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(Monday, November 17, 1941, 11:10 a.m.-12:10 p.m. EST; 20 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) — Conferences that may decide whether there will be peace or war in the Far East opened today when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt received Saburo Kurusu, special Japanese envoy, for an hour at the White House.

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U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Japanese Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura also were present.

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There was no indication that any satisfactory progress had been made toward achieving a better understanding between the U.S. and Japan. But negotiations would continue for another three weeks.

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On Nov. 20, 1941, Kurusu would present Japan’s proposal that the United States cease aid to China and resume trade relations that had been frozen in December 1939.

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On Nov. 26, 1941, Hull conveyed the Hull note, President Roosevelt’s demands for Japan to withdraw its troops from China and to sever its Axis ties with Germany and Italy as a condition for peace.

Kurusu reviewed the demand and replied, “If this is the attitude of the American government, I don’t see how an agreement is possible. Tokyo will throw up its hands at this.”