894.00/814: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 29—9:45 a.m.]
635. 1. A high Japanese official has confirmed to us a report that the Minister for Foreign Affairs this afternoon submitted his resignation and is now awaiting decision by the Emperor.
2. The Committee of five Cabinet Ministers has been engaged in discussing the proposed organization of the board in which is to be centered direction of relations with and interests in China, and difficulty arose between the Foreign Office and the army over the insistence of the former that the China Board be placed under the effective jurisdiction of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. As censorship has been placed on this matter, further reliable details are difficult to obtain at this time.
3. A reasonable conjecture is that the action of Ugaki may be a maneuver to obtain the Emperor’s decision in the current controversy between the army and the Foreign Office.