Office of the Historian

740.00/1249: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, May 1, 1939—6 p.m.
[Received May 1—9:49 a.m.]

208. 1. The Foreign Office spokesman issued today a statement of which the following is our translation:

“In an extended speech Chancellor Hitler has eloquently made manifest to the world the firm and unshakeable attitude of the German Reich. We entirely associate ourselves with his complete denial in a few words of the right of the United States and Great Britain to interfere in international affairs of which he cited, as examples, British policy in Palestine and American policy in Central and South America.

To this end countries which imagine themselves to be the strongest countries in the world have unreasonably tried to regulate the world’s affairs by process of centralization of authority. They have manipulated a robot institution from behind the scenes and they have given vent to their selfish desires. But there is an invisible spirit more lofty than anything else which commands us to set up machinery by which political authority would be decentralized. It is only under the aegis [Page 164] of such machinery that the world can through progress, prosperity and fellowship proceed smoothly toward welding itself into one body and bring about universal and lasting peace.

Further, Chancellor Hitler proclaimed the establishment of the closest relations among Japan, Germany and Italy. The Anti-Comintern Pact was originally concluded by Japan and Germany,59 it was later adhered to by Italy,60 and it then became one of the great world forces. There is now no doubt that with the subsequent adherence of Manchukuo, Hungary and Spain, ours is now a strong camp.”

2. The meaning of this extraordinary juxtaposition of words is not clear. We believe that it was deliberately intended to be obscure but we desire to reserve comment.

Grew
  1. Signed November 25, 1936, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 153. For text of the secret agreement, see Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, Series D, vol. i, p. 734, footnote 2a.↩
  2. Protocol of November 6, 1937, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 159.↩