711.94/2305: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3 p.m.]
1493. For the Secretary and the Under Secretary only. I wish to make clear to you the circumstances in which the Prime Minister indicated to me that he would communicate to me the Japanese peace terms and the developments, so far as I am aware, arising from that initiative, as follows:47
On September 17, Mr. Ushiba, the Prime Minister’s private secretary, called on the Counselor and, presumably speaking with the approval of his chief, said that the American Government could not be blamed for withholding any decision with regard to the proposed meeting of heads of governments until it had knowledge of the Japanese terms, which, after all, were the crux of the entire problem. He said that he would ask the Prime Minister whether he would not communicate them to me. The next day Mr. Ushiba informed me that the Prime Minister would send me the terms in one or two days. Yesterday he said that there was being prepared a statement of “much wider scope” which would be delivered to me through official channels.
A contact in whom I have complete confidence informed me this morning that the Cabinet, at its meeting yesterday morning, formulated the basic terms of a statement for communication to our Government, that these terms were presented yesterday afternoon to the Emperor by the Foreign Minister and that the definitive statement is now being drafted and will be handed to me as soon as completed. The contact further said that this statement would contain the maximum information which would be given by Japan with regard to its policies and objectives in advance of the proposed meeting of the heads of Governments, that more could not be disclosed for fear of leakage of information but that the Prime Minister would be prepared to present directly and personally to the President further clarification and definition of Japan’s policies and objectives.
I understand that the hitch in the Prime Minister’s plan to send me the peace terms was caused by feeling in the Foreign Office that, as the Japanese Government has already demonstrated its willingness to put its cards on the table, the terms should not be disclosed without specific request by United States. I am therefore regarding with reserve the assurance (which was categorical) that a statement of the character above indicated is being drafted and would be handed to me either today or tomorrow.
- See also memorandum by the Counselor of Embassy in Japan, September 18, 1941, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 626.↩