[Secret]
From: Tokyo
To: Washington
November 6, 1941
Purple (CA)
#741
Re
your #1037. [a]
The
matter of Your Honor's interviewing the President is delicate in the extreme,
and if the newspapers speculate on the import of it, the effect would doubtless
be most regrettable. Therefore, if possible I think we should avoid letting the
press get wind of the substance of the interview or even the fact of the
interview. If the American officials will agree with this, naturally we, too,
will observe the same secrecy.
Carrying
this idea still further, in all your subsequent contacts with American
officials I would like for you to do your utmost to maintain the same secrecy
and avoidance of publicity.
Army 24440 Trans. 11/6/41 (S)
[a] Not available.
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)