Edwin Reischauer - Here’a a very interesting clip on how JFK’s ambassador to Japan thought about escalation/de-escalation in Vietnam in the 60s. For six minutes, with great overlap to Ukraine today… Reischauer appears to have been a commendably great statesman, aiding U.S.-Japanese understanding post WWII. I’m going to put a bit more about him in the comments section below for anyone interested.
'Long an outspoken critic of U.S. cultural ignorance of Asia, especially of Japan, which he felt was of central importance to the West, Reischauer produced scholarly works and conducted educational seminars that were directed at improving U.S. cultural understanding of Japan. This failure to understand Asian affairs, he contended, led directly to U.S. political failures in the area.
'He was instrumental in deepening American consciousness of Japan and the outside world.
'Reischauer was appointed US Ambassador to Japan by President John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1961, at a time when US-Japan relations were at a low point following the massive 1960 protests in Japan against the US-Japan Security Treaty. In the immediate aftermath of the protests, Reischauer had traveled to Japan and spoken with various Japanese friends and associates to get a Japanese point of view on the protests. After returning to the United States, Reischauer attracted the attention of Kennedy's transition team when he wrote an article about the protests in the prominent policy journal Foreign Affairs called "The Broken Dialogue with Japan." In this article Reischauer rejected the notion, put forth by the Eisenhower administration, that the protests had been a communist plot. Instead, he argued that the protests reflected real grievances on the part of the Japanese in relation to US, and were exacerbated by a failure by American leaders to reach out to Japanese opinion leaders and try to understand Japanese concerns. Reischauer argued forcefully that only skillful and nuanced diplomacy could repair this "broken dialogue."
'On the advice of his advisors, Kennedy decided that Reischauer himself would be the best candidate for the job, and nominated Reischauer to be his first (and only) ambassador to Japan. This was a break with precedent, because previous ambassadors to Japan had been career State Department officials who had no special connection with Japan. In fact, State Department officials viewed strong connections with an ambassador's host country with suspicion and opposed Reischauer's nomination on these grounds. However, Kennedy prevailed and Reischauer became the first US ambassador to Japan who actually knew the local language.
[Talk about entrenching misunderstandings!]
'In 1985, on the opening of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies (part of Johns Hopkins University), Japan's ambassador, Nabuo Matsunaga, read a personal message from Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone: "I know of no other man who has so thoroughly understood Japan."'
More on Edwin Reischauer...
'Long an outspoken critic of U.S. cultural ignorance of Asia, especially of Japan, which he felt was of central importance to the West, Reischauer produced scholarly works and conducted educational seminars that were directed at improving U.S. cultural understanding of Japan. This failure to understand Asian affairs, he contended, led directly to U.S. political failures in the area.
'He was instrumental in deepening American consciousness of Japan and the outside world.
'Reischauer was appointed US Ambassador to Japan by President John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1961, at a time when US-Japan relations were at a low point following the massive 1960 protests in Japan against the US-Japan Security Treaty. In the immediate aftermath of the protests, Reischauer had traveled to Japan and spoken with various Japanese friends and associates to get a Japanese point of view on the protests. After returning to the United States, Reischauer attracted the attention of Kennedy's transition team when he wrote an article about the protests in the prominent policy journal Foreign Affairs called "The Broken Dialogue with Japan." In this article Reischauer rejected the notion, put forth by the Eisenhower administration, that the protests had been a communist plot. Instead, he argued that the protests reflected real grievances on the part of the Japanese in relation to US, and were exacerbated by a failure by American leaders to reach out to Japanese opinion leaders and try to understand Japanese concerns. Reischauer argued forcefully that only skillful and nuanced diplomacy could repair this "broken dialogue."
'On the advice of his advisors, Kennedy decided that Reischauer himself would be the best candidate for the job, and nominated Reischauer to be his first (and only) ambassador to Japan. This was a break with precedent, because previous ambassadors to Japan had been career State Department officials who had no special connection with Japan. In fact, State Department officials viewed strong connections with an ambassador's host country with suspicion and opposed Reischauer's nomination on these grounds. However, Kennedy prevailed and Reischauer became the first US ambassador to Japan who actually knew the local language.
[Talk about entrenching misunderstandings!]
'In 1985, on the opening of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies (part of Johns Hopkins University), Japan's ambassador, Nabuo Matsunaga, read a personal message from Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone: "I know of no other man who has so thoroughly understood Japan."'