File No. 861.00/1955
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Russia (Francis)
Your 140, May 2, 6 p.m.1 The Department is considering carefully your suggestion as to intervention in Siberia and would be pleased to have you suggest in more concrete form a plan of action, taking into consideration the fact that the military forces to be employed would of necessity be almost wholly Japanese on account of the lack of shipping in the Pacific, which prevents our sending troops at present.
I would also be pleased to have your views as to the military advantage to be gained by an advance into Siberia which could not, on account of the great distances, extend much if any beyond Irkutsk, and also as to the effect upon the attitude of the people of European Russia if the Japanese entered Siberia with the approval and support of this country and the Allies.