Okla-homey
8/27/2010, 07:32 AM
Aug 27, 1941: Japanese prime minister requests a summit meeting with FDR
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fumimaro_konoe_6.jpg
Fumimaro Konoye
69 years ago, on this day in 1941, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, announces that he would like to enter into direct negotiations with President Roosevelt in order to prevent the Japanese conflict with China from expanding into world war.
Konoye, a lawyer by training and well studied in Western philosophy, literature, and economics, entered the Japanese Parliament's upper house by virtue of his princely status and immediately pursued a program of reform. High on his agenda was a reform of the army general staff in order to prevent its direct interference in foreign policy decisions.
He also sought an increase in parliamentary power. An antifascist, Konoye championed an end to the militarism of Japanese political structures, especially in light of the war in Manchuria, which began in 1931.
Appointed prime minister in 1933, Konoye's first cabinet fell apart after full-blown war broke out between Japan and China. In 1940, Konoye was asked to form a second cabinet. But as he sought to contain the war with China, relations with the United States deteriorated, to the point where Japan was virtually surrounded by a U.S. military presence and threats of sanctions.
On August 27, 1941, Konoye requested a summit with President Roosevelt in order to diminish heightening tensions. Envoys were exchanged, but no direct meeting with the president took place.
Konoye continued to work for peace among the Japanese government into October. He earnestly believed if Japan would recall its forces from China, war with the US could be overted and the myriad sanctions in place designed to punish Japan, including an oil embargo, would be lifted.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fujsecond_cabinet_of_fumimaro_konoe.jpg
Konoe front, Tojo in uniform left.
This all came to a head at a cabinet meeting on October 14. Army Minister Tojo Hideki stated that negotiations had failed, and the only thing now that would do, was an attack on the US. Konoye and his allies remained convinced that if the Army would only agree, in principle, to an ultimate withdrawal from China, a negotiated settlement could be reached with the US. This was brought up at the meeting and General Tojo responded heatedly:
To yield to the American demand and withdraw their troops, he exploded, would wipe out all the fruits of the China War, endanger Manchukuo, and jeopardize the governing of Korea. To accept troop withdrawal in name only would not benefit Japan either, he said. Withdrawal would mean retreat. It would depress morale. A demoralized Army would be as worthless as no Army. Our troops in China are the "heart of the matter", he persisted. Having made one concession after another, why should Japan now yield the "heart?" "If we concede this, what is diplomacy? It is surrender … a stain on the history of our empire!" -- Tojo Hideki
After this October 14, 1941 meeting, Konoye resigned. Army minister, Tojo Hideki, would succeed him as prime minister. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Konoye was put under military surveillance, his political career all but over until 1945, when the emperor considered sending him to Moscow to negotiate peace terms. That meeting never came off either.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fu250px-Corpse_of_Fumimaro_Konoe.jpg
US coroner examines Konoye's body
The grand irony of Prince Konoye's career came at the war's conclusion, when he was served with an arrest warrant by the U.S. occupying force for suspicion of war crimes. Rather than submit to arrest, he committed suicide by taking cyanide.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fumimaro_konoe_6.jpg
Fumimaro Konoye
69 years ago, on this day in 1941, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, announces that he would like to enter into direct negotiations with President Roosevelt in order to prevent the Japanese conflict with China from expanding into world war.
Konoye, a lawyer by training and well studied in Western philosophy, literature, and economics, entered the Japanese Parliament's upper house by virtue of his princely status and immediately pursued a program of reform. High on his agenda was a reform of the army general staff in order to prevent its direct interference in foreign policy decisions.
He also sought an increase in parliamentary power. An antifascist, Konoye championed an end to the militarism of Japanese political structures, especially in light of the war in Manchuria, which began in 1931.
Appointed prime minister in 1933, Konoye's first cabinet fell apart after full-blown war broke out between Japan and China. In 1940, Konoye was asked to form a second cabinet. But as he sought to contain the war with China, relations with the United States deteriorated, to the point where Japan was virtually surrounded by a U.S. military presence and threats of sanctions.
On August 27, 1941, Konoye requested a summit with President Roosevelt in order to diminish heightening tensions. Envoys were exchanged, but no direct meeting with the president took place.
Konoye continued to work for peace among the Japanese government into October. He earnestly believed if Japan would recall its forces from China, war with the US could be overted and the myriad sanctions in place designed to punish Japan, including an oil embargo, would be lifted.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fujsecond_cabinet_of_fumimaro_konoe.jpg
Konoe front, Tojo in uniform left.
This all came to a head at a cabinet meeting on October 14. Army Minister Tojo Hideki stated that negotiations had failed, and the only thing now that would do, was an attack on the US. Konoye and his allies remained convinced that if the Army would only agree, in principle, to an ultimate withdrawal from China, a negotiated settlement could be reached with the US. This was brought up at the meeting and General Tojo responded heatedly:
To yield to the American demand and withdraw their troops, he exploded, would wipe out all the fruits of the China War, endanger Manchukuo, and jeopardize the governing of Korea. To accept troop withdrawal in name only would not benefit Japan either, he said. Withdrawal would mean retreat. It would depress morale. A demoralized Army would be as worthless as no Army. Our troops in China are the "heart of the matter", he persisted. Having made one concession after another, why should Japan now yield the "heart?" "If we concede this, what is diplomacy? It is surrender … a stain on the history of our empire!" -- Tojo Hideki
After this October 14, 1941 meeting, Konoye resigned. Army minister, Tojo Hideki, would succeed him as prime minister. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Konoye was put under military surveillance, his political career all but over until 1945, when the emperor considered sending him to Moscow to negotiate peace terms. That meeting never came off either.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/Okla-homey/fu250px-Corpse_of_Fumimaro_Konoe.jpg
US coroner examines Konoye's body
The grand irony of Prince Konoye's career came at the war's conclusion, when he was served with an arrest warrant by the U.S. occupying force for suspicion of war crimes. Rather than submit to arrest, he committed suicide by taking cyanide.