893.74/825
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Johnson)
The Japanese Ambassador came to see me this morning at 10:30, at my request. I explained to him that the Secretary being very much occupied had been unable to see him in order to communicate to him the reply which the Radio Corporation had made to the Secretary’s letter concerning the conversation which the Secretary had with the Japanese Ambassador on April 4. I stated that the Secretary had asked me to explain the situation to the Ambassador and that I desired to do so, and I then read to him from General Harbord’s letter in the sense of the summary hereto attached, copy of which I am giving to the Ambassador.49
I added that the Secretary desired to make clear to the Ambassador that the Radio Corporation of America is a company organized for the profitable operation of radio and that this Government was not in a position to compel it to accept conditions which it did not feel [Page 569] were profitable to it; that the company sincerely felt that the proposition made by Mr. Debuchi was not one which it could accept with profit to themselves. I reminded the Ambassador that in the conversation which he had with the Secretary on April 4, it was conceded that it would be very difficult for anyone to reach any substantial conclusions with the Chinese Government under present conditions in China. The Ambassador said that it was quite true there was no government with which anyone could negotiate for the purpose of reaching any agreement with regard to loans at the present time.
The Ambassador said that he would study the statements made by the Radio Corporation as he felt that perhaps there might be some misunderstanding involved in the matter.
- Summary not printed; see text of letter, supra. ↩