As part of the ongoing negotiations between Japan and the United States, diplomats on both sides tried to determine solutions that would prevent war. Kichisaburō Nomura, a former admiral of the Japanese Navy who became a diplomat, was responsible for maintaining the relationship between the government of Japan and the United States. He was the senior representative of Japan in the United States before World War II started. As the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Nomura handed these proposals to his American counterpart, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, on May 12, 1941. This offer from the government of Imperial Japan to negotiate a settlement with the United States emphasized the areas of disagreement with specific solutions regarding how the dispute could be handled.