Then U.S. President John F. Kennedy expressed anxiety in 1963 about the Japanese government's denial in the Diet that American warships armed with nuclear weapons passed through Japanese ports, according to a U.S. file revealed Sunday.
During a hurriedly convened meeting March 26, 1963, Kennedy and senior U.S. officials discussed whether then Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda was aware of a secret 1960 U.S.-Japan deal sanctioning such vessels' calls at Japanese ports, according to the document, which was marked "top secret."
U.S. historian Kai Bird has found the file, "Presidential Conference on the Transit of U.S. Nuclear Armed Warships through Japanese Ports," among documents owned by the late Averell Harriman, who served as undersecretary of state for Kennedy.
To date, Japan has consistently pledged that the United States has never introduced nuclear arms to Japan, nor allowed U.S. vessels armed with nuclear weapons to transit Japanese ports.