Office of the Historian

711.94/24062/11

Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Joseph W. Ballantine62

[Washington,] October 3, 1941.

The Japanese Ambassador called at his request. He handed the Secretary the attached statement marked “oral”63 and stated that although the subject was a matter concerning which he was reluctant to trouble the Secretary, he had brought it personally to the attention of the Secretary because he had been expressly instructed by his Government to do so. He said that the Counselor of the Embassy, Mr. Iguchi, had been dealing with Mr. Acheson in regard to the matters discussed in the statement and that Mr. Acheson had been very considerate to Mr. Iguchi. The Secretary read the statement and replied that he would, of course, look into the matters mentioned in the statement [Page 892] given him by the Ambassador. He said that those matters were ones in which other Departments of this Government were concerned and interested; that he could not undertake to say offhand just what departments were concerned.

The Ambassador then took up another unrelated matter which is the subject of a separate memorandum.64

  1. Foreign Service Officer detailed to the Department on special consultation.↩
  2. Infra.↩
  3. Memorandum of October 3, 1941, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 661.↩