Edwin O. Reischauer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edwin O. Reischauer
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| Born |
Edwin Oldfather Reischauer
October 15, 1910 |
| Died | September 1, 1990 (aged 79) La Jolla, California, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College (AB) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Spouse(s) | Elinor Adrienne Danton (widowed in 1956) Haru Matsukata |
| Children | 3, including Robert Reischauer |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Japanology East Asian studies |
| Institutions | United States Ambassador to Japan (1961–1966) Harvard University |
| Thesis | Nittō guhō junrei gyōki: Ennin's Diary of His Travels in T'ang China, 838–847 (1939) |
| Doctoral advisor | Serge Elisséeff |
| Doctoral students | Gail Lee Bernstein John W. Dower John Curtis Perry |
| Other notable students | Sen. Jay Rockefeller |
Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (October 15, 1910 – September 1, 1990) was an American diplomat, teacher, and professor at Harvard University. He was born in Tokyo, Japan, to American parents who were missionaries. Edwin Reischauer became a leading expert on the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. In 1939, he helped create the McCune–Reischauer system for writing Korean words using the English alphabet.
During and after World War II, Reischauer helped shape US policy toward East Asia. President John F. Kennedy chose him to be the United States Ambassador to Japan. He served in this important role from 1961 to 1966. Later, in 1973, Reischauer started the Japan Institute at Harvard University. This institute was later named in his honor.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Edwin Reischauer was born in Tokyo, Japan. His parents, Helen and August Karl Reischauer, were Presbyterian missionaries who focused on education. His father helped start the Tokyo Woman's Christian University. His mother founded Japan's first school for deaf students. Edwin and his younger brother, Robert, went to the American School in Japan. After that, they moved to the United States for college.
Edwin earned his bachelor's degree from Oberlin in 1931. He later got his PhD from Harvard University in 1939. His goal was to help Americans pay more attention to Asia. For his PhD, he studied and translated the travel diary of a Japanese monk named Ennin. This monk had traveled in China during the Tang dynasty.
Helping During Wartime
By 1940, Reischauer realized that war with Japan might happen. He wrote a memo to the U.S. Navy. He pointed out that very few Americans could read Japanese, especially handwritten military documents. He suggested creating a Japanese language school to train experts.
His idea was taken seriously. It led to the creation of the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School. During the war, Reischauer also ran a top-secret course for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. This course was held at Arlington Hall in Virginia. Arlington Hall was a secret center for breaking codes, similar to Bletchley Park in England.
A Career in Teaching
Reischauer taught at Harvard for 40 years. He and John King Fairbank created a very popular course about East Asian history and culture. This course was nicknamed "Rice Paddies." It became the basis for their influential textbooks, East Asia: The Great Tradition (1958) and East Asia: The Modern Transformation (1965).
Reischauer wrote books for both scholars and the general public. One of his well-known books was Japan: Story of a Nation. He also led the Harvard–Yenching Institute. When he gave his last lecture there in 1981, the room was packed. He remembered that when he first started, only two graduate students were interested in East Asian studies: himself and his brother.
Ambassador to Japan
President John F. Kennedy chose Reischauer to be the US Ambassador to Japan in 1961. This was a difficult time for US-Japan relations. There had been large protests in Japan against the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960. Reischauer had studied these protests. He believed they showed real concerns from the Japanese people. He argued that American leaders needed to understand Japan better.
Kennedy agreed and picked Reischauer for the job. This was unusual because most ambassadors were career diplomats. Reischauer was the first US ambassador to Japan who knew the local language.
As Ambassador, Reischauer worked to improve relations. He promoted the idea of an "equal partnership" between the two countries. He helped arrange a meeting between President Kennedy and Japan's Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda in 1961. This meeting helped make the US-Japan alliance stronger. Reischauer also hoped Kennedy would be the first US president to visit Japan. Plans were made, but Kennedy was assassinated before he could go.
Reischauer traveled widely in Japan, visiting many prefectures. The Japanese press playfully called his efforts the "Reischauer Offensive." His time as ambassador was seen as a great success. He continued in the role until 1966.
However, his time as ambassador ended with some sad events. He felt uncomfortable defending the US war in Vietnam, which led to his resignation. In 1964, he was stabbed by a Japanese youth. Reischauer recovered, but a blood transfusion he received gave him hepatitis C. This illness caused him health problems for the rest of his life.
Personal Life
Edwin Reischauer married Elinor Adrienne Danton in 1935. They had three children. Elinor passed away in 1955. Later, in 1956, he married Haru Matsukata. They discovered they had attended the same high school in Tokyo as teenagers. Together, they were a strong team. Their home in Belmont, Massachusetts, is now known as the Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House.
Later Life and Recognition
In 1973, Reischauer became the first Director of the Japan Institute at Harvard University. In 1985, when he turned 75, the institute was renamed the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies in his honor.
Also in 1985, the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies was opened at Johns Hopkins University. Senator Jay Rockefeller, one of Reischauer's former students, spoke at the dedication. He said Reischauer was "what a teacher is meant to be." Japan's ambassador also read a message from Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. The Prime Minister said he knew "no other man who has so thoroughly understood Japan."
Illness and Passing
For the last ten years of his life, Reischauer suffered from health problems. These were related to the hepatitis infection he got from the blood transfusion in Japan. Because of his illness, he had to stop teaching and lecturing. Edwin Reischauer passed away in 1990 due to complications from hepatitis C.
Impact on US Foreign Policy
Reischauer played a big role in shaping US foreign policy toward Japan and Asia. This was especially true after World War II and during the Vietnam War.
World War II and Beyond
In 1942, Reischauer wrote a "Memorandum on Policy towards Japan." This plan suggested how the US could achieve peace in Asia after the war.
US Bases in Okinawa
A secret memo from 1965, made public in 1996, showed Reischauer's ideas about US military bases in Okinawa. He suggested a way for the US to keep its bases there. This was even after the US-occupied islands returned to Japanese control. He believed this would help the US keep its military presence.
Korean Language System
In 1939, Edwin Reischauer and George M. McCune created the McCune–Reischauer system. This system helps write the Korean language using the English alphabet. For many years, it was the most widely used system. Reischauer called Hangul, the Korean alphabet, "perhaps the most scientific system of writing in general use in any language."
Honors and Awards
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1957
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, 1968- Elected to the American Philosophical Society, 1973
- Japan Foundation Award, 1975
- Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins, 1984.
- Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RIJS) at Harvard, 1985
- Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures, series of lectures from 1986 given at Harvard
See also
- Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House
- McCune–Reischauer romanization
