894.011/10–2548
The Chairman of the Far Eastern Commission ( McCoy ) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas ( Saltzman )
Dear General: May I invite your attention to a commitment made by the Far Eastern Commission which obligates it to review the Japanese Constitution before May 7, 1949.
This commitment is contained in the FEC policy decision, Provisions for the Review of a New Japanese Constitution, passed October 17, 1946,1 the second paragraph of which reads:
“In order that the Japanese people may have an opportunity, after the new constitution goes into effect, to reconsider it in the light of the experience of its working, and in order that the Far Eastern Commission may satisfy itself that the constitution fulfills the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and other controlling documents, the Commission [Page 876] decides as a matter of policy that, not sooner than one year and not later than two years after it goes into effect, the situation with respect to the new constitution should be reviewed by the Diet. Without prejudice to the continuing jurisdiction of the Far Eastern Commission at any time, the Commission shall also review the constitution, within this same period. The Far Eastern Commission, in determining whether the Japanese constitution is an expression of the free will of the Japanese people, may require a referendum or some other appropriate procedure for ascertaining Japanese opinion with respect to the constitution.”
The Japanese Constitution went into effect on May 7, 1947. The period within which the Far Eastern Commission should review it therefore expires on May 7, 1949.
I do not propose to initiate this review in the Commission. Other members, however, may do so, since the subject has recently been under discussion by some of them, and the Commission has a standing committee on the Japanese Constitution. The leaders of the two Houses of the Diet, also, according to press reports, have recently agreed to appoint a joint committee to study the Constitution with a view to its possible revision.
Since it is probable that proposals for the amendment of the Japanese Constitution may shortly be made within the Diet or by members of the Commission, and thus become a subject of discussion in the Commission, it would appear to be in the interest of the United States to be prepared to state its views on any such proposals. Our Government itself may decide to suggest amendments of its own to the Japanese Constitution.
In view of this obligation on the Far Eastern Commission to review the Japanese Constitution before May 7, 1949, and the resulting obligation on the United States Government to participate in this review, may I query whether you might deem it advisable to initiate within the Department a study of the Japanese Constitution in order to determine the views of the United States as to its revision and as to any specific amendments.2
Sincerely yours,