[Secret]
From: Washington
To: Tokyo
17 November 1941
(Purple)
#1114
Schmitt's
report:
On
the evening of the 16th, we had Schmitt try to feel out the State Department's
attitude. He reports that he talked with his good friend Williamson (secretary
to Assistant Secretary of State Hurley) According to him, Williamson, the
stumbling points in the Japanese U. S. negotiations are the Tripartite Pact and
the matters pertaining to the China incident. A solution in so far as it
involves the actual points is apparently quite possible from both the United
States and Japanese viewpoints. The difficulty seems to be a more spiritual
one-that is, the suspicion that the United States harbors of Japan. The United
States bases its suspicion on the fear that the German and Japanese military
cliques will apply pressure and prevail upon the Japanese Government. In other
words, the United States believes that there is a possibility that immediately
subsequent to the establishing of a U. S.-Japanese accord, the Japanese
Government may be forced by Germany or by the Japanese military to pursue a
course entirely different from that charted by the accord.
Compared
to the above obstacles, the solution of the economic problems, of which the
petroleum question is one phase, is indeed a very simple matter.
25133
JD-1: 6693 (D) Navy Trans. 11-22-41 (2)
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)