Question for war historians

What happened to the members of the German & Japanese Embassy when FDR/S declared the declaration of WW2 war. Were they arrested or allowed to leave the USA?

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Permalink Reply by Dave J. (Scoop0901) on November 11, 2008 at 9:11am: That's a great question, Ian. I never really thought much about that aspect, especially with regard to the Japanese embassy and personnel, most notably after the fiasco of not delivering the Declaration of War on-time, having delivered it only after the bombing of Pearl Harbor had finished.

Then again, part of the fault of that mess rests with the imperials in Japan at the time, because if they had given adequate time for preparation, translation, typing, and delivery, things would have been done on-time. On the flip side, history likely would have been much, much different had things worked out with the Declaration of War being delivered on-time.

A good place you can send the question to is the U.S. Dept. of State via email. The contact us page for the State Dept. is at http://contact-us.state.gov/. If nothing else, you can always file a Freedom of Information Act request. Another option would be to contact the Japanese and the German consulate or embassy in NY or DC and ask. They should be able to look up the historical information, as well, without much issue.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave J. (Scoop0901) on November 13, 2008 at 9:23am: Ian:
I did a quick check with the U.S. State Department and received the answer to your question this morning. The response is:

Thank you for your inquiry. Documents relating to the exchange of U.S. and Axis diplomats were published in Volume I of our 1942 Foreign Relations of the United States series (General, British Commonwealth, & the Far East), pp. 285-449. German and Italian diplomats were held at the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, WV. Japanese diplomats were held at the Homestead Hotel, Hot Springs, VA. To consult this volume online, look here: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1942v01; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Edward Domain on February 12, 2009 at 1:54pm: Scoop- you are like a real live Google! ha; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Edward Domain on February 12, 2009 at 1:53pm: That is a really good question-- I don't know; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ian Stares on February 13, 2009 at 3:25am: Yes Scoop`s a ledgend; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Dawson on August 4, 2009 at 4:48pm: Hey Ian! Bob (thebugleboy) from BAA visiting with you. Great discussions.
I remember from history (wan't around when it happened) that Ambassador (Admiral) Namura returned to Japan in August, 1942, don't know about Kurusu, the special envoy who helped him negotiate with Washington. I don't think Namura was actually deported, though I believe he became a personna non grata in Allied nations. The interesting story is the American hunt down of Axis nationals (both European and Asian) in Central and South America. My comments here do not judge in this matter. My father was with the US Army Aircorps, so I learned his views of the matter. Interesting story though. Keep up the good work, Ian!
To Scoop: Did you learn if they were actually deported or allowed to leave? My words on the subject are from memory and probably need correcting some.
Bob; ▶ Reply to This