793.94/16074

Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)

Upon receipt of the Department’s instructions this afternoon (Department’s 202, June 14, 7 p.m.)26 I immediately sought an appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Minister sent me word that he was occupied and asked me to see the Vice Minister. I replied that my instructions were definitely to see the Minister himself but the reply came that Mr. Arita was engaged in urgent affairs of state and that he could not see me until tomorrow. In view of the urgency of the matter I therefore called at 5:30 this afternoon on the Vice Minister and after reading and handing to him my informal note27 drafted in accordance with the Department’s instructions I requested that he bring both the note and my oral representations immediately to the attention of the Minister. This Mr. Tani promised to do.

In the course of the oral representations I repeated what had been said yesterday to the Minister with regard to the attitude of the Government of the United States toward ruthless bombings of civilian populations and spoke of the indiscriminate character of the bombings of Chungking that have heretofore taken place and of their net results as reported by Ambassador Johnson from personal observation, involving the killing of large numbers of civilians without attaining any legitimate military objective. The grave hazards to the lives of American citizens and to the safety of American property were then set forth and the deplorable effect on American public opinion and on relations between the United States and Japan in the event of the injuring or killing of American nationals by Japanese bombing operations was represented and emphasized with all possible vigor and gravity.

The Vice Minister said that as I was communicating a message to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the latter would convey his reply to me in due course.

  1. Not printed.
  2. Infra.