Evening star., 1941-12-08

without any declaration Of war at
the time.
Mr.. Hull pointed out that Japan's |
armed forces had been preparing to |
attack this country lat the very mo-
ment' when her diplomatic repre-
sentatives were discussing 'princi-
Piles and courses of peace with him
at Japan'S request. and while the |
United States was "steadfastly' |
striving to promote adjustment of
JapaneSe-American relations on
basis of fair dealing, peace, law and
order and Justice
Discussions undertaken to deter
mine if any basis could be found for
negotiation of a peaceful settlement |
with Japan have been under way
since last April, soon after the ar
rival here of Ambassador Nomura.
The so-called peace" talks were
intensified three weeks ago when
Saburo Kuruso. ace japanese diplo-
mat who signed the Axis agreement
with Germany, flew here from TOXIC
with the avowed purpose of assisting
the Ambassador in attempts to reach
an agreement that would avert the
danger of war in the Pacific.
Events moved rapidly toward a
climax last week when President
Roosevelt bluntly asked Japan the
meaning of her troop concentrations
in Indo-China lit was generally be-
lieved then that the next Japanese
move would be from Indo- China
against Thailand), received a reply
that they were only for defense |
against China. and then made a per- |
sonal appeal Saturday night to the
Japanese Emperor for preservation
of peace.
Attacks Unexpected.
While Japanese rejection Of the
American peace program had been
on the basis of last
weeks press comment in Toxic, and
some further aggression was ex-
on the United States was an unex-
pected denouement in the long
series of peace talks.
Extraordinary activities. indicat-
ing that ominous developments were
in the offing, began at the State
before 10 am. yester-
day. Secretary Hull arrived at his |
ONCE at 9:45 am, and Is minutes |
later Secretary of War Stimson and
Secretary of the Navy Knox joined |
him. They conferred for three hours, |
without making any public COM
ment about the nature of their
discussion.
At l pm, Ambassador Nomura
asked for an appointment with
Secretary Hull for himself and Mr..
kurusu.
The appointment was made for
las pm, but the japanese repre-
sentatives were Is minutes late in
arriving and Mr.. Hull kept them
cooling their heels in the diplomatic
reception room for another IS min
utes before receiving them.
Sober and stern-faced on arrival
at the Department, the Ambassador
and Mr.. Kurusu told reporters only
that they had sought the interview
with Mr.. Hull-that they had not
been summoned by him. Apparently
with the greatest reluctance, they
put wan smiles on their faces and
posed for newsreel and newspaper
photographers.
At 2:20 pm, the japanese diplo-
mats went into Mr.. Hulls Office. |
They came out 10 minutes later. |
In the interim, the White House had
announced the Japanese bombing |
attack on United States bases in the
Hawaiian Islands. Mr. Hull had |
received the reports before seeing
the japanese.
Curt to Press.
Ambassador Nomura and Mr.. |
Kurusu gave no indication to re-
porters that they were aware that
the war already had started, how
ever.
Nothing to say" Mr.. Kurusu
snapped to newspapermen's ques-
tions.
"Will this be your last conference
with Mr.. Hull?" he was asked.
II don't know"
Did you present a document?"
Eyes, we did"
Later, a State Department an
nouncement disclosed Mr.. Hull's |
angry words to the Japanese rep |
reSentatives.
Only handful of newspapermen |
were at the State Department when |
the Japanese representatives called. |
But during the afternoon all cor
respondents who regularly cover the
department were notified by tele-
phone that the interview was ar
ranged and began drifting in. The
big influx was after the White
House announcement that shooting
had started. About so newsmen
were on hand by pm.
Shortly after 5 pm, the corre-
spondents were summoned into the
Current Information Division Offices
across the hall from the depart,
ment press room. Howard Bucknell,
assistant chief of the division,
started to read an announcement.
War Bulletin Interrupts.
This is a Department Of State
announcement then he be-
came silent as all ears strained to
hear a radio bulletin "a small re-
ceiver had been placed on Mr..
Bucknell's desk) that the Japanese
imperial headquarters had an
nounced a state Of war with the
United States.
At s:l5 pm. the announcement