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

10 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
the world.” 8 So Germany and Japan decided to cooperate against
Communist subversive activities. On November 15, 1936, they
signed the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact.
Prospects for Peace in the Far East?
Th ere was a turnover in the Japanese Cabinet on June 4,
1937. Prince Konoye became prime minister. Konoye desired and
sought peace with the United States. But there was still turmoil
and little prospect of peace in the Far East.
In 1937, the U.S.S.R. led Nationalist China to understand
that “if it would undertake to off er armed resistance to Japan
it would confi dently expect the armed support of the Soviet
Union.” 9 Not long after receiving this assurance, the Chinese did
resist the Japanese. On July 7, 1937, a Japanese soldier was missing
at the Marco Polo Bridge in China. Th e Chinese not only
refused to search for him, they also refused to let the Japanese do
so. Japanese troops resorted to force and soldiers from the two
countries clashed.
Th e inclination was to blame this incident on impetuous
Japanese soldiers at the scene. However, the fault may not
have been entirely on the Japanese side. Th e U.S. ambassadors
in France, China, and Japan all cabled Secretary of State Hull
denying this anti-Japanese contention. Reports had come to
their attention indicating that the Chinese had the encouragement
and support of the Russians in fi ghting the Japanese, that
the Russians had been “very generous,” that they “had furnished
China with munitions . . . costing 150,000,000 Chinese dollars,”
8 U.S. House Committee on Foreign Aff airs. Events Leading up to World War II:
Chronological History of Certain Major International Events Leading up to and
During World War II with the Ostensible Reasons Advanced for their Occurrence,
1931–1944, 78th Cong., 2nd sess., 1944, p. 109.
9 Charles Callan Tansill, Back Door to War: The Roosevelt Foreign Policy,
1933–1941 (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1952), p. 456.