Office of the Historian

751G.92/233: Telegram

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

Washington, February 3, 1941—8 p.m.

76. The Department is sending you in a separate telegram74 excerpts from editorial opinion in the American press in regard to Japanese mediation in the dispute between French Indochina and Thailand.

The Department desires that, unless you perceive objection, you seek an early occasion to read or narrate to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as a matter of information, those excerpts, or the substance of them, and say to him by way of comment that, irrespective of whether the editorial opinion thus indicated is well founded, it accurately reflects the trend of public opinion which is freely formulated and in no way “inspired” in the United States in regard to the situation under reference. You might add that this Government earnestly hopes that any terms of settlement that may result from Japan’s mediation in the controversy between Thailand and French Indochina will clearly show that the adversely critical opinions expressed in the editorial comment have not been in fact well founded. [Page 55] You might invite attention to my statement of principles of July 16, 1937.75

Hull
  1. No. 71, February 1, not printed.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 325. In his telegram No. 173, February 7, 4 p.m., Ambassador Grew informed the Department he had on that date carried out the Department’s instructions (751G.92/239).↩