Threshold of War

by Heinrichs, Waldo;

  16. Morris to SecState, 13 April, 13 May 1941, FR 1941, 1:139–43; Morris to SecState, 7, 14 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/10703, 10975, RG 59; Morris to SecState, 1 May 1941, 761.62/918, ibid.

  17. Steinhardt to SecState, 30 April 1941, FR 1941, 1:879–81, 20 April 1941, ibid, 4:959–61, 21 April 1941, 740.0011 EW/10176, RG 59.

  18. Ibid/10596, 10680,’ 10687, 10913, 10932; Ōshima to Tokyo, 9 May 1941, SRDJ 11724, RG 457; military attaché Berlin, report of 28 April 1941, 2657-B-765/19,000.7, box 459, RG 319, FRS (press guidance).

  19. Memo of conversation between Hitler and Darlan, 11 May 1941, #491, DGFP, 12:771 (“turntable”); 740.0011 EW/10345, 10516, 10531, 10713, 10797, 10844, 11173, RG 59; SRDJ 11216, RG 457; MID 2074–151/39, RG 165; New York Times, 4 May 1941; Holger H. Herwig, Politics of Frustration: The United States in German Naval Planning, 1889–1941 (Boston, 1976), 211–16.

  20. 740.0011 EW/9961, 10912, RG 59.

  21. Leahy to SecState and SecState to Leahy, 17, 18 April 1941, FR 1941, 2:291–93; 740.0011 EW/10423, 10487, 10696A, 10736, RG 59.

  22. “Protocols Signed at Paris May 27 and 28, 1941,” #559, DGFP. 12:897–900; Time, 26 May 1941.

  23. SecState to Weddell, 30 April 1941, FR 1941, 2:893–95; SecState to Leahy, 30 April 1941, ibid., 158–60; Leahy to SecState, and SecState to Leahy, 8 May 1941, ibid., 160–63.

  24. Leahy to SecState, 12, 13 May 1941, ibid., 165–70; New York Times, 13 May 1941.

  25. Ernest R. May, ed., Knowing One’s Enemies: Intelligence Assessments Before the Two World Wars (Princeton, 1984), 541; Hinsley, British Intelligence, 1:467.

  26. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 293; editor’s note, Kimball, ed., Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:185; Jim Bishop, FDR’s Last Year (London, 1974), 5; William Bullitt memo, 23 April 1941, Orville H. Bullitt, ed., For the President: Franklin D. Roosevelt and William C. Bullitt (Boston, 1972), 512–14.

  27. Ghormley to Pound, 9, 22 May 1941, Admiralty records, ADM 205/9, PRO; Rear Adm. Jonas Ingram to King, 23 May 1941, box 8, Admiral Ernest J. King papers, LC; operation orders for Task Forces 1, 2, 3, “CINCLANT (through May 1941)” box, SOPD, NOA; W. C. Ansel to Turner, 28 May 1941, A16–3/A7–3, box 91, SPDR, NOA; Commander Aircraft Atlantic Fleet to CINCLANT, 5 May 1941, A4–3, box 108, RG 313, FRS; CINCLANT to Commander Aircraft Atlantic Fleet, 17 May 1941, box 1, CINCLANT message files, NHOB, FRS.

  28. Churchill to FDR, 24 April, 1941, C-81x, Kimball, ed., Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:172–74.

  29. WPD 4402–89, RG 165; Assistant Secreatry of War Robert Lovett to Stimson, 14 May 1941, box 1, Stimson safe file, RG 107; Churchill, Grand Alliance, 378; Richard M. Leighton and Robert W. Coakley, The War Department: Global Logistics and Strategy, 1940–1943 (Washington, 1955), 61, 71–75; Lt. Col. Frank O. Hough et al. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal: History of the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II (Washington, 1959), 56.

  30. Berle diary, 26 May 1941.

  31. Captain Victor Danckwerts to Pound, 17 April 1941, ADM 205/9, PRO.

  32. Ibid.; Halifax to FO, 17, 25 April 1941, FO 371/26220, A2782/384/45 and A3015/2368/45, PRO.

  33. Stimson diary, 15–29 April 1941; Halifax to FO, 29 April 1941, FO 371/26220, A3153/384/45, PRO.

  34. Stark to FDR, 29 April 1941, PHA, 19:3456; minutes of War Cabinet meeting, 30 April 1941, Cabinet records, CAB 69/2, PRO.

  35. Halifax to FO, 29 April 1941, FO 371/26220, A3153/384/45, PRO.

  36. Ibid.; Stimson diary, 2, 5 May 1941; Knox to FDR (n.d.) enclosing Danckwerts memo, 8 May 1941, PHA, 19:3461.

  37. Stimson diary, 5–10 May 1941.

  38. David J. Lu, From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor; Japan’s Entry into World War II (Washington, 1961), 166–70; Hosoya, “Role of the Foreign Ministry,” Borg and Okamoto, eds. Pearl Harbor as History, 152–53.

  39. Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War, 205.

  40. Hull memo, 7 May 1941, FR Japan, 2:412.

  41. Nomura to Tokyo, 7–10 May 1941, SRDJ 11523, 11544, 11546, 11572, 11607, 11637, 11638, RG 457; Tokyo to Nomura, 9 May 1941, SRDJ 11617, 11622, ibid. The document presented Hull on 11 May was a less polished version of the 12 May Japanese draft understanding. Copies of the document and the “Explanation” were made before the documents were returned at Nomura’s request: 711.94/2086, RG 59. The word used in the translated intercept (SRDJ 11523) was “enthusiastic” but “fervent” seems more appropriate.

  42. Hull memos, 7, 11 May 1941, FR Japan, 2:415–16; SRDJ 11542, 11616, 11625, 11626, 11629, 11699, 11700, RG 457.

  43. Proposal of 9 April 1941 and draft proposal of 12 May 1941, FR Japan, 2:398–425; Tokyo to Washington, 13 May 1941, tr. 13 May 1941, SRDJ 11597, RG 457.

  44. Stimson diary, 13 May 1941. Roosevelt saw Secretary Knox and Admiral King at lunch May 13: White House Usher’s diary, 13 May 1941, box 320, and president’s appointment diary, 13 May 1941, PPF 1–0(1), box 166, FDRL.

  45. Japanese consul in Panama to Japanese embassy in Washington, 6 June 1941, SRDJ 12298, RG 457; W. W. Smith to Admiral Kimmel, 3 June 1941, A4–3, box 219, CNO secret, RG 80; Berle diary, 29 May 1941.

  46. Stimson diary, 13 May, 18–20 June 1941; British military mission in Washington to British Chiefs of Staff, 7 June 1941, FO 371/26221, A4358/384/45, PRO; director NWPD to chairman General Board, 2 April 1941, A16–1, box 242, CNO secret, RG 80 (reconditioning battleships); Kimmel memo of conversation with FDR, 9 June 1941, A3–2, CNO secret, RG 80.

  47. CNO memo for Knox, 7 April 1941, and director NWPD to CNO, 10 April 1941, director NWPD special file #1, box 20, Turner papers, NOA.

  48. Stark to Marshall, 22 May 1941, A15–3(10), CNO secret, RG 80; CNO to CINCPAC, 13 May 1941, A16–3, box 90, SPDR, NOA; McNarney to General H. H. Arnold, 7 April 1941, WPD 4402, RG 165; Reynolds, Anglo-American Alliance, 229.

  49. Forrest C. Pogue, George C. MarshalI: Ordeal and Hope (New York, 1965), 135; Stimson diary, 14 May 1941.

  50. Lauchlin Currie to FDR, 6 May 1941, PSF: Currie, FDRL; Proclamation Nos. 2475, 2476, FR Japan, 2:260–61.

  51. Stimson diary, 13 May 1941; German foreign ministry to embassy in Japan, 11, 15, May 1941, #496, #518, DGFP, 12:777, 820; Oshima to Tokyo, 19 May 1941, SRDJ 11815, 11818, RG 457.

  52. Stimson diary, 21–22 April, 15–16 May 1941; New York Herald Tribune, 16 May 1941; John Hickerson to J. P. Moffat, minister in Canada, 13 May 1941, 711.94/2119A, RG 59.

  53. Welles memo of conversation, 23 May 1941, FR 1941, 4:210–12 and fn. 84; FO 371/27908, F4430/86/23 and FO 371/27909, F4570/86/23, PRO; Steinhardt to Sec-State, 25 May 1941, 704.5561/3, RG 59.

  54. FR Japan, 2:427–45.

  55. Grew to SecState, 14 May 1941, ibid, 145–46; Heinrichs, Grew, 332–33.

  56. Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War, chap. 12; Tsunoda Jun, “The Navy’s Role in Southern Strategy,” Morley, ed., Fateful Choice, chap. 5; Asada Sadao, “The Japanese Navy and the United States,” Borg and Okamoto, eds., Pearl Harbor as History, 252–53.

  57. Halifax to FO, 2 May 1941, FO 371/26147, A3245/11/45, PRO; Stimson diary, 24 April 1941.

  58. Memo by Welles, 14 May 1941, PSF: France, FDRL (Pétain); 740.0011 EW/10929, 10980, 10993, 11173, 11212, 11293, RG 59; New York Times, 15 May 1941.

  59. Wasson (Dakar) to SecState, 21 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/11206, RG 59; FDR to Churchill, 1 May 1941, R-38x, Kimball, ed, Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:179.

  60. FDR memo for Hull and Welles, 14 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/10909, RG 59; SecState to Tangier (for Murphy), 16 May 1941, ibid./l 1035A; Wasson (Dakar) to SecState, 21 May 1941, ibid./l 1206; SecState to Leahy, 15 May 1941, FR 1941, 2:171; New York Times, 15, 21, 22 May 1941; New York Herald Tribune, 18, 20 May 1941.

  61. Casablanca to SecState, 19 May 1941 and Algiers to SecState, 21 May 1941 (both from Murphy), 740.0011 EW/11135, 11199, RG 59.

  62. MacVeagh to FDR, 8 March 1941, PSF: Greece, FDRL; Maj. Gen. 1. S. O. Play-fair, The Mediterranean and the Middle East (5 vols.; London, 1956), 2:132–51; military attaché London, report of 24 May 1941, 740.0011
EW/11595, RG 59 (“most severe”); military attache Cairo, report of 26 May 1941, ibid. (Formidable).

  63. Stimson diary, 24, 27 May 1941; Long diary, 4 June 1941.

  64. “Extract from a Letter Written by a Naval Officer to his Wife in England” (n.a, n.d.), PSF: subject file: Coordinator of Information, 1941, FDRL; Roskill, War at Sea, l:chap. 19.

  65. J. R. Beardahl memo, 27 May 1941, PSF: Navy: J. R. Beardahl, FDRL (Modoc); deck logs of U.S.S. New York, Texas, and Wasp, RG 24; Churchill to First Lord of the Admiralty and First Sea Lord, 28 May 1941, Prime Minister’s records, PREM 3/191–3, PRO; OPNAV to naval operating bases at Bermuda, Argentia, et al, 28 May 1941, box 1, CINCLANT message files, NHOB, FRS.

  66. FDR to Churchill, 1 May 1941, R-38x, Churchill to FDR, 3 May 1941, C-84x, FDR to Churchill, 10 May 1941, R-39x, Kimball ed., Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:179–85; North Whitehead minute, 18 April 1941, FO 371/26220, A2782/384/45, PRO.

  67. Churchill to FDR, 24 April 1941, C-81x, ibid, 173; Welles memo of conversation with Halifax, 17 May 1941, PSF: Cordell Hull: State, FDRL; Langer and Gleason, Undeclared War, 369; Stetson Conn and Byron Fairchild, The Western Hemisphere: The Framework of Hemisphere Defense, (Washington, 1960), 117–21.

  68. Item #5, exec. #4, box 20, OPD, RG 165; Stark to FDR, 22 May 1941, WPD 2789, ibid.; Morgenthau presidential diary, 22 May 1941, FDRL; CINCLANT to CNO, 23 May 1941, “CINCLANT (through May 1941)” box, SOPD, NOA (warships); item #8, exec. #4, box 20, OPD, RG 165 (transports).

  69. Stimson to FDR, 24 May 1941, PPF 1820, FDRL.

  70. Stimson diary, 27 May 1941; Berle diary, 29 May 1941; Stark to FDR regarding Capt. Forrest Sherman memo, 19 May 1941, enclosing Isaiah Bowman to FDR, 19 May 1941, PSF: Navy, FDRL.

  71. Radio Address Announcing the Proclamation of an Unlimited National Emergency, #45, Rosenman, ed. Public Papers and Addresses of FDR, 1941, 10:181–94.

  72. New York Times, 28 May 1941; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 298; polls of 14 April (interviewing 3/21–26/41) and 27 June 1941 (interviewing 6/9–14/41), Gallup, Gallup Poll, 1:274, 286.

  73. Polls of 23 April (interviewing 4/10–15/41), 21 May (interviewing 5/8–12/41), 4 June (interviewing 5/22–27/41), 15 June 1941 (interviewing 6/9–14/41), ibid, 275–84.

  74. American naval attaché Lisbon to OPNAV, 26 May 1941, PSF: Cordell Hull: State, FDRL; Conn and Fairchild, Framework of Hemisphere Defense, 122; Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engleman, and Byron Fairchild, Guarding the United States and Its Outposts (Washington, 1964), 459–68.

  75. Miles to COS, 7 April 1941, WPD 4402, RG 165; CNO to chief, Bureau of Ships, 27 May 1941, box 61, Ship Movements Division general correspondence, 1920–42, RG 38, NA (winter clothing); commander Support Force to CINCLANT, 8 April 1941, and reply, 16 April 1941, A3–1 Org, box 153, RG 313, FRS; Marc Milner, North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Convoys (Annapolis, 1985), 41; “Report of Reconnaisance of Iceland by Niblack,” Commander D. J. Ryan to CNO, 2 May 1941, EF22–1, box 267, CNO secret, RG 80; “Reminiscences of Vice Admiral Roland J. Smoot,” oral history transcript, NOA.

  76. H. P. Hill and F. Sherman to director NWPD, 6 Feb. 1941, and director NWPD to director ONI and chief, Bureau of Aeronautics, 28 Dec. 1940, box 50, SPDR, NOA; William Paul Deary, ‘“Short of War’: London, report of 20 April 1941 United States Naval Escort of British and Allied Convoys in the Atlantic and in the Undeclared Naval War with Germany, 1939–1941” (M.A. thesis, George Washington University, 1970), 77. The Deary thesis has been of great assistance on the Iceland question.

  77. FDR to Churchill, 11 April 1941, R-36x, and Churchill to FDR, 23 May 1941, C-90x, Kimball ed, Roosevelt-Churchill Correspondence, 1:166, 193–95; minutes of Admiralty conference, 13 June 1941, COMNAVFOREUR records, series 2, NOA (St. John’s basing); Conn, Engleman, and Fairchild, Guarding the U.S., 106, fn. 17.

  78. Roskill, War at Sea, 1:446. According to the American military attache in Cairo, the battleship Barham in addition to the Warspite and Valiant was damaged (report of 5 June 1941, 740.0011 EW/11902, RG 59). Churchill described the fleet as “crippled” (Winant to SecState, 2 June 1941, ibid./11553).

  79. C. S. Daniel, Admiralty director of plans, “Proposed Amendments to ABC-1,” 21 May 1941, Ghormley correspondence, series 2, COMNAVFOREUR records, NOA; SPENAVO London to OPNAV, 24 May 1941, box 122, SPDR, NOA.

  80. Stark to SPENAVO, 28 May 1941, ibid.; CNO to Knox, 10 June 1941, director WPD folder, special file #1, box 20, Turner papers, NOA.

  81. Stimson diary, 10 May 1941; FDR to Churchill, 29 May 1941, R-44x, Kimball ed, Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:199–200; Halifax to FO, 29 May 1941, FO 371/26148, A4071/11/45, PRO.

  82. Berle diary, 1, 13 Feb. 1941; Morison, Battle of the Atlantic, 58–63.

  83. Knox and Stimson to FDR, 22 April 1941 and FDR reply, 30 April 1941, PSF: Greenland, FDRL (Scoresby Sound); Berle diary, 26 May 1941; 740.0011 EW/9376, 10676, 11101, 11322, 11595, 12001, 12172, 12358; Capt. Schuirmann to State Dept., 22 April 1941, MID 2657-B-816/1–3, RG 165; Morgenthau presidential diary, 4 June 1941.

  84. Halifax to FO, 29 May, FO 371/26148, A4071/11/45, PRO.

  85. Churchill to FDR, 29 May 1941, C-93x, Kimball, ed, Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:201; appointment diaries, 3, 4 June 1941, box 166, PPF 1–0(1), FDRL; Stimson diary, 3–6 June, 1941; minutes of Joint Army-Navy Board meeting, 13 June 1941, box 1921, U.S. Army Joint Board papers, entry 284, RG 165; Conn and Fair-child, Framework of Hemisphere Defense, 121–24.

  86. Hull to FDR, 12 May 1941 and enclosed documents #5 and #5a (April 1941), PSF:safe:Germany, FDRL; documents #7 and #8, “Late April 1941” and “End of April 1941,” Bonsai file, box 258, Long papers.

  87. Hinsley, British Intelligence, 1:465–73; John Gilbert Winant, Letter from Grosvenor Square (Boston, 1947), 194–95.

  88. 740.0011 EW/10471, 11175, 11229, 11278, 11283, 11356, 11466, 11526, 11563, 11614, 11645, 11691, 11879, 11902, RG 59; MID 2074–151/41, RG 165; John Colville, The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries. 1939–1955 (New York, 1985), 396; Churchill to FDR, 28 May 1941, C-87x, Kimball, ed, Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:187–88; Berle diary, 5 June 1941; SRDJ 11308, 11693, 11843, 12026, RG 457.

  89. Kirk to SecState, 31 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/11544, RG 59; ibid. 11258, 11363, 11610, 11748; FDR to Churchill, 28 May 1941, R-43x, Kimball ed., Churchill-Roosevelt Coorespondence, 1:197; SecState to Winant, 27 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/11354A, RG 59.

  90. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 295.

  Chapter 4. June: The Russian Factor

  1. Alan Clark, Barbarossa; The Russian-German Conflict, 1941–1945 (New York, 1965), 12–13; Leach, German Strategy Against Russia, 168, 192.

  2. Tokyo to Nanking et al., 3 June 1941, tr. 6 June 1941, SRDJ 12029, RG 457; (Ribbentrop-Oshima conversation, 3 June) Berlin to Tokyo, 4 June 1941, tr. 6 June 1941, SRDJ 12036, ibid.

  3. Berlin to Tokyo, 4 June 1941, tr. 11 June 1941, SRDJ 12127, ibid. See also Berlin to Tokyo, June 14, 1941, tr. 16 June 1941, SRDJ 12235, ibid.

  4. Chargé Johnson to SecState, 11 June 1941, FR 1941, 1:168–69; Hinsley, British Intelligence, 1:478.

  5. (Examples of slowness of reports sent by pouch) 740.0011 EW/12256, 761.62/999, RG 59; Steinhardt to SecState, 12 June 1941, FR 1941, 1:754–57; Steinhardt to SecState, 19 June 1941, 740.0011 EW/12221, RG 59; Morris to SecState, 8, 21 June 1941, ibid./11763, 12296; Sterling to SecState, 7, 9 June 1941, ibid./11786, 11827; Gunther to SecState, 7 June 1941, ibid./11781; (rumors of German-Soviet deal) ibid./11769, 12058 and 761.62/956, RG 59; (Vatican) Phillips to SecState, 16 June 1941, 740.0011 EW/12100, RG 59; SecState to Schoenfeld (Helsinki), 10 June 1941, ibid./11721 and Tokyo to Berlin, 14 June 1941, SRDJ 12234, RG 457.

  6. Hailifax to FO, June 9, 10, FO 371/29482, N2707/78/38 and N2735/78/38, PRO; Berle diary, 19 June 1941; Stimson diary, 17 June 1941.

  7. SecState to Steinhardt, 15 June 1941, aide mémoire, 16 June 1941, and Acheson memo of conversation, 16 June 1941, FR 1941, 1:761–64.

  8. Steinh
ardt to SecState, 17 June 1941, FR 1941, 1:764–66. See also Steinhardt to Loy Henderson, 20 Oct. 1940, and Henderson to Steinhardt, 13 Dec. 1940, box 1, Loy Henderson papers, LC.

  9. SecState to Winant, 14 June 1941, and Welles memo of conversation with Halifax, 15 June 1941, FR 1941, 1:757–61.

  10. American draft proposal, 31 May 1941, FR Japan, 2:446–54.

  11. On the discussions of June 1–17: ibid., 454–83.

  12. Memoranda of Conversations, 2, 6 June 1941, ibid., 454, 466, oral statement of 6 June 1941, ibid, 467–68.

  13. Matsuoka to Berlin, 24 May 1941, tr. 26 May 1941, #534, U.S. Department of Defense, The “Magic” Background of Pearl Harbor (8 parts; Washington, 1978), 2A:271; Hamilton memo, 18 June 1941, 711.94/2162 13/14, RG 59; SecState to Grew, 6June 1941, ibid./2150A; Grew to SecState, 6 June 1941, FR 1941, 4:254. An example of press speculation on the talks: New York Times, 6 June 1941.

  14. Tokyo to Vichy, 16 June 1941, tr. 17 June 1941, #794, “Magic” Background, 2A:411; Tokyo to Vichy, 17 June 1941, tr. 19 June 1941, #796, ibid, 412.

  15. Grew to SecState, 9 June 1941, FR 1941, 5:174; Grew to SecState, 10 June 1941, ibid, 4:264–65.

  16. Hamilton and Adams memos, 23, 25 June 1941, FR 1941, 4:276–80.

  17. Memo of conversation, oral statement and draft proposal, 21 June 1941, FR Japan 1931–41, 2:483–92.

  18. Clark, Barbarossa, chap. 3.

  19. Curzio Malaparte, The Volga Rises in Europe (London, 1957), 102, as quoted in Clark, Barbarossa, 134–35.