711.94/22443/11
Memorandum of a Conversation
The Japanese Ambassador called upon the Secretary at the Secretary’s apartment by appointment made at the Ambassador’s request.76
[Page 547]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.77 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”.78
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 [Page 548] 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 proposalof 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.