711.94/20056/14a
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt 38
Referring to the call which the Japanese Ambassador is to make on you this afternoon, suggestions are offered as follows:
1. Should the Ambassador bring up the question of Mr. Matsuoka’s visiting the United States, you might comment to this effect: “We [Page 76] of course welcome visits to this country by persons occupying responsible positions in other countries. Visits at the present time by any such persons may be especially informative both to them and to us, in view of the current complexity of problems of international relations and of the tremendous changes which have occurred in the United States during recent months. If Mr. Matsuoka chooses to visit this country while proceeding from Europe to Japan, he will of course be welcomed.”
2. Should the Ambassador mention his compatriots who are here and who apparently desire to have this Government enter into discussions with them on the question of improving relations between Japan and the United States, you may care to say—as I did to the Ambassador on March 8—that you very much appreciate the purpose of the Ambassador’s compatriots and that of course officials of this Government charged with the conduct of foreign relations could not confer with them individually in regard to matters pending between our two Governments unless the Japanese Ambassador should assume the responsibility and the initiative to that end.
3. Occasion or opportunity may develop, in the course of the conversation, of which you might care to take advantage for the offering of observations on lines as follows:
In view of Japan’s membership in the tripartite alliance with Germany and Italy, there arises question whether Japan has retained freedom of action and whether her actions will so demonstrate, or whether Japan has committed herself in alliance with Germany to oppose the things—principles, policies and objectives—to the support of which this country is habituated and is committed. Can the military groups in control of the Japanese Government expect important countries like the United States to maintain silence and remain inactive while two or three nations engage in tremendous programs of military and naval expansion and move toward conquest of the rest of the earth? As long as Hitler continues his avowed course of unlimited conquest and tyrannical rule and as long as the Japanese army and navy extend their occupation by force of other and distant areas on both land and sea, the apprehensions and the concern of this country will be very real and our reactions be increasingly realistic. This country is proceeding with a program of rearmament with ever increasing speed and effectiveness, and our national effort, directed in no way toward any program of aggression, is more and more being concentrated upon the problem of perfecting our defense and supporting the resistance of other nations to movements of conquest. We wish to be friends, we are ready to be friends, with every nation in the world—but in our concept real friendship and real cooperation can prevail only between and among nations each and all of which want peace and security for all.
- Notation by the Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck): “Secretary of State to President—by hand—III—14—41.” Memorandum drafted by Messrs. Hamilton and Hornbeck.↩