British Ambassador [2] saw the Secretary of State [3] this evening
who regarded the Japanese reply regarding the Japanese
reinforcement of Indo-China (text of which published this evening)
as unsatisfactory. The Secretary of State said that he asked the
Japanese representatives if it was really intended that the United
States should believe in the defensive character of all the
Japanese movements, and a good deal more in the same critical
sense. The conversation had produced no result and Hull said that
the Japanese had not moved an inch.

The British Ambassador pressed the Secretary of State on the
dangers of delay in respect of the President's [4] communication
to the Japanese Emperor and of the assurance to Thailand. The
Secretary of State said that he thought that the President would
decide tomorrow to send the communication to the Emperor and
promised to do his best to 'get it stiff'. The Secretary of State
was non-committal about the assurance to Thailand. [5]

CASEY