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they are going south, Mr. President. That's the obvious direction.”

Then Roosevelt said, “But it's not absolutely certain that they couldn't be going north. You haven't got information that they're not going north. You haven't got information with regard to direction.”

“That's right we haven't, but we must conclude that they are going south. It is so unlikely that they would go north.”

“Well,” said the President, “there are the Aleutians. There are fishing grounds. We do know there have been very large fishing fleets in those waters in recent months, larger than usual.”

I remember Knox saying, “That might be, but it's most unlikely. Fishing fleets pick up an awful lot of information. That we know. They must pick up information.”

Of course, we were all aware, though I don't know how we were made aware, that enormous suplies were being sent to Alaska. Now, I'm not sure the President said that the Japanese were going to the Aleutians possibly, but that was my conclusion when he mentioned north. All the President said was, “They might be going north. There is no evidence that they're not going north.”

Knox said, “No, but I must draw the conclusion that they're going south. I don't think they're out just to maneuver. We in the Navy think they must be going to do something.”