§ 45. Mr. Horabinasked the Prime Minister on what date the overtures for peace were made by Japan before the offer of peace to Japan by the Potsdam Declaration of 26th July or whether any overtures were received before the first atomic bomb was dropped on 6th August.
§ The Prime MinisterNo overtures for peace were made by Japan to the countries with which she was at war, prior to her acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which she did not communicate to us until 10th August, 1945, 15 days after the Declaration had been made and four days after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. It was known, however, that the Japanese leaders had previously been considering means of reaching a settlement more favourable to themselves than unconditional surrender. At Potsdam, on 28th July, 1945, Generalissimo Stalin informed President Truman and me in strict confidence that the Soviet Government, who had not at that time joined in the Far Eastern war, had received from the Japanese Government a proposal that they should act as mediators between the Japanese Government and the British and United States Governments. According418W to Generalissimo Stalin, the Soviet Government interpreted this move as an attempt to obtain the collaboration of the Soviet Government in the furtherance of Japanese policy and they had, therefore, returned an unhesitating negative. The information thus furnished by Generalissimo Stalin offered no new opportunity for hastening the conclusion of the war, since the Japanese Government had already, by the Potsdam Declaration of 26th July, been invited in the most formal manner to surrender.