Office of the Historian

711.94/2182a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)20

Washington, August 18, 1941—8 p.m.

3208. From the President for Churchill. “With reference to our discussions in regard to the situation in the Far East, upon my return to Washington I learned that the Japanese Ambassador had on August 16 approached the Secretary of State21 with a request for a resumption of the informal conversations which the Ambassador and the Secretary of State had been holding directed toward exploring the possibility of reaching a basis for negotiations in regard to a peaceful settlement in the Pacific area and that the Secretary of State had in reply confined himself to repeating what he had previously said in regard to the developments in Japan’s course of conquest which had led to the cessation of those conversations.

On August 17 I sent for the Japanese Ambassador, and the Secretary of State and I received him. I made to him a statement covering the position of this Government with respect to the taking by Japan of further steps in the direction of military domination by force along the lines of the proposed statement such as you and I had discussed. The statement I made to him was no less vigorous than and was substantially similar to the statement we had discussed.

The Ambassador renewed the request made by him to the Secretary of State in regard to the resumption of conversations. I replied by reviewing the Japanese Government’s action in actively pursuing a course of conquest and in inspiring the Japanese press to attack this Government. I dwelt on the principles of peaceful, lawful and just international relations which this Government has emphasized and I suggested that if the Japanese Government is prepared to readjust its position and embark upon a peaceful program this Government would be prepared to resume the exploratory conversations and that before undertaking the resumption of those conversations we felt that it would be helpful to have a clear statement of the Japanese Government’s attitude and plans.

The Japanese Ambassador said that he would communicate what I had told him to his Government. Roosevelt.”

Hull
  1. The Secretary of State on August 18 submitted the draft of this telegram to President Roosevelt for approval and received a reply: “OK FDR”.↩
  2. See memorandum by the Secretary of State, August 16, 1941, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 553.↩