811.20 Defense (Requisitions)/34
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Controls (Green)
Mr. Morito Morishima, Counselor, Japanese Embassy, called at my office this afternoon by appointment. He referred to our conversation of June 393 in regard to the order stated to have been given by Customs Officers in New York to Japanese companies not to load for exportation, for the present, machine tools, machinery, airplane engines, or electrical equipment. He asked me whether I had as yet obtained any information as to the legal authority for this action.
I told Mr. Morishima that the action had been taken in order to enable this Government to obtain full information in regard to proposed exportation of certain articles in order that it might act expeditiously and efficiently the moment Section 6 of the defense bill now pending in the Senate became law. In my further comments I followed, more or less, the explanation of the matter contained in the Department’s No. 179 of June 4 ten p.m., to the Ambassador, Tokyo, emphasizing strongly the determination of this country to take all necessary steps to carry out a tremendous rearmament program and pointing out that the adoption of this program was due to the action of other powers which were engaged in attempts to subjugate their neighbors.
Mr. Morishima made no further reference to the legal question which was the ostensible motive of his call.
- Memorandum of conversation not printed.↩