Memorandum for the President
Memorandum for the President from Secretary of State Cordell Hull to President Roosevelt concerning issues to be discussed with Japan’s ambassador and special envoy. As American-Japanese relations neared collapse, Tokyo dispatched a special envoy to the United States, Saburo Kurusu, to assist its Ambassador in Washington, Kichisaburo Nomura, in presenting one final peace proposal to the United States government. Two days prior to Kurusu’s first meeting with FDR, Secretary of State Cordell Hull prepared this November 15, 1941 Memorandum for the President recommending certain issues to be addressed. The meeting took place as scheduled, with little positive result. Subsequent meetings between Hull and the Japanese diplomats proved equally fruitless. On November 26, 1941, Hull presented to Kurusu and Nomura a restatement of the U.S. position that in the interests of peace Japan should withdraw from China and abandon its Southeast Asian expansion. That same day, Admiral Yamamoto directed the Japanese fleet to weigh anchor and proceed to Pearl Harbor.
- Date: November 15, 1941
- Library: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
- Collection: President's Secretary's Files
- Series: Diplomatic Correspondence
- Box Number: 43
- Folder Title: Japan, Oct.-Dec. 1941
- Creator: Cordell Hull
- Languages: English
- Rights Status: Unrestricted
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