Office of the Historian

851.85/429: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Leahy)

Washington, January 31, 1942—3 p.m.

65. Information has reached this Government to the effect that the French authorities are under severe pressure by the Japanese to permit the use of French merchant vessels in Indochina by the Japanese for military purposes. It is understood that the negotiations are already in an advanced stage.

[Page 672]

You are requested urgently to take this matter up with Marshal Pétain46 and to point out that any agreement by the French authorities which would permit the use of French vessels by the Japanese forces would be a most unfriendly act. Immediate action is necessary if the agreement is not to be concluded.

Please report immediately the results of your representations.

Hull
  1. Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, French Chief of State.↩