500.A15A5/327½
President Roosevelt to the Secretary of State
After reading the papers of the past three days, I am inclined to think that it would be well to tell Davis, confidentially, something to this effect:
“Now that the effect of denunciation by the Japanese has been made clear to Matsudaira by both the British and ourselves, we think you should do nothing further before December thirty-first, as a result [Page 391] of which the Japanese could use that as a reason or a partial reason for denunciation. In other words, we are in an excellent position at the present time. Even if it involves keeping the conversations going until December thirty-first, it is worthwhile to do it in order that the whole onus of denunciation can be placed on the Japanese without giving them any excuses.”
What do you think.