793.94/15765
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton)
Pursuant to a request made of the Secretary by Senator George that the Department send representatives to appear before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations of which Senator George is Chairman to consider S. Con. Res. 36 declaring a state of war to exist between Japan and China, introduced by Senator Gillette, Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton this morning attended the meeting of the subcommittee. (Judge Moore would have attended, but he had a previous commitment which prevented his doing so.) The subcommittee was composed of Senator George (Chairman), Senator Van Nuys of Indiana, and Senator Johnson of California. The subcommittee delayed opening its meeting until Senator Gillette, the author of the proposed resolution, had arrived.
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Senator Johnson asked a number of questions, the most important of which are indicated as follows:
Senator Johnson referred to the Manchuria situation and asked whether, due to Sir John Simon’s75 unwillingness to go along with Mr. Stimson76 in Mr. Stimson’s policy, Mr. Stimson had not later “found himself out on a limb”. Mr. Hornbeck commented briefly in regard to the course of American policy in the Far East and the course of British policy in the Far East in 1931–32 and said that he would like at some time to take an hour or two to talk with Senator Johnson on matters relating to the question which Senator Johnson had asked. Mr. Hornbeck pointed out that there was no simple and brief answer to many of the aspects of the situation.
Senator Johnson asked whether Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton believed that there was now in existence a secret agreement in regard to the Far East between Japan and Great Britain. Mr. Hornbeck replied that for his part he did not believe that there was in existence any such agreement or under negotiation at the present time any such [Page 291] agreement. He said that he realized, always, that he might be mistaken and that he agreed with Senator Johnson that the situation should be closely watched. Mr. Hornbeck referred to the fact that just as there are in this country people who advocate this country’s “making friends” with Japan and doing nothing which would antagonize Japan, so there are in Great Britain certain persons in “Tory” circles, not so numerous now as at some times in the past, who constantly advocate a rapprochement between Japan and Great Britain. In reply to a further question by Senator Johnson whether we had knowledge of any present disposition on the part of the British to take action directed toward effecting a rapprochement between Great Britain and Japan, Mr. Hornbeck said that we from time to time see published statements by private individuals advocating such a course. Senator Johnson asked whether we had any knowledge of an agreement in reference to the Pacific relating to the use of American and British navies in that area. Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton replied in the negative. Senator Johnson asked whether it was possible that certain officials in the State Department might have information and this information be not made available to or be not known to Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Hornbeck replied that such a situation is possible, but that he knew that Secretary Hull wished that Mr. Hamilton and he be thoroughly informed in regard to Far Eastern matters and that we know of no instance in which any telegram, no matter how confidential, relating to Far Eastern matters, has for any length of time been kept from Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Hornbeck added that he was confident that had any information come to the Secretary of State that a secret agreement was actually in effect between Great Britain and Japan, the Secretary would promptly have communicated that information to Mr. Hamilton and to him.
Senator George then referred to S. Con. Res. 36 and asked whether Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton had any statement which they felt they might properly make in supplement to the statements contained in the Secretary’s letter of February 2, 1940, to Senator Pittman.
Mr. Hornbeck recapitulated the statement made in the Secretary’s letter and said that he thought that the members of the subcommittee might be interested in a memorandum prepared by the Division of Controls under date February 20 on the subject “Some Effects of the Application of the Neutrality Act to the Far Eastern Conflict”. Mr. Hornbeck thereupon read aloud the memorandum (attached).77 Mr. Hornbeck added a brief statement to the effect that from the outset of hostilities in the Far East it had been the view of the Department [Page 292] that application to the hostilities in the Far East of current neutrality acts would complicate and render more difficult the problem of extending protection to American citizens and the interests of the United States. Mr. Hornbeck said that that continued to be the view of the Department of State. He said that, neither Japan nor China having declared war, a declaration by the United States that there exists between Japan and China a state of war would have the effect of causing this country to accord to Japan and China the rights of belligerents without there being imposed on Japan and China any corresponding obligation to accord the United States the rights of a neutral.
Senator Johnson asked several questions relating to whether the export of scrap iron from the United States to Japan could be prohibited by application of the present neutrality act to the hostilities in the Far East. He also asked a number of questions relating to moral embargoes. Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton answered those questions.
In further discussion of one of the questions asked by Senator Johnson in regard to the possibility that Japan and Great Britain might have concluded an agreement relating to the Far East, mention was made of the agreement concluded between the British Ambassador at Tokyo and the Japanese Foreign Minister in reference to the Tientsin situation.78 It was pointed out that this agreement was couched in very general terms and that it was open to the interpretation that Great Britain had recognized in those parts of China occupied by Japanese military forces the rights in Japan’s favor pertaining under international law to military occupancy. Senator Johnson was informed that this agreement was a matter of public knowledge and that the text thereof had been published in the press. (See New York Times, July 25, 1939.)
The members of the subcommittee and Senator Gillette offered no further questions; the Senators present thanked Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton for their testimony; and Mr. Hornbeck and Mr. Hamilton departed.