Historian James Mc lean says secretary of state cordel hull didn't see it that way. He really thought you could get the japanese to see reason through something like this. It's not true because all of the ideas that made this look like an ultimatum were part of of a japan s construct, writes Marius b jenson.
Deep themes run through this show, with allegations of Japanese war crimes and atrocities in China at the start leading to eerily familiar, almost modern questions over how the world should respond. And then Dec 7, 1941 arrives...