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

Japanese Action Appears Imminent 165
the hands of you and Knox—the Army and Navy.” Later FDR
gave Stimson a slightly diff erent view. However, he too said the
negotiations had “ended up, but they ended up with a magnifi -
cent statement prepared by Hull.” 9
FDR Messages British Intelligence Agent
Stephenson, “Japanese Negotiations Off . . .”
As soon as the president learned that the negotiations
with the Japanese had been broken off , he sent his oldest son,
James, as his emissary to British intelligence agent Sir William
Stephenson. On November 26, James Roosevelt travelled to New
York and informed Stephenson, of the tenuous Japanese situation.
Stephenson cabled Churchill on November 27:
JAPANESE NEGOTIATIONS OFF. SERVICES EX-
PECT ACTION WITHIN TWO WEEKS. 10
Washington Warns Philippines of
Possible Japanese Attack
On November 27, General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral
Hart, Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Fleet, met in the offi ce
of High Commissioner Francis B. Sayre to discuss the seriousness
of FDR’s November 26 warning cable to Sayre. Pacing back and
forth and smoking a big black cigar, General MacArthur assured
Hart and Sayre that “the existing alignment and movement of
9 Ibid., part 11, pp. 5434–35.
10 William Stevenson, A Man Called Intrepid: Th e Secret War (New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), p. 299; also Joseph P. Lash, Roosevelt and
Churchill, 1939–1941: Th e Partnership Th at Saved the West (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1976), p. 473.