File No. 861.00/1969
The Secretary of State to the Japanese Ambassador (Ishii)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have received your letter of May 4, 1918, and am indebted to you for bringing to my attention the statement of Ambassador Francis, published in the Official Bulletin of April 18, 1918, in regard to the landing of Japanese forces at Vladivostok.
The Ambassador’s statement was undoubtedly prompted by the discovery that the importance of the landing was being magnified in Russia and the action of the Japanese and British Admirals being used there to the prejudice of the powers at war with Germany, who were apparently being represented as beginning an intervention in Russian affairs by a concerted military movement in Siberia. Knowing that this was not true, he seems to have felt called upon to correct such misinterpretation of the incident, but while immediate action was needed to check the propaganda of the enemy, it was impossible at the time for the Ambassador to have received a complete account of the circumstances attending the landing.
I shall be glad to acquaint him with the facts as stated in your letter under acknowledgment and also to inform the Committee on Public Information so that a more accurate account of the incident may be published.
I am [etc.]