711.94/25944/8
Statement Handed by the First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy (Terasaki) to Mr. Joseph W. Ballantine on December 2, 1941
The so-called speech of Premier Hideki Tojo was originally drafted by members of the office staff of the East Asia Restoration League, a non-governmental organization of which Mr. Tojo happens to be President, as a congratulatory address to be delivered on November 30, on the occasion commemorating the first anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty Concerning the Basic Relations between Japan and China,68a under the auspices of the said League.
However, November 30 happened to be Sunday; the League staff gave out the manuscript to the newspaper reporters upon their request on the night of November 29 (Saturday), before the said draft was examined by either the Premier himself or other Government officials, and this unapproved manuscript was printed in the metropolitan newspapers.
As a matter of fact, the Premier himself made no speech of any kind on the 30th. Moreover, neither the Premier nor other government authorities had any knowledge as to the content of the said speech.
It should further be noted that the reported statement “For the honor and pride of mankind we must purge this sort of practice from East Asia with a vengeance” is a mistranslation of the original text. There is, in the original text, no such expression as “purge” or “with a vengeance.” The correct translation of the statement should be “For the honor and pride of mankind, this sort of practice must be removed.”