Office of the Historian

740.0011 P. W./891: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

Tokyo, December 8, 1941—1 p.m.
[Received December 10—6:23 a.m.]

1910. Embassy’s 1906, December 8, 1 a.m.

1.
The Foreign Minister at 7 o’clock this morning asked me to call on him at his official residence.
2.
He handed me a 13-page Memorandum, dated today,14 which he said had been transmitted to the Japanese Ambassador in Washington to present to you this morning (evening of December 7th, Washington time). He said that he had already been in touch with the Emperor who desired that the aforesaid Memorandum be regarded as his reply to the President’s message.
3.
The Foreign Minister thereupon made to me the following oral statement:

“His Majesty has expressed his gratefulness and appreciation for the cordial message of the President. He has graciously let known his wishes to the Foreign Minister to convey the following to the President as a reply to the latter’s message:

Some days ago, the President made inquiries regarding the circumstances of the augmentation of Japanese forces in French Indochina15 to which His Majesty has directed the Government to reply. Withdrawal of Japanese forces from French Indochina constitutes one of the subject matters of the Japanese-American negotiations. His Majesty has commanded the Government to state its views to the American Government also on this question. It is, therefore, desired that the President will kindly refer to this reply.

Establishment of peace in the Pacific, and consequently of the world, has been the cherished desire of His Majesty for the realization of which he has hitherto made his Government to continue its earnest endeavors. His Majesty trusts that the President is fully aware of this fact.”

Grew
  1. See Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 787.↩
  2. See memorandum of December 2, 1941, ibid., p. 778.↩