Office of the Historian

693.001/449: Telegram

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

Tokyo, December 31, 1938—noon.
[Received December 31—12:55 a.m.]

816. Your 430, December 29, 4 p.m.59 Decoding telegram and preparation note completed late last evening when all Foreign Office officials had dispersed. In fact we were unexpectedly informed that the Foreign Office had closed for the holidays on December 28 and that the Foreign Minister had already left town.

However, I managed to see the Vice Minister at his residence at 11:30 this morning and presented our note No. 1153, dated December 30 addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs60 embodying the Department’s precise text. I asked the Vice Minister to regard the note as having been presented to the Minister for Foreign Affairs himself. I also informed him of the desirability of making the text of the note public in the United States at the first opportunity and of the reasons for such publicity.

Sawada said that the note would be handed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the earliest moment, probably tomorrow. He made no further comment.

Grew
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 820.↩