860D.00/1033: Telegram
The Chargé in Finland (McClintock) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:47 p.m.]
1287. Department’s 243, December 24, and my 1274, December 28.14 Chief of Political Section of Foreign Office asked me to call this afternoon. He said that he had just received our news bulletin 293, December 21, with paragraph entitled “Americans resent Finnish attitude toward Pearl Harbor attack.” I am sending text of this paragraph in clear.
Ivalo said he had been instructed to raise this matter with me apparently with a view to protesting its appearance in our bulletin. I told him that in the words of President Roosevelt,15 Pearl Harbor was a deed which would live in the annals of infamy and that no recent incident had more aroused American popular indignation so far as Finland was concerned. Ivalo then more or less summarized statement of Finnish Legation of December 24 making point that Finnish officials could not well decline invitations from foreign legations, that Finland had maintained equally friendly relations both with Washington and Tokyo and that Rangell had not congratulated Japanese Minister on Pearl Harbor although he and others had used the usual “phrases de courtoisie”, as Ivalo put it. He said Witting did not stay to see film. His own impression on going to Japanese Legation had been that this was merely a Japanese national holiday.
I remarked that people in his own Protocol Section knew very well what the Japanese national holiday was and that it was even printed in Foreign Office’s own diplomatic list. I said that certainly any American seeing an invitation from Japanese Legation dated December 8 which, in Tokyo time was date of Pearl Harbor attack, could not fail to connect such invitation with Pearl Harbor. Finns were indeed free to accept such invitations as they wished and to offer such congratulations as occurred to them but to an American “Pearl Harbor” was fighting words and Americans, in fact, were angry at this gaff. Ivalo remarked that perhaps the Japanese Minister had made a gaff. [Page 122] I replied that I was glad to have his explanations and hoped that he would understand in light of my explanations how American people felt about this Japanese tea party.
Ivalo made point he has referred to in previous conversations of Finland’s complete neutrality in Pacific war. He even went so far as to assert that 80 percent of news in Finnish papers concerning Pacific war was of American origin. I said I could not at all accept this statement as Legation had made very careful study of this point and on contrary, I had definite impression that any Japanese victory appeared on front page in big black type and any American victory on back page in very small type. This pointed indeed to Department’s decision on whole problem of providing Finland with accurate information of American war effort.
I informed Ivalo that at all events he would no longer be troubled with news bulletins of American Legation as they had been stopped. He said he had received several telegrams from Finnish Legation in Washington on this subject but had not seen text of your note of December 2316 and professed to be puzzled as to exact situation. I informed him in sense of your 240 and offered to send him text of your note which I am doing this afternoon. Ivalo also said he had not known that Finnish Legation had issued communiqué to press in terms of your 243 and I volunteered to give him paraphrase.
In closing interview, Ivalo said he hoped that we would show motion pictures and said without doubt Mr. Rangell would accept.