Office of the Historian

893.102 Tientsin/274: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State

London, June 19, 1939—7 p.m.
[Received June 19—1:30 p.m.]

854. Talked with Halifax74 after our conversation. He told me he was sending Craigie in to see the Japanese authorities tomorrow morning [Page 186] to urge them to try to come to some verbal settlement of the whole problem. He hopes if there is any indication on the part of the Japanese to consider this kind of settlement, we will use our influence to further it.

I do not know whether I made clear to you that this course of action is the result of the naval authorities having told Halifax and the Prime Minister75 this morning that they can spare no ships in the event of trouble. Therefore the only alternative is to try to wriggle out and save face.

Kennedy
  1. Viscount Halifax, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩
  2. Neville Chamberlain.↩