Office of the Historian

711.94/21788/18

Letter to the Postmaster General (Walker)85

undated

Mr. Walker: The suggestions made by our State Department re: troops, defense and economics have been incorporated in the understanding, as follows:

1.
(a) Under clause 2 of the China Terms no request is made for stationing troops.
(b) Withdrawal of troops is limited by a two-year period.
2.
“Defense” is covered in an accompanying letter.
3.
The principle of non-discrimination in economics is accepted without modification.

From the Japanese side, three other textual changes are suggested: (confer document).

Other points raised in the oral statement of the Secretary of State86 are responded to in an oral memorandum.87

If the Secretary of State could indicate to yourself that this document in its present form will now be acceptable to him, you could manage then to get the consent of the Japanese Ambassador (and the war in China would stop!)

The Japanese Ambassador must forward to his Government every item of correspondence, oral statements, etc., made by our State Department or submitted by himself. His own position is weakened when he obtains approval for successive changes which, later, are rejected by our State Department. If agreement on a text is now reached, with yourself continuing as intermediary, further misunderstanding will be avoided and Admiral Nomura will not repeatedly lose face.

  1. This letter apparently prepared by Father Drought. Notation on file copy: “Document forwarded to the Secretary of State’s office on July 11, 1941 from the Assistant to the Postmaster General who had telephoned earlier in the day that he was sending it.” Revised Japanese documents not printed, but see memorandum on changes, p. 311.↩
  2. June 21, 1941, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, Vol. ii, p. 485.↩
  3. Latter not printed.↩