711.94/1525a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
191. In the press conference on June 8 the Under Secretary, in reply to an inquiry as to whether there might be efforts under way to improve our relations with Japan, said that, as the correspondents knew, there had been continued conversations over a period of many months with regard to matters in which American nationals and this Government were interested, but that he had nothing particular in mind at the present moment. The correspondent mentioned a recent editorial in the New York Daily News and a column by Walter Lippmann declaring that this might be an opportune time for friendlier relations with Japan, and press reports of June 8 from Shanghai intimating that Japan was interested in the same question. The Under Secretary answered that he had seen a great many articles of this kind. He said that this Government was always anxious to maintain and create the most friendly relations with all countries, provided of [Page 67] course that conditions and the policies of the other countries made it possible. Asked whether he was more hopeful of this being possible with regard to Japan at the present time, the Under Secretary said that we were always hopeful.