Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

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5.
Talk of Ultimatums
and Deadlines
Japan and Public Opinion
Japan’s trade situation continued to deteriorate. Her situation
was desperate. On November 3, Ambassador Grew in Tokyo
cabled Secretary of State Hull that “the greater part of Japan’s
commerce has been lost. Japanese industrial production has been
dramatically curtailed, and Japan’s national resources have been
depleted.” Grew believed that the United States would not be
able to avert war in the Far East by continuing to embargo trade
with Japan.
He saw world political events crowding in upon Japan, forcing
her to take some drastic actions. He cautioned that if diplomacy
failed, if Japan did not succeed in her attempts at reconciliation
with the United States, he fully expected she would make
“an all-out, do-or-die attempt, actually risking national hara-kiri,
to make [her] impervious to economic embargoes.” Th e United
States should be ready to decide “whether war with Japan is justifi
ed by American national objectives, policies, and needs.” Grew
left no room for illusions. He warned in his cable that the United