793.94/7835: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)
82. 1. Under date April 6 the American Ambassador at London telegraphs as follows:
“In a casual luncheon conversation today a Foreign Office official intimated that they had received somewhat disturbing reports in the last few days from China, that it was possible that the Chinese were [Page 107] reaching a point where ‘they might do something foolish’. He said that ‘Chiang Kai Shek had to decide whether he would take the course of wisdom which was to effect a compromise with the Japanese or take on the role of national hero in leading a fruitless drive against the Japanese’.”
2. In the absence of identification of the parties to the conversation the Department is not inclined, in the light of your reports and other data, to attach undue importance to the statement made in the first sentence quoted above but brings London’s telegram to your attention for purposes of information and in order that you may have the indication contained in the last quoted sentence of the trend of thought in some British circles.