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Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck)
In the course of an informal conversation casually begun during a small reception at the residence of Mr. Bullitt,46 yesterday, the Soviet Ambassador told me that he had received a personal letter from former Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Baron Shidehara, in which Shidehara told him that a war between Japan and the Soviet Union would be a “tragic crime”. The Ambassador went on to say that he had now reached the point where he was convinced that the Japanese do not at present intend to attack the Soviet Union this spring. He said that the Japanese had come to a realization that the Soviet Union is fully prepared to give a good account of herself in the event of war and that for that reason the Japanese do not wish to put the matter to a test.
- William C. Bullitt, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on leave in the United States.↩