740.0011 P. W./337: Telegram
The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 27—2:45 p.m.]
1104. Embassy’s 1052, July 23, noon,42 paragraph numbered 3. It is significant that in my recent talks with the new Foreign Minister [Page 1012] the only thing that has made him really angry has been any allusions on my part to the belief in the United States that Japan’s present policies were the result of German pressure or that Germany now exercises any influence on Japan. It is generally known in official circles that Matsuoka telegraphed to Ribbentrop some 48 hours before Germany’s attack on Soviet Russia to ask if there were any truth in the rumors of such an impending attack and that he received from Ribbentrop a categorical denial. Matsuoka in fact confirmed this story to my Turkish colleague.