10 Dec.
45
"Article 3. Germany, Italy, and Japan
agree to co-operate in their efforts on the aforesaid basis. They
further undertake to assist one another with all political, economic,
and military means, if one of the three contracting parties is
attacked by a power at present not involved in the European war or in
the Chinese-Japanese conflict."
I now skip to the first sentence of Article 6.
"The present pact shall come into
force immediately upon signature and remain in force for 10 years from
the date of its coming into force."
The Tripartite Pact of 27 September 1940 thus was a bold announcement to
the world that the fascist leaders of Germany, Japan, and Italy had
cemented a full military alliance to achieve world domination and to
establish a New Order presaged by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in
1931, the ruthless Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1935, and the Nazi
overflow into Austria early in 1938. 1 might also comment that this fact
introduces the Führerprinzip into world politics.
I should like to read in this connection a statement by Cordell Hull,
Secretary of State of the United States, at the time of the signing of
this Tripartite Pact. This statement appears in the official United
States publication, Peace and War, United States Foreign Policy,
1931-1941, which has already been put in evidence as Exhibit
USA-122. Mr. Hull's statement is Number 184 therein. It is also our
Document Number 2944-PS, and both the English text and a German
translation thereof are included in the document books. I now quote a
statement by the Secretary of State, 27 September 1940:
"The reported agreement of alliance
does not, in view of the Government of the United States,
substantially alter a situation which has existed for several years.
Announcement of the alliance merely makes clear to all a relationship
which has long existed in effect, and to which this Government have
repeatedly called attention. That such an agreement has been in
process of conclusion has been well known for some time, and that fact
has been fully taken into account by the Government of the United
States, in the determining of this country's policies."
That ends the quotation.
I shall not attempt here to trace the relationships and negotiations
leading up to the Tripartite Pact of 27 September 1940. 1 shall note,
however, one example of the type of German-Japanese relationship
existing before the formalization of the Tripartite Pact. This is the
record of the conversation of 31 January 1939 between Himmler and
General Oshima, Japanese Ambassador at Berlin, which