MEMORANDUM March 10, 1986 From: Frank A. Schuler, Jr., former Foreign Service/Language Officer Department of State - 1930-1953 Re: Despatch Warning About Japan's Plan to Attack Pearl Harbor 1. On January 27, 1941, a telegram arrived in the Division of Far Eastern Affairs of the Department of State from Ambassador Joseph C. Grew in Tokyo, reporting that the Japanese were planning a surprise mass attack on Pearl Harbor. See Ex. 1, TELEGRAM RECEIVED, dated January 27, 1941, and Ex. 2, paraphrase of the telegram. Also, please note my initials, "FASj" in the upper right edge of the FE stamp. */ 2. Several days later, as was customary, a despatch-arrived by diplomatic courier, supplementing in detail the informa- tion contained in the above telegram. In relating the facts, Mr. Grew stated that the Peruvian Minister to Japan, Ricardo Rivera Schreiber, had told him (or as Mr. Grew put it, a member of his staff) that the Japanese were planning "a surprise mass attack" on Pearl Harbor. The 2-3 page despatch went on to give Mr. Schreiber's source as his Japanese valet, a trusted employee of many years, who had a brother in Japanese Naval Intelligence at the time who had access to documents which revealed Admiral Yamamoto's plan to attack Pearl Harbor. 3. In the course of the hearings in search of the truth about events leading up to the attack, Mr. Grew consistently denied he knew Mr. Schreiber's source. One example appears in Mr. Grew's book, TURBULENT ERA, Footnote 19 on P. 1233, Ex. 3 attached. 4. One aspect of the despatch stands out vividly in my mind, as well as that of my wife, then Olive LaCroix, namely,the last paragraph consisting of one sentence. "The Embassy places no credence in Minister Schreiber's report." This fatal last sentence assured that the information would never get to the eyes and ears of the Secretary of State as as well as the President. */ This despatch is missing from the files.