JAPS ASKED PEACE IN JAN. ENVOYS ON WAY --
By Walter Trohan
Release of all censorship restrictions
in the
Two days before the late President
Roosevelt left the last week in January for the
MacArthur Relayed Message to F.D.
The Jap offer, based on five separate
overtures, was relayed to the White House by Gen. MacArthur in a 40-page
communication. The American commander, who had just returned triumphantly to
The offer, as relayed by MacArthur,
contemplated abject surrender of everything but the person of the Emperor. The
suggestion was advanced from the Japanese quarters making the offer that the
Emperor become a puppet in the hands of American
forces.
Two of the five Jap overtures were made
through American channels and three through British channels. All came from
responsible Japanese, acting for Emperor Hirohito.
General's Communication Dismissed
President Roosevelt dismissed the
general's communication, which was studded with solemn references to the deity,
after a casual reading with the remark, "MacArthur is our greatest general and
our poorest politician."
The MacArthur report was not even taken
to
This Jap peace bid was known to the
Chicago Tribune and the
Must Explain Delay
Now that peace has been concluded on
the basis of the terms MacArthur reported, high administration officials
prepared to meet expected congressional demands for explanation of the delay. It
was considered certain that from various quarters of Congress charges would be
hurled that the delay cost thousands of American lives and casualties,
particularly in such costly offensives as Iwo Jima and
It was explained in high official
circles that the bid relayed by MacArthur did not constitute an official offer
in the same sense as the final offer which was presented through Japanese
diplomatic channels at
No negotiations were begun on the basis
of the bid, it was said, because it was feared that if any were undertaken the
Jap war lords, who were presumed to be ignorant of the feelers, would visit
swift punishment on those making the offer.
It was held possible that the war lords
might even assassinate the Emperor and announce the son of heaven had fled the
earth in a fury of indignation over the peace bid.
Defeat Seen Inevitable
Officials said it was felt by Mr.
Roosevelt that the Japs were not ripe for peace,
except for a small group, who were powerless to cope with the war lords, and
that peace could not come until the Japs had suffered
more.
The Jap overtures were made on
acknowledgment that defeat was inevitable and
Jap proposals to Gen. MacArthur
contemplated:
1. Full surrender of all Jap forces on
sea, in the air, at home, on island possessions and in occupied
countries.
2. Surrender of all arms and
munitions.
3. Occupation of the Jap homeland and
island possessions by Allied troops under American
direction.
Would Give Up Territory
4. Jap relinquishment from
5. Regulation of Jap industry to halt
present and future production of implements of war.
6. Turning over of any Japanese the
7. Immediate release of all prisoners
of war and internees in
After the fall of
Terms Drafted in July
In July the Tribune reported
that a set of terms were being drafted for President Truman to take to
These terms, which were embodied in the
Just before the Japanese surrender the
Russian foreign commissar disclosed that the Japs had
made peace overtures through