“HULL NOTE” DELIVERED TO JAPAN

“Hull note” delivered to Japan

In the tense weeks before open war in the Pacific, Japanese diplomats in Washington received a new written proposal from Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The document called for Japanese withdrawal from much of China and Southeast Asia and insisted on respect for territorial integrity in the region, terms that many leaders in Tokyo had no intention of accepting. By the time the note was delivered, Japanese forces and fleets had already been placed on the path toward offensive operations, including the carrier task force steaming toward Hawaii. Even so, this exchange is often remembered as the final, failed attempt at a diplomatic resolution between the two countries before hostilities erupted. For the United States, the note reflected a determination to resist further expansion by force; for hard-line figures in Japan, it reinforced the belief that war with the United States had become inevitable.