711.945/1043: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Woods)
54. Department’s telegram No. 53, April 11, 6 p.m.45
The concluding paragraph of the Ambassador’s note read as follows:
“Relying upon the confidence you have been good enough to show me at all times, I have stated or rather repeated all this to you very candidly and in a most friendly spirit, for I realize, as I believe you do, the grave consequences which the enactment of the measure retaining that particular provision would inevitably bring upon the otherwise happy and mutually advantageous relations between our two countries”.
Detaching the phrase “grave consequences” from its context in which it manifestly conveys only an innocuous expression of the regret that would be felt in the event of any impairment of the happy relations between the two countries, a certain section of the press at once gave great prominence to these words as implying a threat, although it is manifest that this was not the intention.
In the discussion of the matter in the Senate yesterday this view of the Japanese note quite unexpectedly prevailed with the result that even those senators who had supported the Department’s view as to the desirability of retaining the Gentlemen’s Agreement withdrew their support, and the bill reported by the Senate Immigration Committee, making provision by which the present practice in regard to the Gentlemen’s Agreement could be continued, was defeated by a vote of 76 to 2. It now appears inevitable that the Senate will adopt in regard to this matter the provisions of the Johnson Bill passed by the House on April 12, which denies admission to immigrant aliens ineligible to citizenship.
Quotations representing the view of this matter upon which the Senate acted will be sent you in a later telegram.
- Not printed.↩