Office of the Historian

793.94/2792: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Forbes) to the Secretary of State

[Paraphrase]
Tokyo, November 20, 1931—6 p.m.
[Received November 20—9:40 a.m.]

229. Department’s 235, November 19, 3 p.m. The Embassy has forwarded to the Department all the authentic information which was obtainable. It has been rumored that Premier Wakatsuki, Baron Shidehara, Count Makino, Ikki,62 and Inouye were marked for assassination. What information was available locally regarding the alleged plot was reported in the Embassy’s 191, October 21, 11 a.m., and despatch No. 382, November 7,63 while the present state of affairs was indicated in the Embassy’s 209, November 6, 3 p.m., final paragraph.64

[Page 514]

The Government of Japan is a most complicated machine which is almost impossible for any one element to control. The deaths of Premiers Hara and Hamaguchi are recent examples of political assassination, which is not unknown in Japan. The divided control of Government agencies in this country is discussed at some length in despatch No. 383, November 7.65 When there is political excitement in Japan, plots and attempts to assassinate leading officials are apt to take place. The present plot appears to have been frustrated, though some public excitement still persists and rumors constantly appear to the effect that the Government will be changed. (See my 223, November 18, 6 p.m.) I shall try to obtain more information, if possible, and to develop in a subsequent telegram the situation in more detail.

Forbes
  1. Japanese Minister of Imperial Household Department.↩
  2. Neither printed.↩
  3. Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 38.↩
  4. Not printed.↩