“When you have to kill a man…”
Churchill was criticized for his extremely respectful letter to the Japanese Ambassador to Britain in December 1941, when informing him that their countries were at war. Churchill’s response to critics was, “After all, when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.” Did he actually have the man killed? —W.H., New York
No. Churchill was writing in the abstract, and did not actually propose to slay the Ambassador. Following the usual diplomatic protocol, Mamoru Shigemitsu (Ambassador to the Soviet Union 1936–38 and to Britain 1938–41) was handed his passport and given unimpeded passage back to Japan.…
