793.94/16844
Memorandum by Mr. Alger Hiss, Assistant to the Adviser on political Relations (Hornbeck)
[Washington,] September 4, 1941.
In the attached confidential memorandum of July 14, 1941,79 Dr. Leighton Stuart, of Peiping, makes statements of fact and estimates of the situation as follows:80
- 1.
- “… Last October Mr. Matsuoka, with permission from an Imperial Conference, and in a handwritten letter proposed to General Chiang the withdrawal of troops within a year or, if this were too long a period, six months. This was the first official approach, although there have been many informal attempts both before and [Page 423] since. Its rejection by General Chiang was very disconcerting to Mr. Matsuoka. …”
- 2.
- There is “only the remotest danger of war” between Japan and the United States. American pressure can be effective now as never before—in the form of aid to China and of increasingly stringent blockade measures. “… Japan cannot carry on very much longer”. Informed Chinese in touch with the Japanese believe that if the United States will give more prompt and effective assistance there should be “a speedy ending of the war on terms acceptable to China and to the United States”.