[Secret]
From: Washington (Nomura)
To: Tokyo
November 28, 1941
Purple
#1214. To be handled in Government Code
Re
my #1190 [a]
So
far silence has been maintained here concerning our talks with the United
States; however, now the results of our conference of the 26th are out and
headlines like this are appearing in the paper: "Hull Hands Peace Plan to
Japanese," and "America Scorns a Second Munich." The papers say
that it is up to Japan either to accept the American proposal with its four
principles, or face war, in which latter case the responsibility would be upon
Japan.
This
we must carefully note.
Army 25548 Trans. 12-1-41 (2)
[a] S.I.S. #25444 and #25480 in which NOMURA expresses the danger of the responsibility for the rupture of negotiations being cast upon Japan should Japan enter into her scheduled operations during the course of the negotiations. He suggests that the negotiations be irrevocably concluded either through an announcement to the American Embassy in Tokyo or by a declaration for internal and external consumption.
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 1 INTERCEPTED DIPLOMATIC MESSAGES SENT BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BETWEEN JULY l AND DECEMBER 8, 1941)