Cairo Epilogue

Of all the world's half-conquered but still-resisting nations, China has fought the longest. Savage Japanese air and land attacks, against soldiers and civilians alike, might well have made the Chinese vengeful. But in Chungking last week, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek spoke reasonably of the Japanese, repeating to the world what he had told President Roosevelt at Cairo.

Said China's Gissimo: "When President Roosevelt asked my views [of Japan] I frankly replied: 'It is my opinion that all Japanese militarists must be wiped out . . . [but] the question [of Japan's postwar government] can better be left to the awakened and repentant Japanese people to decide for themselves.' I also said 'if the Japanese people should rise in revolution to punish their warmongers and overthrow their militarists' government, we should respect their spontaneous will and allow them to choose their own form of government.' Mr. Roosevelt fully approved of my idea."

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A section of official opinion in the U.S. holds that Japan's Emperor Hirohito should be spared from propaganda and other attack, preserved as the postwar ruler of defeated Japan (see p. 19). Crux of this argument: the Emperor was against war with the U.S., resisted the actions of his war lords.

In Tokyo last week, Emperor Hirohito attended the opening of the 84th session of the Japanese Diet, listened to the reading of his imperial rescript. The message praised: 1) "The warriors who represent us"; 2) "Our subjects exerting their efforts in production"; 3) "The great undertaking in East Asia. . . ." It was the Son of Heaven's strongest endorsement of his war lords. In effect, he clothed them with imperial authority, sanctioned their actions.

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