740.00119 PW/5–2945

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State

In my talk with the President this afternoon I told him of the consensus at the meeting in Secretary Stimson’s office this morning to the effect that, while Mr. Stimson, Mr. Forrestal and General Marshall concurred in the desirability of letting the Japanese know that they themselves will be permitted, at the termination of the military government of occupation, to choose their own future political structure, it was not considered wise, owing to certain military considerations, to [Page 549] make such a statement just now. It was therefore felt that the matter should remain temporarily in abeyance. I reported this to the President, who accepted the consensus of the meeting.67

Joseph C. Grew
  1. See President Truman’s message to Congress on June 1, Department of State Bulletin, June 3, 1945, p. 999.