FDR - Jean Edward Smith [339]
* On September 10, 1941, Eleanor wrote to her daughter, Anna, who was living in Seattle, “Father told me this morning to tell you that there are still negotiations going on and he might go to Alaska [FDR thought Hawaii too far] to meet the Japs. You and John [Boettiger] are not to mention this to anyone. If he goes he would leave about Oct. 10 and be returning via Seattle about Oct. 21st.” Anna Halstead Papers, FDRL.
† On his return from Japan in 1942, Grew asked Hull why Konoye’s proposal to meet with FDR had not been accepted. Grew said he thought it might have brought peace. “If you thought so strongly,” Hull replied, “why didn’t you board a plane and come tell us?” Grew reminded the secretary of his daily telegrams expressing his feeling about the situation. Later Grew wondered if Hull had read them. Joseph C. Grew, 2 Turbulent Era 1330.
* Kurusu had most recently served as Japanese ambassador to Germany, which made him suspect in the eyes of the State Department. But he had also been Japan’s consul in Chicago, was married to an American whom he had met there (Alice Little), and spoke English flawlessly, which Nomura did not. In retrospect it appears his assignment was indeed made to move the talks forward.
* In his 1946 statement to the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Secretary Stimson expanded on FDR’s remarks. According to Stimson, “If you know that your enemy is going to strike you, it is not usually wise to wait until he gets the jump on you by taking the initiative. In spite of the risk involved, however, in letting the Japanese fire the first shot, we realized that in order to have the full support of the American people it was desirable to make sure that the Japanese be the ones to do this so that there should remain no doubt in anyone’s mind as to who were the aggressors. We discussed at this meeting the basis on which this country’s position could be most clearly explained to our own people and to the world, in case we had to go into the fight quickly because of some sudden move on the part of the Japanese.” Stimson Statement, 11 Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack 5421–5422 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946).
* Accompanying the war warning was a personal letter from Stark to his friend Kimmel. “I held this [letter] up pending a meeting with the President and Mr. Hull today.… Neither will be surprised over a Japanese surprise attack. From many angles an attack on the Philippines would be the most embarrassing that could happen to us.” Stark to Kimmel, November 27, 1941, 5 Pearl Harbor Attack 2301.
* Repeal of the Neutrality Act carried the Senate 50–37, the smallest majority FDR had won on any foreign policy issue since the war in Europe began. In the House the vote was even closer (212–194), with only Southern Democrats solidly behind the president. Critics who wonder why FDR said so little about racial inequality in the South should consider the source of his foreign policy support in Congress.
† Mount Niitaka (Yu Shan in Chinese), which at 13,113 feet was the largest peak in the Japanese empire, is located in Yu Shan National Park in central Taiwan (Formosa).
* Yamamoto was to have accompanied Konoye to meet FDR had the conference taken place. He advised the prime minister to approach the talks “as though your life depended on the outcome. Even if the discussions break down, don’t get defiant, but leave room for further moves.”
Yamamoto was a regular subscriber to Life magazine and always left his copy in the wardroom of his flagship. When a junior officer asked him to recommend a biography to improve his English, Yamamoto recommended Carl Sandburg’s Lincoln.