Evening star., 1945-11-27
Hull Says: Yielding
To japanese Would
Have Been CowardIy
Continued From First Page.)

turned from Warm Springs. Ga.
about November 80. Mr.. Hull re
called, the Chief Executive asket
him to inquire of the japanese
government concerning its con.
tinued troop movements in Indo.
China. Mr.. Hull did, and there wa.
no reply, he said.
Reverting to the japanese ENJOYS
Mr.. Hull said, I'VE would not have
known from their attitude but thai
they were going on with their con.
versations. But it will be borne ir
mind that intercepted messages
showed that they we're instructed
to keep on talking with us as though
they were in earnest"
Referring to the former Secre.
tary's final conference with Nomura
and Kurusu the morning of the
Pearl Harbor attack, December 7
1941, Mr.. Cooper said: You ex.
pressed yourself in rather strong
terms at that time, didn't you?"
Unverified Report of Attack.
Mr.. Hull said he did. He gave
this further background of the
morning of Pearl Harbor:
Around midday received a tele.
phone message from the White
House informing me of report
that Pearl Harbor had been at
tackled. 1t was not known at that
time whether the report was true
I said to the President, Can't you
confirm that report?' I had an
appointment with the japanese rep
resentatives at l o'clock"
But there was no further in
formation before his conference, Mr.
Hull recalled. He said he discussed
at the State Department whether
he would credit the White House
report before he met the ENJOYS.
Or whether" Mr.. Hull added, Il
would leave open the one chance in
10 or more that the report was not
correct. I proceeded to receive the
ENJOYS, The proposal they made
was comprised of defining the at
titude of Japan as the reverse OF
what it was and our attitude as the
opposite of what it was"
They talked of peace, peace" Mr.
Hull recalled grinly. adding:
Il felt that the Pearl Harbor re-
port was true. For that reason !
felt like taking liberties in my con-
versation with them which would
otherwise have been a little un-
diplomatic"
Senator George, Democrat, of
Georgia, cited from the formal
statement Mr.. Hull filed with the
committee last week his warning to
the cabinet and the War Council
a month before Pearl Harbor that
an attack from Japan might be ex-
pected at any time, at any place,
and that the element of surprise
should not be overlooked.
Top Officials Discussed Danger.
Referring to Government top Of
ficials, Mr.. Hull said: Whenever
and wherever we met in those days
we discussed the growing danger" !"
With Hitler and TOTO trying to
dominate the world between them,
Mr., Hull told the committee, "dip-
lomatic influence was not much
stronger than military" and he
added that force was the only thing
such men could understand. They
could have been stopped at the
start, he felt, if this and other
peaceful nations had had the mill
tary might.
After Mr.. Hull left and Joseph c
Grew, former American Ambassador
to Tokyo, had resumed the stand
Senator Ferguson, Republican, o1
Michigan brought out that Mr.
Grew had refused a request for hi.
l3-voluae diary, covering his II
years in Japan. The diary had beer
asked for by Senator Brewster, Re-
publican, of Maine.
Reading from letter he addressed
to Committee Counsel William D
Mitchell on November IL, Mr.. Grew
said he wanted to cooperate ir
every possible way, that he thought
no pertinent material should be con.
cealed, but felt his diary was private
and in no sense an official document
Inaccuracies in Diary.
Mr.. Grew said he believed all the
important information in the diary
is already available in book he has
published. AS to the diary itself, he
said it contains many inaccurate
and misleading statements that were
jotted down hurriedly from day tt
day and had to be corrected ane
ironed out as time went on" He
said it also contained family nota.
tions.
Senator Ferguson asked him if HI
had shown the diary to the State
Department before publishing hi
book
That is always done, especially
In wartime. Senator" the former
Ambassador replied, adding that hi
submitted the manuscript of his
book to the department.
Did they take out any parts
of it?" Senator Ferguson asked.
Mr.. Grew said the department
suggested deletion of certain pas.
sages which it was felt might cause
embarrassment or danger to indi.
viduals." After reviewing those por.
tions, the witness said he agreed
with the department.
sCrasp I;rbf, TaIaor,n,
Senator Ferguson asked if he had
any conversation with the depart
ment about message which Mr.
Grew in his book called "the green
light" telegram. Mr.. Grew said he
did not recall any conversation
about that.
Under further questioning Mr.
Grew said the So-called green
light" telegram was sent by him to
Washington in September, 1910. He
said he described it later as one OF
the most important messages he had
transmitted because he felt "the
time had come to apply economic
u zllsl.l1
TOMORROW IOWA AlRIsHT