Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Japanese Government

On November 26, 1941, the U.S. Secretary of State gave the Japanese government a ten-part message that outlined the American position on the tense situation in the Far East and urged a peaceful resolution of the two countries' differences. No answer was forthcoming, so on December 6, only hours before the attack on Hawaii, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a follow-up message to the Japanese emperor, again calling for restraint. That same afternoon, the Japanese ambassador in Washington, D.C., finally delivered the overdue answer to the November 26 message; this Japanese document, often called the Fourteen-Part Message, was an arrogant, belligerent condemnation of U.S. policies. Thus, although each government officially contacted the other at the last minute, the messages were at cross-purposes, and in any event, the Japanese had already made up...