[Secret]
From: Washington
To: Tokyo
19 November 1941
(Purple)
#1136
I
know that it is beyond our powers to imagine the anxiety felt by the Cabinet
leaders who bear the heavy responsibility of saving the nation and succoring
the people at this time when relations between Japan and the United States have
now at last reached the point of cruciality. There are now three ways which the
Empire might take-
(1)
Maintain the status quo.
(2)
Break the present deadlock by an advance under force of arms.
(3)
Devise some means for bringing about a mutual non-aggression arrangement.
No.
1 would mean that both sides would continue to increase war preparations and
send out larger fleets of war vessels bringing about a state where only a
contact would be needed to start a conflagration. In other words this would
finally result in an armed clash and it differs from No. 2 only in the matter
of the longer or shorter time involved.
No.
3 would mean finding some provisional arrangement by which the present deadlock
might be broken, and at the same time attaining our objectives under the peace
for which we have been striving. My #1134* of yesterday was sent with this
purpose in mind. The displeasure felt by the government is beyond my power of
comprehension, but as I view it, the present, after exhausting our strength by
four years of the China incident following right upon the Manchuria incident,
is hardly an opportune time for venturing upon another long drawn out warfare
on a large scale. I think that it would be better to fix up a temporary
"truce" now in the spirit of "give and take" and make this
the prelude to greater achievements to come later.
I
am thus frankly setting before you my humble opinion as supplementary to my
message of yesterday.**
25248
JD-1: 6769 (F) Navy Trans. 11-25-41 (2)
*JD-1: 6665.
**Wash-Tok #1138 (JD-1: 6771) says: "At the end of my message #1136 (S.I.S. #25250) please add 'please convey the above to the (Prime ?)Minister' ".
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)