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Biography: Edwin O. Reischauer

 

Reischauer Scholarship Release

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In 1961 President John F. Kennedy made an unusual appointment. Rather than nominating a career diplomat as the American Ambassador to Japan, he nominated a scholar and teacher of Japanese and East Asian history -- Edwin O. Reischauer. In addition to representing the interests of the United States, Reischauer saw the ambassadorship as an opportunity to mediate between what he called his "two homelands," and to build "an equal partnership" between two industrial nations across the barriers of language, culture, race and history. Today, the partnership he built is a crucial source of stability in world affairs.

Described by The Washington Post as "the most successful Ambassador to Japan," Reischauer was born in Japan in 1910 to missionary parents. His father was a professor at Meiji Gakuin University, and his mother founded the Japan School for the Deaf in Machida. Upon graduating from the American School in Japan, the future Ambassador enrolled at Oberlin College and graduated in the class of 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University, where he became a professor of Japanese studies and, in 1956, director of the university's Yenching Institute.

After the death of his first wife, Reischauer married Haru Matsukata. Their union symbolized the partnership they sought to foster between Japan and the United States. Like her husband, Matsukata was educated in both countries, and she worked to develop "better understanding and peace between my two countries."

While many circumstances contributed to Ambassador Reischauer's success, it is significant that he began his higher education with an American liberal arts degree. Therefore, by enabling a Japanese student to follow this same path, the Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer Scholarship is a fitting memorial to a significant American friend of Japan.

   

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