U.S. psychological warfare experts intended to use the emperor as a "symbol of peace" in propaganda warfare in June 1942 -- six months after Japan bombed Hawaii and triggered the war with the United States -- to baffle Japan's military authorities, according to declassified documents obtained by Kyodo News.
The scheme was outlined in a secret plan compiled by the Psychological Warfare Branch of the U.S. War Department. One of 11 propaganda objectives in the plan was "to use the Japanese emperor (with caution and not by name) as a peace symbol."
A 35-page final draft of the "Japan Plan," dated June 3, 1942, was signed by a colonel who served as chairman of the Joint Psychological Warfare Committee at the War Department.