711.94/217811/18
Statement by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) to the Japanese Minister (Wakasugi) on July 17, 1941
In view of the impression received from the Ambassador and Mr. Wakasugi that the Oral Statement of June 21 has been misunderstood by the Japanese Government and may therefore be a source of embarrassment, the Secretary has authorized me to accept from you the Oral Statement which he handed the Ambassador on June 21. In so doing we are mindful of the fact that the document of June 21 is not in itself an official communication but is simply a record of a statement made orally, of the statements which we have made to the Japanese Ambassador and to you in exposition of the real meaning and purport of the Oral Statement, and of the Ambassador’s statement that he understands what the Secretary had in mind in the Oral Statement. This Government is seeking and is hoping to find in the attitude, utterances and acts of the Japanese Government as a whole that the Japanese Government desires and is endeavoring to follow courses of peace and rely upon methods of peace. It is the broad general question of the attitude of the Japanese Government as a whole, as manifested in utterances and acts, that necessarily concerns this Government and regarding which light is being sought.