811.20 (D) Regulations/530
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Japanese Ambassador called to see me this morning at his request.
The Ambassador took out of his pocket a typewritten memorandum of which he read to me the last two paragraphs, but read them in such a way that it was impossible for me to obtain any very clear impression of the contents of this communication other than to know that in the final paragraph, the Japanese Government undertook to protest because of the announcement made that licenses would not [Page 596] be issued for the exportation of aviation gasoline except to the other nations of the Western Hemisphere.29
After I had read the communication,30 the Ambassador added that the steps so taken by the Government of the United States had created a very unfortunate reaction in Japan.
I said to the Ambassador that in our previous conversation on this subject,31 I had made it very clear that the Government of the United States was the sole power to determine what the national defense requirements of the American people were and that this was a subject which this Government would not agree to discuss with any foreign power, no matter how friendly. I stated that I would not comment further upon the communication which the Ambassador had handed to me, but that a reply to it would be forthcoming and that as soon as the nature of this reply had been determined, I would request the Ambassador to come in again to see me.32
The Ambassador seemed to be decidedly embarrassed and ill at ease. He asked if I did not agree that it would be better for him not to tell the press correspondents of the nature of the communication he had handed to me. I said that, in my judgment, under present conditions the less ventilation and airing of questions of disagreement between the two nations which was undertaken, the better it would be for the relations between the two countries, and that I believed if the two Governments sincerely desired to improve relations, it would be far more advantageous to try to work out an understanding of their common problems and of the complaints which each had to make with regard to the other in a quiet and not in a public manner.
- See press release issued by the White House, July 31, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 218.↩
- For the Japanese Embassy’s communication of August 3, see ibid.↩
- See memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State, July 26, p. 589.↩
- For the Department’s reply dated August 9, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 219.↩