficult because there were so many of them, but that the question might become a subject for negotiations between Japan and the United States and that meanwhile, the resumption of shipping to the United States depended on whether it was economically profitable.
Dōmei, the semi-official news agency, said Communications Minister Shōzō Murata planned to set up a special department to charter all available Japanese ships.
Ishii said Japan had no thought of negotiating a joint defense agreement with Thailand. He asked why Britain was making military preparations in Malaya unless it had designs on Thailand.
Ishii said the United States is more severe than Great Britain in enforcing its monetary freezing regulations.
Newspapers avoided references to the warnings to Japan by British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull against occupying Thailand. A dispatch from Hanoi, quoting Rear Admiral Jean Decoux, Governor General of French Indochina, as denouncing the American and British attitude toward the Japanese-Indochinese defense pact, was prominently displayed in newspapers here.
Cabinet goes slow
For the moment, it was apparent, the attitude of the entire cabinet was to “go slow” and leave the way open for a general re-examination of the Empire’s relations with London and Washington in the hope some formula can be found which will result in relaxation of the stringent economic warfare against this country by the non-Axis powers.
Temporary measures have been taken to suppress any factor which might aggravate unnecessarily this country’s already strained relations, with Britain and the United States, informants said.
Japan took new defense measures including the establishment of a new air defense bureau to speed protection of cities and industries against bombings and also discontinued student exemptions from conscription.
Japanese women, children and men not in military service have been ordered to leave a vast stretch of western Manchukuo, reliable quarters reported from Shanghai today.
JAPS CONFISCATE CARGO OF OIL
Shanghai, Aug. 8 (UP) –
The oil cargo of the Standard Oil tanker Meiyo has been confiscated and turned over to customs authorities at Shanghai, a Japanese naval spokesman said today.
The Meiyo was seized by the Japanese several days ago and held for investigation. Today a naval spokesman said its oil cargo had been confiscated because it was destined for the Yangtze River port of Shinkong, which is in territory in which Chinese guerilla forces are active. The Shanghai customs, which are Japanese-controlled, will dispose of the cargo, it was understood. The tanker, a small vessel employed only in local trade, has already been returned to Standard Oil.
JAPANESE TROOPS TAKE NEW POSTS
Phnom Penh, French Indochina, Aug. 8 (UP) –
A stream of Japanese infantry, artillery and mechanized forces was said today to be arriving daily and moving west and southwest to new garrison points.
General Kabashi, commander of Japanese forces in Cambodia, established headquarters here.
Negotiations for opening of the frontier between Thailand and French Indochina were concluded and it was believed that normal traffic, which has been halted since Thai-Indochinese hostilities began, will be resumed soon.
Japanese Foreign Office (August 9, 1941)
[Secret]
From: Washington.
To: Tokyo.
9 August 1941 (Purple)
#674 (In 2 parts, complete).
Re your #465
Upon the President’s return to Washington (when this will be is unknown) I shall make arrangements to call on him and explain to him the subject contained in your message referred to above. I shall do everything in my power to make a favorable impression on the President on that occasion.
As I have pointed out in my various reports on this subject, I am convinced that as long as we proceed along the lines of our present policy, the United States, too, will undoubtedly undeviatingly follow the course whose trend has already been established. The United States assumes that our occupation of South French Indochina indicates that Japan has definitely set her course. On this point the President and the Secretary of State are in complete agreement and it would be a mistake to try to differentiate between their attitudes. I was made acutely aware of the firm attitude of the United States during my conversations of the 6th and the 8th.
In view of this situation, I greatly fear that even the offer of the Prime Minister to personally come here, would not move the United States to any perceptible degree. For this reason, I regret to have to say that I do not expect too much from the interview I plan to have with the President.
Unless we can draw up some plan by which we can persuade the United States to change its policy toward Japan, I can only feel pessimism for any attempts to break up the present critical situation.
Though I regret that I can report only dark clouds over the world from my distant vantage point, I submit these humble opinions to you for whatever value they may be.
20868
JD-1: 4465 (D) Navy Trans. 8-12-41 (2)
The Pittsburgh Press (August 9, 1941)
TOKYO SILENT ON U.S. WARNING OVER THAILAND
…
Japan believed still debating policy; break with Mexico seen
…
By Robert Bellaire, United Press staff writer
Tokyo, Aug. 9 –
Government quarters maintained silence today regarding United States and British warnings against a Japanese move into Thailand.
It was significant that the newspapers, excepting the ultra-nationalistic Kokumin, refrained from commenting editorially. That was believed to indicate the government is still debating its attitude.
The only government comment was the charge of Koh Ishii, chief of the Cabinet Information Board, that the United States, Britain, China and the Netherlands were attempting to encircle Japan.
Expect no Jap statement
Certain well-informed quarters said, however, it was unlikely that any statement of policy would be made. They pointed out that Japan has repeatedly signified a peaceful attitude toward Thailand.
Kokumin said insinuation by Cordell Hull of the U.S. and Anthony Eden of Britain that Japan is threatening Thailand’s independence are:
…too serious a matter to be ignored in silence.
The newspaper urged the government to:
…break the silence and torpedo Anglo-American false propaganda.
Mexico breaks with Japs?
In a dispatch from New York, Asahi quoted “authentic sources” as saying that Mexico had decided to terminate its long and friendly relations with Japan.
The dispatch said the Mexican government is becoming a puppet of the U.S. and assured that a diplomatic break would result from President Manuel Ávila Camacho’s complete pro-United States policy.
Sydney, Australia, Aug. 9 –
Gotō Gotō, new Japanese consul, said on his arrival today that he would not have been sent if Japan believed war was imminent in the Pacific. He arrived from Yokohama aboard the Japanese liner Kasima Maru.