711.94/217812/18
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton) to the Acting Secretary of State
Mr. Welles: After you had finished talking with the Secretary today, he talked for a few minutes with me.
With regard to the question of my conveying a further message to the Japanese Ambassador to the effect that everything that was being said and done in Japan during the last few weeks represented a marked departure from the spirit and the subject matter of what the Japanese Ambassador here has proposed and what has been discussed between the Ambassador and the Secretary, I said that my preliminary reaction was that such action at this particular time would probably not accomplish any useful purpose and that it seemed to me that there was no action which we might usefully take at least for another day or two. The Secretary seemed content to let this matter rest.
The Secretary asked that I convey to you statements which he made as follows: In the light of all the unfavorable things that are bubbling up in Tokyo and in the light of Pétain’s remark,37 we are likely to see Japan break forth on a general program, not a piecemeal program; we are likely to see Hitler go through Spain and take Gibraltar; we are likely to see France come out with a full-fledged alliance with Germany. The Secretary thought that these were definite possibilities to be kept in mind; that we should not allow ourselves to get in a position of being surprised by such developments; and that it would be well to get these possibilities before the Army and the Navy and the President.
- See telegram No. 888, July 16, 5 p.m., from the Ambassador in France, vol. v, p. 213.↩