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

200 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
mission was “to observe and report by radio Japanese movements
in west China Sea and Gulf of Siam.” Th e three small ships were
to be stationed off the coast of French Indochina. “One vessel to
be stationed between Hainan and Hue one vessel off the Indo-
China Coast between Camranh Bay and Cape St. Jacques and
one vessel off Pointe de Camau,” all locations in the anticipated
path of the Japanese convoys then known to be sailing toward
southeast Asia. Hart was also asked to report on the reconnaissance
measures—air, surface, and submarine—being performed
regularly by both Army and Navy. 33
Ambassador Grew Reports Gloom in Tokyo
During the last few days of November, U.S. Ambassador
Grew in Japan spoke with
a number of prominent Japanese, some of whom have been
in direct touch with the Foreign Minister, and most of them
appeared to be already familiar with the substance of our
Government’s recent ten-point draft proposal. While desirous
of continuing the Washington conversations, they all refl ect a
pessimistic reaction, perceiving the diffi culties of bridging over
the positions of the two countries and emphasizing what they
seem to regard as the unconciliatory “tone” of our proposal.
On the evening of December 1, Grew saw one of his old
Japanese friends at the Tokyo Club, looking “gray and worn.”
“[T]he cabinet had decided to break off the conversations” with
the United States, he told Grew. “[I]n that case,” Grew “feared that
everything was over and that [he] would soon be leaving Japan.” 34
However, the government-controlled Tokyo newspapers that
33 Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 14, p. 1407. OPNAV CABLE
#012356.
34 Joseph C. Grew, Ten Years in Japan (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944),
pp. 484–85.