Threshold of War

by Heinrichs, Waldo;

  33. Gerow memo for COS, 30 July 1941 (not sent), WPD 4561–1, RG 165.

  34. Visayan project: The Adjutant General (TAG) to Chief of Ordnance, 16 April 1941, WPD 3251, RG 165, NA; Stimson to FDR, 29 Mar. 1941, PSF: War Department, FDRL; MacArthur to Marshall, 1 Feb. 1941, OCS 20891/88, papers of the Office of Chief of Staff, RG 165, NA.

  35. Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sunderland, Stilwell’s Mission to China (Washington, 1953), 17–29; Arthur N. Young, China and the Helping Hand, 1937–1945 (Cambridge, MA, 1963), 116–53, 187–92; Michael Schaller, The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938–1945 (New York, 1979), 56–58, 74–82.

  36. Morgenthau presidential diary, 10 July 1941; FDR to Welles, 29 July 1941, FR 1941, 5:532; Guy Wint memo, 15 July 1941, FQ371/27847, F7694/4366/61, PRO.

  37. Welles to Hopkins, 7 July 1941, FR 1941, 5:670–71.

  38. Anderson, Standard-Vacuum Oil, 158–68; Jonathan G. Utley, “Upstairs, Downstairs at Foggy Bottom: Oil Exports and Japan, 1940–41,” Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives (Spring 1976), 8:20; H. W. Moseley to L. H. Price, 21 June 1941, and J. C. Green to Dean Acheson, 19 July 1941, 811.20 (D) Regulations/3066, 3844 1/2, RG 59; J. J. O’Connell memo for Morgenthau, 3 July 1941, Morgenthau diary, 3 July 1941 (East Coast gasoline shortage).

  39. Motgenthau diary, 8 July 1941; G. S. Walden to Hornbeck, 10 July 1941, 894.24/1559, RG 59.

  40. Princeton Public Opinion Research Project, June 3, 1941, PPF 1820, FDRL; letters and postcards from Americans in July 1941, 894.24, RC 59; Morgenthau diary, 15 July 1941.

  41. Ibid., 8 July 1941; Anderson, Standard-Vacuum Oil, 168–71; Hamilton memo, 22 July 1941, FR 1941, 4:834; Stark to Hull, 22 July 1941 and enclosures, ibid, 835–40.

  42. Halifax to FO, 8 July 1941, FO 371/27763, F5959/9/61, PRO.

  43. Halifax to FO, 15 July 1941, FO 371/27763, F6273/9/61, PRO; Morgenthau to FDR with excerpt enclosed from Foreign Relations of U.S., 24 July 1940, OF 176, FDRL.

  44. D. W. Bell memo of cabinet meeting 24 July 1941, E. H. Foley, Jr., to Bell, 24 July 1941, and “Memorandum of Policy To Be Carried Out in Administering the Freezing Control Order for Japan and China,” 25 July 1941, Morgenthau diary, 24, 25 July 1941.

  45. PRO:FO 371/27763, F6273/9/61 and F6473/9/61; FO 371/27908, F86/86/23.

  46. FO 371, 27972–27975, F6472-F7664/1299/23, PRO.

  47. “The Economic Vulnerability of Japan in Petroleum,” prepared for the Office of Administrator of Export Control by the Interdepartmental Committee on Petroleum, April 1941, box 10, OSS records, RG 226.

  48. Berle diary, 23 July 1941.

  49. Soviet Embassy Information Bulletin. 5 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 EW/13900, RG 59. On war developments in late July: Clark, Barbarossa, chaps. 4–7.

  50. Van Creveld, Supplying War, 142–80; Leach, German Strategy, chap. 8.

  51. Clark, Barbarossa, 81.

  52. New York Times, 21 July-31 July 1941; Washington Post, 14 July-1 Aug. 1941.

  53. Acting SecState to Bern, 30 July 1941, 740.0011 EW/13606B, RG 59.

  54. Steinhardt to SecState, 29 July 1941, military attaché Rome, report of 24 July 1941, Leahy to SecState, 1 Aug. 1941, ibid.,/13519, 14790, 1 3606.

  55. Berle diary, 31 July 1941; Leach, Hitler’s Strategy, 205.

  56. Stimson diary, 28, 30 July 1941.

  57. Morgenthau presidential diary, 4 Aug. 1941; Davies memo, 31 July 1941, box 69, Joseph E. Davies papers, LC; John Morton Blum, From the Morgenthau Diaries: Years of Urgency, 1938–1941 (Boston, 1965), 263.

  58. Welles memo of conversation with Oumansky, 24 July 1941, FR 1941, 1:795–97; Alexander Schnee memo of meeting 28 July 1941, ibid., 799–802. On aid to Russia in late July: Herring, Aid to Russia, 11–14; Blum, Years of Urgency, 263–65.

  59. Morgenthau as quoted in Blum, ibid., 265; Stimson diary, 1 Aug. 1941.

  60. Steinhardt to SecState, 1 Aug. 1941 (two telegrams), FR 1941, 1:814–15; FDR to Coy, 2 Aug. 1941, Roosevelt, FDR Letters, 2:1195–96.

  61. FDR to Stimson, 27 Aug. 1941 and report on munitions to Russia, 25 Aug. 1941, book 6, Hopkins papers, FDRL; Oumansky to Welles, 29 July 1941, FR 1941, 1:798; Alexander Schnee memo of meeting 28 July, ibid, 799–802; Stimson to Oumansky, 4 Aug. 1941, 337F, box 162, Army Air Force central decimal files, RG 18, NA.

  62. These figures were known by July 21: see Halifax to FO, 21 July 1941, F0371/27972, F6599/1299/23, PRO. On Japanese forces in Manchuria: message from Hawaii, 29 July 1941 (possibly from an intercepted message), 740.0011 EW/14838, RG 59.

  63. Green to Acheson, 19 July 1941, 811.20(D) Regulations/3884 1/2, RG 59; George Luthringer memo, 30 July 1941, FR 1941, 4:844–46.

  64. Memo for Secretary’s files, 30 July 1941, Morgenthau diary, (“happiest solution”); Welles to Collectors of Customs, 1 Aug. 1941, 811.20(D) Regulations/3912A, RG 59; Halifax to FO, 2 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27974, F7213/1299/23, PRO.

  65. Acting SecState to Grew, 4 July 1941, FR 1941, 4:994–95; Welles memo of conversation, 10 July 1941, ibid, 301.

  66. Memo by Hamilton, 31 July 1941, 740.0011 EW/1587, RG 59; memo by Grew, 26 July 1941, FR Japan, 2:532–34; Roosevelt to Churchill, 26 July 1941, #R-52x, Kimball, ed., Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, 1:225.

  67. SecState to Grew, 5 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 PW/417A, RG 59.

  68. This interpretation differs from that of Anderson (Standard-Vacuum Oil, 177— 78) and Utley (“Upstairs, Downstairs,” Prologue, 8:24–28), who argue that Roosevelt’s intent is to be found in the Cabinet decision of July 24 to ship some oil, that the delay in taking action on exchange applications was technical, at the outset anyway, and that Acheson and Foreign Funds Control converted the delay into a stall while the president was away at Argentia. These are valuable studies of the bureaucratic machinery of oil restriction, but on the point of the president’s knowledge and intent I disagree.

  The key document on this score is the minutes of the Interdepartmental Policy Committee on Foreign Funds Control meeting 29 July (“Memorandum for the Secretary’s Files,” 30 July 1941, Morgenthau diary, 426:19) at which Acheson said that he had seen Welles who felt that “for the next week or so the happiest solution” would be “to take no action on Japanese applications.” Acheson repeated this statement without the time factor in his memoirs (Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (New York, 1969), 26). In fact the time frame Acheson had in mind was probably two weeks. This was the initial trial period when no applications would be approved which had been suggested by Green (memo for Acheson, 19 July 1941, 811.20(D) Regulations/3884 1/2, RG 59) and Luthringer (memo for Acheson, 30 July 1941, FR 1941, 4:844–45). Luthringer attached a note to the memo saying that it was an attempt “to embody the suggestions which you {Acheson} made following the meeting of the Interdepartmental Policy Committee yesterday evening [29 July, the day Acheson saw Welles}.” Two weeks from 29 July would be 12 Aug, the day the conference in fact concluded and shortly before Welles returned to Washington by air.

  Othet document collections examined show withholding of licenses for technical reasons, but are not incompatible with the thesis offered here: box 513, Foreign Funds Control files, general correspondence, Japan, Department of Justice Alien Property Accession 61A109, RG 131 (in custody of Treasury Department, Washington); central files, office of administrator of Export Control, entry 97, RG 169, FRS.

  Given the close association of Welles and Roosevelt, the fact that Welles was currently Acting Secretary of State, and the vital importance of the issue, it seems inconceivable that Welles did not secure the president’s approval for this course of action, or inaction. The technical need for delay meshed with the policy need for holding up delivery of oil at least until Roosevelt could review the situation with Churchill.

  Furthermore, it is difficult to believe that Dean Acheson would pursue a course of action which he believed to be contrary to the wishes of the president. Acheson’s career in government had begun dismally in 1933 when he was appointed Under Secretary of the Treasury by Roosevelt and then abruptly
dismissed for refusing to sign an order making the devaluation of the dollar legal. That experience, interrupting for eight years his high ambitions for public service, made a lasting impression on him, according to his biographer (David S. McLellan, Dean Acheson: The State Department Years (New York, 1976), 25–29). He was not happy with that performance, he reminisced years later in retirement. He had not had enough consideration for the problems of the president. Right or not, an assistant to the president could get into “terrible problems” by “allowing things to get to a point where trouble occurs.” He must be “very alert and watchful” to consider the president’s position and interests “twice as much as your own” (as quoted in McLellan, Acheson, 28). Acheson now had a second chance, this time as assistant secretary of state. It seems very doubtful that he would have jeopardized that chance by again acting against what he took to be the wishes of the president.

  69. As quoted in Watson, Chief of Staff, 438–39.

  70. On air reinforcement of the Philippines: Craven and Cate, Army Air Forces in World War II, 1:175–78, 600–605; DeWitt S. Copp, Forged in Fire: Strategy and Decisions in the Air War over Europe, 1940–1945 (Garden City, N.Y, 1982), 142–50; Daniel F. Hartington, “A Careless Hope: American Air Power and Japan, 1941,” Pacific Historical Review (May 1979), 48:217–38; Michael S. Sherry, The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon (New Haven, 1987), 100–115.

  71. Arnold to COS, 5 Dec. 1940, “Expected Production of Aircraft up to June 1941,” box 40, General of the Army H. H. Arnold papers, LC; “Special Air Corps Report, Fiscal Year 1941,” box 1, Stimson safe file, RG 107; Stimson to Representative Carl Vinson, 24 July 1941, box 2, ibid.

  72. Arnold to Lovett, 8 Jan. 1941, box 1, ibid.

  73. Stimson diary, 10 July 1941; conference 29 July 1941, box 889, notes on conferences, Army-COS Secretariat, 1941–42, COS files, entry 12, RG 165; Sir Archibald Sinclair to Hopkins, 27 July 1941, “Aircraft Allocations” folder, box 38, Arnold papers; Brig. Gen. Ralph Royce to Arnold, 7 June 1941, “Bombers” folder, box 41, Arnold papers; military attaché London, report of 15 May 1941, 740.0011 EW/11293, RG 59.

  74. Arnold memo for COS, March 1941, “Hopkins Data on British Needs” folder, box 43, Arnold papers; Arnold to Lovett, May 8, 1941, box 41, ibid.

  75. George Strong, assistant COS to COS, 2 March 1940, WPD 4192, box 230, RG 165.

  76. Military attaché Cairo, report of 29 June 1941, 740.0011 EW/1 3771, RG 59. Or. Crete, the Philippines, and air power, see also: Archer M. R. Allen, office of U.S. Naval Observer in Singapore, to CNO, 5 Aug. 1941, WPD 4192, box 230, RG 165; (n.a.) “The Employment of Aviation in Naval Warfare: Staff Presentation,” Naval War College records, SPDR, NA; “The Airborne Invasion of Crete,” WPD 4402–100, RG 165.

  77. “Development of Air Base Facilities on Mid-Pacific Islands,” 686 Hawaii to Philippines-15, box 153, Arnold papers; Craven and Cate, Army Air Forces in World War II, 1:178.

  78. Carl Spaatz to Stark, 5 Aug. 1941, A4–3/EF 1 3–45, box 220, RG 80; memorandum on air routes to the Philippines, 27 July 1941, Intelligence Division, Office of Chief of Air Corps, 686 Hawaii-Philippines-64, box 1 53, Arnold papers.

  79. Conference of 28 July 1941, “Secretary of War Conferences” folder, box 885, COS secretariat, RG 165.

  Chapter 6, Aug.-Sept.: Crossing the Threshold

  1. Theodore A. Wilson, The First Summit: Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941 (Boston, 1969), 5–7.

  2. Steinhardt to SecState, 2 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 EW/13642, RG 59; Steinhardt to SecState 5 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:6.34–35, radioed to president 6 Aug. as 740.0011 EW/13649C, RG 59.

  3. Morris to SecState, 2, 6, 7 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 EW/13626, 13745, 13781, RG 59, radioed to president 4, 7, 8 Aug. 1941 as ibid./l 3649A, D, E; Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee, “German Intentions up to the End of 1941,” minutes of War Cabinet meeting, 8 Aug. 1941, FO 371/26523, C9529/19/18, PRO. The American Berlin embassy’s report of 6 Aug. was conveyed to the British, but probably not in time for the 8 Aug. paper (British delegation in Washington to Admiralty, 8 Aug. 1941, FO 371/29489, N4456/78/38, PRO).

  4. Arnold, longhand notes of the Argentia Conference, box 181, Arnold papers; Arnold, Global Mission, 249–50; record of discussion among Marshall, Dill, and Brigadier Dykes, 11 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/485/5, PRO.

  5. Arnold, Global Mission, 230; Hopkins memos of conferences with Stalin, 30, 31 July 1941, FR 1941, 1:802–14.

  6. Hopkins memo of conference with Stalin, 31 July 1941, ibid., 805–14; Arnold longhand notes of Argentia conference, box 181, Arnold papers.

  7. WPD 4402–89, RG 165.

  8. Hopkins memo of conversation with Molotov, 31 July 1941, FR 1941, 4:101314.

  9. Welles memo of conversation with Cadogan, 9 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:351–52.

  10. Wilson, First Summit, chap. 9; Atlantic Charter drafts, 740.0011 EW/14593, RG 59; Welles memos of conversations at Argentia, 10, 11 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:354–67; Joint Statement by Roosevelt and Churchill, 14 Aug. 1941, ibid, 367–69.

  11. Minutes of War Cabinet meeting, 8 Aug. 1941, CAB 69/2, Clement Attlee to Churchill, 9 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/485/1, and Prime Minister to Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, 16 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27847, F7882/4366/61, PRO; Welles memo, 30 July 1941, FR 1941, 5:240–41 (Thailand). On the question of a war warning: memos by Welles, 9, 11 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:346–49, 357–60; extract from record of meeting between Prime Minister and President Roosevelt, 11 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27909, F7995/86/23, PRO; Reynolds, Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance, 238–39; Wilson, First Summit, 88–93, 163–66.

  12. “Draft Considered in Discussions with President Roosevelt at Placentia,” 10 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/156–1, PRO.

  13. Welles memo of conversation with Wakasugi, 4 Aug. 1941, FR Japan, 2:543; Welles memo of conversation with Cadogan, 9 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:347,

  14. Arnold longhand notes of Argentia conference, box 181, Arnold papers.

  15. Churchill to FO, 11 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27847, F7882/4366/61, PRO.

  16. Oral statement and Japanese proposal handed by Nomura to Hull, 6 Aug. 1941, FR Japan, 2:548–50.

  17. Churchill to FO, 11 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/156–1, PRO; minute by Ashley Clarke, 20 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27909, F7985/86/23, PRO.

  18. Welles memo of conversation, 11 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:358.

  19. Arnold longhand notes of Argentia conference, box 181, Arnold papers; FO memo, 15 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27847, F7882/4366/61, Churchill memo, 20 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/485/7, and Churchill to Attlee, 12 Aug. 1941, and to Eden, 15 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/485/1, PRO.

  20. Memo (n.a.), 6 Aug. 1941, Atlantic Charter meeting folder #1, box 2, PSF:safe, FDRL; First Sea Lord to First Lord of Admiralty, 11 Aug. 1941, PREM 3/485/1, PRO; notes by Col. Charles W. Bundy, 16 Aug. 1941, of Churchill talk, 9 Aug. 1941, WPD 4402, RG 165; Arnold longhand notes of Argentia conference, box 181, Arnold papers; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, 311 and facing map; Arnold, Global Mission, 249–50.

  21. Kittredge, “U.S.-British Naval Cooperation,” 575; Hopkins memo of conversation with Stalin, 30 July 1941, FR 1941, 1:804; Roskill, War at Sea, 1:488–89, 492.

  22. Stimson diary, 19 Aug. 1941; Welles memo of conversation, 11 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:356–57.

  23. Leahy to SecState, 26, 29 July 1941 and Cole (Murphy) to SecState, 2 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 2:402–7; Langer, Vichy Gamble, 183–88.

  24. Conn, Engelman, and Fairchild, Guarding the U.S., 484–87.

  25. Bundy memo, 20 Aug. 1941, of conferences 11–12 Aug. 1941, WPD 4402, RG 165; Stimson diary, 19 Aug. 1941; Welles memo of conversation 11 Aug. 1941, FR 1941, 1:356; Kittredge, “U.S.-British Naval Cooperation,” 569.

  26. Memo of conversation between Stark and Pound, 11 Aug, 1941, PREM 3/485/5, PRO; CNO to CINCLANT, 26 Aug. 1941, box 82, SPDR, NOA.

  27. Churchill, Grand Alliance, 446.

  28. CNO to SPENAVO London, 28 Aug. 1941, box 82, SPDR, NOA; director NWPD to CNO, 13 Aug. 1941, ibid.; Argentia report, 22 Aug. 1941, minutes of Admiralty conference
s, series 2, COMNAVFOREUR records, NOA; Danckwerts memo of conversation with Turner, 19 Aug. 1941, CAB 122/577, PRO; Admiralty to British mission in Washington, 23 Aug. 1941, FO 371/26722, A6715/384/45, PRO; Kittredge “U.S.-British Naval Cooperation,” 572.

  29. Bureau of Ships memo, 9 Aug. 1941, A4–3/BB, CNO confidential, RG 80, NA; O. M. Hustvedt memo, 11 Sept. 1941, BB 55/58–2, box 307, ibid.; Norman Friedman, Battleships: An Illustrated Design History (Annapolis, 1985), 274–75.

  30. Harvey Diary, 31, 39; Kittredge, “U.S.-British Naval Cooperation,” 581.

  31. Admiralty to British mission in Washington, 23 Aug. 1941, CAB 122/575, PRO; Kittredge, “U.S.-British Naval Cooperation,” 570–71.

  32. Dallek, Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 276–78.

  33. Time. 7 JuIy-15 Sept. 1941.

  34. Draft communication to Japanese ambassador and attached memos, FR 1941, 4:370–76.

  35. Memo of conversation, 8 Aug, 1941, FR Japan, 2:550–51, Tokyo to Washington, 7 Aug. 1941, #12, “Magic” Background, 3A:8–9; Tokyo to Washington, 9 Aug. 1941, #21, #22, ibid, 14.

  36. Hull memo, 16 Aug. 1941, FR Japan, 2:553–54

  37. Halifax to FO, 18 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27909, F7985/86/23.

  38. Hull memo, 17 Aug. 1941, and statements handed by Roosevelt to Nomura, 17 Aug. 1941, FR Japan, 2:554–59.

  39. Washington to Tokyo, 17 Aug. 1941, #40, #42, “Magic” Background, 3A:26, 27,

  40. Washington to Tokyo, 18 Aug. 1941, #44, ibid., 3A:28; statement handed to Nomura, 17 Aug. 1941, FR Japan, 2:559.

  41. Halifax to FO, 18 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27909, F7985/86/23.

  42. New York Times, 25 Aug. 1941; Grew to SecState, 27 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 EW/14403, RG 59 (Japanese reaction).

  43. New York Times, 25 Aug. 1941.

  44. Churchill to Hopkins, 29 Aug. 1941, 740.0011 EW/14536 2/4, RG 59;Sterndale Bennett: memo, 20 Aug. 1941, FO 371/27976, F8031/1299/23; Hopkins as quoted in Reynolds, Anglo-American Alliance, 215.

  45. CINCLANT to senior officer present, Argentia, box 25, CINCLANT message files, NHOB, FRS. This account of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet’s assumption of escort duty is based on Heinrichs, “Roosevelt’s Intervention,” Diplomatic History (Fall 1986), 10:330–32.