Ammah, “Christian-Muslim Relations,” 152, citing Christa W. Anbeck, review of “Women Speaking, Women Listening: Women in Interreligious Dialogue,” Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 2, no. 1 (1992): 89–91.

The Peacemaking Efforts of a Reverse Missionary: Toyohiko Kagawa before Pearl Harbor Bo Tao

oyohiko Kagawa (1888–1960), notable Christian leader Roosevelt (1882–1945). Their relationship, to be sure, was not Tfrom , has attracted much attention from scholars particularly direct or extensive; most of their contact came in and the general public of late, partly because of the commemo- the form of correspondence, often mediated through a mutual rative fervor that surrounded the centennial of his momentous acquaintance. Nevertheless, the issues that brought them together entrance into the slums of Kobe in 1909, but also because of the were of central importance in the early twentieth-century world, renewed interest in the value of his social and economic teach- highlighting fundamental themes that, fittingly encapsulated ings in light of recent global financial calamities. in Kagawa’s preaching and speaking tours in America, remain Today, Kagawa’s legacy in Japan remains a highly contested relevant even today. one: on the one hand, he was the best-selling author of the Taishō The nature of Kagawa’s relationship with Roosevelt can era (1912–26) and the forerunner of many prominent social and be surmised from his January 20, 1941, letter to the president, religious movements during his lifetime; on the other hand, his typed on a letterhead marked with his name and office in Kami- fame and recognition faded rapidly in the years following his Kitazawa, Tokyo, and dated on the occasion of the president’s death.1 One explanation for this decline in public perception third inauguration. might be his simultaneous involvement in an incredibly diverse range of activities. Although Kagawa played a leading role in Your Excellency: numerous religious, , and pacifist organizations, As a token of my deepest appreciation of your great kindness while also engaging in active literary production throughout his accorded to me on my landing in your country a few years ago, life, his contributions to each field have received limited recogni- and also as an expression of my congratulations to you upon tion from posterity, stemming from a critical attitude toward his your re-election for the third term as President of the United perceived lack of commitment to a single cause.2 States, it gives me great pleasure to present you this portrait In contrast, Kagawa’s overseas image is fairly consistent: he “Kake-mono” of your excellency drawn by a Japanese artist, Mr. has been viewed by Christians of the world as a representative Tobun Hayashi. . . . non-Western evangelist who also preached widely on topics of So please accept this with my best wishes and with my sin- concern to Christians—in short, a “reverse missionary” from cere and earnest prayer for ever-lasting international good-will between our countries and for world peace at this difficult time. Japan.3 However, the extent of his social and political impact on the peoples and countries he visited has, in many cases, yet Toyohiko Kagawa5 to be fully examined. The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to begin the process of historical contextualization and reevalua- Enclosed with the letter was a scroll portrait of the presi- tion of Kagawa’s transnational impact by focusing on a specific dent, sitting at a table with his glasses in hand, along with the episode in U.S.-Japanese diplomatic history prior to Pearl Harbor, implements used to produce the painting (see following pages). with an eye toward how Kagawa, acting as a reverse missionary, The artist, Tobun Hayashi, drew the portrait based on a pic- contributed toward shaping the course of events.4 ture loaned by Joseph Grew, the American ambassador to Japan. The act of “great kindness” here refers to President Roosevelt’s Kagawa’s Letter and Gift personal letter in December 1935 granting entry permission to Kagawa—who had come to the United States for a speaking tour As a guidepost for discussion, the present study will examine but was detained on December 18 by San Francisco immigration the connections between Toyohiko Kagawa and Franklin D. authorities. The officials cited Kagawa’s trachoma, a severe eye infection he had picked up during his years of work in the Kobe Bo Tao is a graduate of Brown University, Provi- slums, as a potential health risk. Upon learning of the Japanese dence, Rhode Island (B.A., anthropology) and Fudan Christian leader’s detention through the personal telegrams University, Shanghai (M.A., international relations). of Kagawa’s many supporters around the country, Roosevelt He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in modern promptly called attention to this matter at a regular cabinet meet- Japanese history at Yale University, New Haven, ing on December 20.6 A press statement released by the White Connecticut. —[email protected] House said that the president had expressed “personal interest” in Kagawa and had “urged prompt action” for the resolution of his case.7 Kagawa was soon given clearance, and went on to July 2013 171 spend the first half of 1936 touring the United States, speaking to Japanese Christian Peace Delegation to the United States (Nichibei a nation ravaged by recession about the spiritual and economic Kirisutokyō heiwa shisetsudan). benefits of . Meanwhile, in late January 1941, two Tokyo officials had The receipt of Kagawa’s letter, as well as the portrait, was independently set out to influence the course of U.S.-Japan rela- acknowledged on April 25, 1941, by Roosevelt’s private secretary, tions. Tokuyasu Fukuda, an officer from the Intelligence Bureau Marguerite LeHand.8 While it is not clear whether the president of the Foreign Ministry, confidentially consulted his older col- was able to reply to Kagawa, the letter is nevertheless indicative league Mitsuaki Kakehi, former director of YMCA Japan and of the shared concerns of the two at the time—namely, the reper- at one time a leader in the Student Christian Movement, on the cussions of the Great Depression and the heightened tensions best way to achieve peace in the Pacific. Agreeing that normal between Japan and the United States—which served as the focus diplomatic channels were no longer sufficient to attain their goal, of Kagawa’s 1935–36 and 1941 American tours. they decided to call upon the services of a private citizen who could positively influence Japan’s public image in America. To The Japanese Christian Peace Delegation that end, Kakehi, who had seen Kagawa preach to an enthralled audience at the Twentieth World’s Conference of the YMCA, held The primary source of tension between Japan and the United States at Cleveland some ten years earlier, promptly recommended him during this period stemmed from Japan’s military expansion in as the only man suited for the job. While it took some amount of East Asia and its perceived threat to American commercial and persuasion, Kagawa ultimately agreed to the plan.12 diplomatic interests. Such antagonisms were exacerbated when Japan, spurred by Hitler’s successful campaigns in Europe, decided to side with Germany and Italy in the Tripartite Pact and began advancing southward toward French Indochina, under the name of constructing the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. America became greatly alarmed by such maneuvers, and a war in the Pacific appeared imminent. In anticipation of the turbulent international waters ahead, the government of Japan enacted the Religious Bodies Law in April 1940, forcibly consolidating Japan’s forty or so Christian denominations over a year’s time. These wartime religious poli- cies—coupled with the nationalistic zeal that accompanied the celebration in late 1940 of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthrone- ment of Japan’s legendary first emperor, Jimmu—set in motion the final steps that led to the formation of a general governing body for native Christians, the United Church of Christ in Japan (Nihon Kirisutokyō dan). From the Christians’ perspective, this was not an unwelcome step; an ecumenical church union had been a long-term goal of their own. Japan’s participation in the 1910 World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh marked its first step into world Chris- Painting implements sent to Roosevelt by Kagawa in 1941 tianity, resulting in a heightened desire for church unity and eventually leading to the founding of the National Christian There was a problem, however: Kagawa had been arrested Council of Japan (Nihon Kirisutokyō renmei) in 1923—with much by the Japanese gendarmerie in August 1940 because of his encouragement and practical support from John R. Mott, the apology to the people of China, in an overseas publication, for chairman of Edinburgh 1910.9 In the wake of the 1928 confer- Japan’s repeated acts of aggression.13 Although he was released ence of the International Missionary Council in Jerusalem, the through the help of Foreign Minister Matsuoka, Kagawa was momentum for church union in Japan culminated in the King- subsequently placed under constant surveillance, making it dom of God movement (Kami no kuni undō), sponsored by the difficult for him to travel abroad. Fortunately for their plans, National Christian Council. The movement, originally proposed Fukuda and Kakehi soon found out that the National Christian by Kagawa at a special meeting of the council in honor of Mott’s Council had been independently planning a trip of their own—the 1929 visit to Japan, consisted of mass rallies and prayer meetings Japanese Christian Peace Delegation to the United States—that around the country from 1929 to 1935. It mobilized an audience could provide the perfect cover for Kagawa. Thus, necessary of over one million and became the largest Christian evangeliza- arrangements were made with the Foreign Ministry, and the tion campaign in Japanese history.10 Imperial Army and Navy were ordered not to interfere with the Since the Religious Bodies Law also sought to restrict the role activities of the deputation, as it was deemed a purely religious of foreign missionaries within the Japanese church establishment, mission. Kagawa, for his part, refused to take orders from the certain adjustments had to be made with the American mission government and insisted that he go on his own accord, raising boards. Thus on February 15, 1941, the National Christian Coun- funds from private sources and arriving in the United States cil submitted a resolution to the Federal Council of Churches of separately from the rest of the delegation.14 Christ in America, proposing a meeting of church leaders from both countries to deliberate on the issues that had come between Kagawa and the John Doe Associates them in the preceding months. American church representatives responded positively, suggesting the historic Mission Inn at Riv- Japan’s leadership was sharply divided at this moment. Despite erside, California, as the venue, and the week following Easter its aggressive military conduct, not all Japanese desired war, and as the time for the gathering.11 Herein lay the origins of the 1941 Prince Fumimaro Konoe (1891–1945), Japan’s prime minister

172 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 3 during many of the critical months before the outbreak of the Newspaper accounts of Kagawa and his fellow peace envoys Pacific War, held out hope for a negotiated settlement with the reveal an interesting difference in their attitude toward the press. United States. Facing opposition from the military clique in the Kagawa’s outspokenness—he is said to have “expressed surprise government, Konoe sought to arrange a secret meeting with during an interview [in New York] at apprehensions in this the American president, thereby avoiding any confrontation country of possible war between Japan,” asserting that “there between him and the rest of his cabinet until final arrangements was not nearly as much talk of war among Japanese people as had been set. he found here [in America]”—stood in sharp contrast with the The first round of peacemaking efforts was initiated rather relative reticence of the rest of the “goodwill ambassadors” to fortuitously by two American volunteers—Bishop James E. speak on topics relating to future relations between the two Walsh of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (also countries. Tsunejirō Matsuyama, for example, allegedly “closed known as Maryknoll) and his enterprising vicar general, James up tighter than a jammed door” when he was interviewed, and M. Drought. Walsh and Drought went to Japan in November 1940 declined to make any comment on political matters.18 While to oversee the withdrawal of his colleagues may have been their missionary establishment apprehensive about breaching from Japan, necessitated by the the strict terms of their religious enforcement of the aforemen- mission, Kagawa was not afraid tioned Religious Bodies Law. to overstep that boundary in Possessing a vague yet optimis- the name of reconciliation. He tic sense of duty to serve their knew that religion can, under church and society, the two men certain circumstances, serve quickly made the acquaintance to allay political differences, of several influential Japanese. and he recognized that words After returning to the United from somebody in his position States in January 1941, the carried special weight. Maryknollers met with Presi- During his whirlwind tour dent Roosevelt and Secretary of the United States in 1941, of State Cordell Hull through Kagawa made two important the introduction of Drought’s stops: one in Washington, D.C., personal friend Postmaster and the other in Lake Geneva, General Walker, one of the most Wisconsin. On the morning prominent Catholics in the of June 19 he arrived in the administration, delivering the nation’s capital, where he met message that various elements and spoke with Ambassador in the Japanese government Portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nomura. Although we do not wished to achieve a settlement by Tobun Hayashi, sent to the president know what they discussed, the with America. by Toyohiko Kagawa in 1941. meeting served as a point of Throughout early 1941, the conversation during his sub- two Maryknoll priests along with their two Japanese associates—a sequent visit with E. Stanley Jones (1884–1973), the illustrious group collectively dubbed the “John Doe Associates”—attempted Methodist missionary to India, from July 1 to 5 at Lake Geneva. to broker an agreement between Tokyo and Washington, acting Kagawa was there for a YMCA camp, and the two, being old as unofficial aides to the newly appointed Japanese Ambassa- friends, met frequently during his stay. Jones recalls one occasion dor, Kichisaburō Nomura.15 Their well-meaning interventions, in which “we rose at an early hour and went to the lakeside to however, did more to confuse than to facilitate, and they were, wait on God, to see if we could see any light on the tremendous in any case, soon interrupted by Germany’s commencement of question as to whether China and Japan could be reconciled.” hostilities against the Soviet Union, and Japan’s decision to press Having witnessed firsthand the brutality of war in East Asia and southward into French Indochina. As a result of these develop- eager to find some basis for peace, Jones asked Kagawa on what ments, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets within the United States conditions Japan would agree to a settlement, to which the latter and placed an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan.16 replied, “political and territorial integrity for China.”19 Kagawa The prospect of a Konoe-Roosevelt meeting grew dim. went on to mention that what Japan really needed was “a place It was at this critical juncture that Kagawa entered the scene. for her surplus population” in an area “warm enough for her to Having finished his official obligations as a delegate to the Riv- take off her coat,” and suggested New Guinea as a possibility.20 erside meeting, held April 20–25, which proved unsuccessful in terms of producing concrete resolutions regarding U.S.-Japan Last Efforts for a Peaceful Settlement relations, Kagawa parted ways with the rest of the junket to embark on his own tour, filling speaking engagements around Back in Japan, Emperor was becoming wary of his the country until his departure in mid-August. Looking at his nation’s evident march toward war. At an Imperial Conference on travel log, one is surprised to see the number of events to which September 6 with the cabinet and military executives, he reiter- this reverse missionary from Japan was invited, especially given ated the precedence of diplomacy, and Prince Konoe was given the strong anti-Japanese sentiment that pervaded the American one month’s time to reach a settlement with the United States. press and public opinion at the time. He spoke almost daily Konoe wasted no time on this duty, arranging a dinner on the to crowds that numbered from the hundreds up to one or two same night with Ambassador Grew, asking him to make a final thousand, filling churches and auditoriums wherever he went, and direct appeal to President Roosevelt for a summit meeting. from Boston to Des Moines to Salt Lake City.17 What is often omitted from these accounts of the final rounds

July 2013 173 of peace negotiations, however, is the role of Toyohiko Kagawa. United States—the moral emphasis of which appealed to many Kagawa, who had just returned to Japan from his four-month Americans, including President Roosevelt. In fact, the two of trip in the United States, was called to meet with Konoe on the them had much more in common in their spiritual outlook than evening of September 5—the night before the fateful Imperial one would initially suspect. Conference (if we are to trust his memory of exact dates), during Roosevelt was certainly no stranger to religion. His early which he received direct instructions from the prime minister to religious influences included his father, who served as a senior contact his friends in America to bring about the coveted summit vestryman at the St. James Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, and meeting. Kagawa immediately sent out telegrams to President Endicott Peabody, the founder and headmaster at Groton School, Roosevelt, Vice President Henry Wallace, John Mott, E. Stanley whose daily chapel talks on morality, character, and the virtue of Jones, and John Foster Dulles.21 public service found a keen audience in young Franklin.26 As presi- Of this mixed group of statesmen and religious leaders, only dent, Roosevelt frequently included prayers in his addresses and Jones succeeded in negotiating with the high officials in Wash- organized special services on his inaugural anniversaries attended ington. On September 17, in a meeting with assistant secretary by family members as well as the cabinet. Starting in early 1940, in a move that drew criticism from some Protestants, Roosevelt sent the Episcopal industrialist Myron Taylor as his personal envoy to the Vatican. Throughout the course of the war, Roosevelt corresponded The social emphasis of with Pope Pius XII on issues of peace and world order.27 the religion of Kagawa Despite such spiritual appreciation, Roosevelt had little use for theology. He viewed religion more as a spiritual must have seemed to be compass—a moral foundation upon which he could rest his the perfect message for sense of duty and optimism. He was, however, a champion of Roosevelt’s depression-era religious freedom and diversity, and pleaded with Protestants, Catholics, and Jews to transcend their sectarian creeds and America. “unite in good works” whenever they could “find common cause.”28 According to Frances Perkins, Roosevelt himself is responsible for including freedom of religion in the four of state Dean Acheson and Maxwell Hamilton, chief of the State freedoms of the .29 Department’s Division of Far Eastern Affairs, Jones presented A convert to , Kagawa first traveled to America in his suggestion to offer New Guinea to Japan in exchange for the 1914, realizing, after five years of service among the residents of withdrawal of Japanese troops from China and Southeast Asia, the infamous Shinkawa slums of Kobe, that charity work could specifically indicating that the idea originated from Kagawa.22 This go only so far in the emancipation of the poor. Thus, he resolved recommendation was eventually shaped into an official proposal to explore other options in the halls of Princeton Theological by Hamilton and was forwarded to Secretary of State Hull on Seminary, from which he graduated in 1916. In a later recollec- November 18.23 That, however, appears to be as far as it went. tion he claims to have encountered on the Princeton campus In addition to the New Guinea proposal, Jones was also lawn a young Franklin Roosevelt, whom Kagawa described granted a meeting with the president on December 3. Jones related as “gentle-looking.”30 Kagawa subsequently visited the United to Roosevelt the news that several Japanese envoys, desperate in States in 1924–25 and 1931, the former a three-month speaking their desire to avoid a war with the United States, had requested tour hosted by the Association of American Colleges, and the the president to send a cable directly to the emperor of Japan in a latter coming through an invitation to attend the YMCA World final attempt to preserve peace.24 Indeed, this was the only option Conference in Toronto and Cleveland, followed by a four-month left for stopping the war party that had taken over the Japanese lecture tour across the country. state following Konoe’s resignation on October 16. Kagawa’s best-known trip as a reverse missionary came in Furthermore, Jones informed the president that he had orga- 1935–36 in a tour officially sponsored by the Federal Council of nized a seven-day around-the-clock vigil of prayer at the Epiphany Churches of Christ in America and the Co-operative League of Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., which had begun on the United States of America. This was the occasion in which December 1 and for which he had coordinated with friends in Roosevelt intervened personally to clear Kagawa from his medi- China, Australia, and Japan. Kagawa, in response, organized a cal detention for his eye infection. similar session at the Tokyo YMCA. In a telegram on December 3, In understanding the reasons behind Roosevelt’s interest Kagawa reported to Jones the situation in Japan as follows: “Tokyo in Kagawa at this time, it is perhaps helpful to know that in Church leaders having seven day Vigil of Prayer, throughout the implementing his policies, Roosevelt argued that twenty-four hours, for peace in the Pacific.”25 It is perhaps one of moral and spiritual problems underlay the nation’s mate- the great ironies of history that the first piece of news that came rial suffering. The federal government’s social planning, he in after the end of the peace vigil in the early hours of December 8 contended, was “wholly in accord with the social teachings (Japan time) was of the Japanese air strikes on the U.S. Pacific Fleet of Christianity” and would provide all Americans with a rea- headquarters in Hawaii. By the time Roosevelt’s cable reached the sonable level of physical comfort so that they could focus on emperor, the attack was already under way. achieving “the more abundant life” that Christ had come to bring.31 The social emphasis of the religion of Kagawa—who Kagawa and Roosevelt’s Shared Concerns knew all too well the spiritual depravity that is born of material deprivation—must have seemed to be the perfect message for Though Kagawa and his associates’ efforts at reconciliation Roosevelt’s depression-era America. ultimately failed to avert the outbreak of war, he at least had Kagawa considered cooperative organizations as the natural mobilized the opinions of many for the cause of peace. This was expression of his Christian principles. He believed they provided made possible by his prewar social and religious preaching in the a solid framework for stable sustenance, the humanization of

174 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 3 economic life, and even a viable alternative to what he saw as the religious actors can play a unique role in international negotia- defunct ideologies of , state , and .32 tions: by creating access to statesmen, mobilizing public opinion, Cooperatives became the centerpiece of his 1935–36 lecture tour, and acting as an agent of last resort—a final ray of hope when which saw him speak across the United States on more than all other options have been exhausted. 500 occasions over the course of six months. The highlight of As a non-Western evangelist, Kagawa attained a status his itinerary came in his appearance at the Rochester Divinity well beyond that of a purely religious missionary. His lecture School, Rochester, New York, where he gave the prestigious tours in the United States were as much a reflection of his own Rauschenbusch Lectures, named in honor of the noted leader of desire to spread his vision of a peaceful and prosperous society the Social Gospel movement, Walter Rauschenbusch. The lectures as they were a result of American demand to hear him speak were published under the title Brotherhood Economics, which has on those issues. One of his associates offered the following subsequently been translated into seventeen languages and sold insight into the significance of Kagawa’s 1935–36 trip: in twenty-five countries.33 Like Roosevelt, Kagawa did not see much value in denomi- Although there are many Asians—Chinese, Japanese, etc.— national separation. His vision of the church’s mission was who are invited to America, most of them are invited out of an internationalist; for him, the construction of the kingdom of American curiosity toward the Orient. However, in Kagawa’s case, this was quite different. It was because Americans had God on earth was a moral goal that transcended all religious reached a social, economic, and spiritual impasse that they had factions as well as nationalities. Once, standing before an audi- to look around and find somebody who could give them guid- ence in Detroit, he quipped to great effect: “You [Americans] ance. . . . It is quite unheard of that the Americans had invited have too many denominations. Last time I checked there were someone from the Orient in order to find a solution to their own 266. That’s too many. Do you intend to live in individual rooms problems.36 even in Heaven?”34 The most telling anecdote indicating his influence, however, may be found in the spontaneous creation Although his diplomatic maneuvering proved unsuccessful, and distribution of anti–Immigration Act “decision cards” by his Kagawa’s peacemaking efforts were ultimately made possible local supporters, which were signed and delivered to Kagawa because he, as a clergyman, understood the potential of religion in support of repealing the discriminatory Johnson-Reed Act of in social reform and political reconciliation, while Roosevelt, the 1924, a law that had placed a major strain on U.S.-Japanese rela- statesman, shared in this view and reciprocated with sympathy tions in the lead-up to the war.35 within the confines of his power. As a youth, Kagawa was bap- tized by American Presbyterian missionaries to Japan. In a sense, Conclusion his return to the homeland of his spiritual mentors marks a full circle in the work of American missions. As a Christian leader Kagawa’s impact as an unofficial mediator between Japan and respected by even the president of the country of his religious the United States before Pearl Harbor was, in the grand scheme origin, we can say that Kagawa was a reverse missionary in the of things, a limited one. Nevertheless, his case is evidence that fullest sense of the words.

Notes 1. Among other accolades, Toyohiko Kagawa was nominated for the culminated in the establishment, similarly through the guidance of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 and 1948, and the Nobel Peace Prize John Mott, of the National Christian Council of China in 1922—just in 1954, 1955, and 1956. See “Nomination Database—Literature” and a year before the birth of its Japanese counterpart. The leaders of the “Nomination Database—Peace,” www.nobelprize.org. Christian churches of the two nations maintained a close relationship 2. Tetsuo Yamaori, “The Return of Kagawa’s Suppressed Ideas” (in throughout the 1920s, frequently exchanging delegations to their Japanese), Kikan atto [Quarterly at] 15 (2009): 27–29. respective annual general assemblies. See Tsunetarō Miyakoda, 3. It is said that, after Emperor Hirohito, Kagawa was the most widely Nihon Kirisutokyō Gōdō Shikō [A survey of the history of Japanese known Japanese figure in prewar America, and, alongside Gandhi Christian ecumenism] (Tokyo: Kyōbunkan, 1967), 93–95. in India and Schweitzer in Africa, he was commonly cited as one 10. Nihon Kirisutokyō Rekishi Daijiten Henshū Iinkai, ed., Nihon of three “modern saints.” See, for example, Allan A. Hunter, Three Kirisutokyo Rekishi Daijiten [Historical dictionary of Japanese Chris- Trumpets Sound: Kagawa, Gandhi, Schweitzer (New York: Association tianity] (Tokyo: Kyobunkan, 1988), 322–23. Press, 1939). 11. Ibid., 252–68. 4. Recent research in this direction includes Mark R. Mullins, “Chris- 12. “Telling the Truth behind the Secret Kagawa Mission” (in Japanese), tianity as a Transnational Social Movement: Kagawa Toyohiko and Nippon Shūhō [Japan weekly] 468 (December 25, 1958): 4–14; Kanji the Friends of ,” Japanese Religions 32 (2007): 69–87. Koshio, “Toyohiko Kagawa and the World Federation” (in Japanese), 5. Toyohiko Kagawa to President Roosevelt, January 20, 1941 (Official Seren Kenkyū [World federation studies] 9, no. 1 (1968): 24–35. File 1881: Kagawa, Dr. Toyohiko, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential 13. Robert D. Schildgen, Toyohiko Kagawa: An Apostle of Love and Social Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York [hereafter FDRL]). Justice, trans. Kagawa Archives and Resource Center (Tokyo: Shinkyō 6. C. E. Peeles to Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 20, 1935; Charles Press, 2007), 265. R. Crane to Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 24, 1935; Franklin D. 14. Sekai Renpō Kensetsu Dōmei, ed., Sekai Renpō Undō 20 Nen Shi Roosevelt to Charles R. Crane, February 25, 1936 (Official File 1881: [Twenty-year history of the world federalist movement] (Tokyo: Kagawa, Dr. Toyohiko, FDRL). Sekai Renpō Kensetsu Dōmei, 1969), 82. 7. “Roosevelt Hint Permits Visit to U.S. by Kagawa,” Chicago Daily 15. For a comprehensive examination of the John Doe Associates, see Tribune, December 21, 1935, p. 16; “Bars Down to Japanese,” Los Ange- R. J. C. Butow, The John Doe Associates: Backdoor Diplomacy for Peace, les Times, December 21, 1935, p. 2; “U.S. Gates Open to Kagawa on 1941 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1974). Insistence of Roosevelt,” Washington Post, December 21, 1935, p. 24. 16. Herbert Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor (New York: Atheneum, 1962), 8. U.S. Department of State to the Private Secretary to the President, 174–260. April 25, 1941 (Official File 1881: Kagawa, Dr. Toyohiko, FDRL). 17. Toyohiko Kagawa, “Record of My Pilgrimage in America” (in Japa- 9. Incidentally, this path was nearly identical to the one followed by nese), Hi no Hashira [Pillar of fire], September 15, 1941, pp. 2–6. Chinese Christians. Their attendance at the Edinburgh conference 18. “Japan’s Christians Discount U.S. War,” New York Times, May 15,

July 2013 175 1941, p. 7. “Japan’s Envoys of Christianity Visit Atlanta,” Atlanta of a Lonely Man (New York: Hearst, 1958), 87–89; , Constitution, May 6, 1941, p. 5. This I Remember (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949), 67–68. 19. Jones posed the same question to Chester Miao (Miao Qiusheng), 27. Gary Scott Smith, Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington secretary of the Chinese National Christian Council, who also hap- to George W. Bush (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2006), 196–206; pened to be at Lake Geneva at the time. Miao similarly emphasized Myron C. Taylor, Wartime Correspondence between President Roosevelt the importance of the political and territorial integrity of China. See and Pope Pius XII (New York: Da Capo Press, 1975). E. Stanley Jones, “An Adventure in Failure: Behind the Scenes before 28. Smith, Faith and the Presidency, 194. Pearl Harbor,” Asia and the Americas 45, no. 12 (1945): 610. 29. Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (New York: Viking Press, 20. Ibid. 1946), 142. 21. Toyohiko Kagawa, “Dreams of Negotiations with the United States” 30. Toyohiko Kagawa, “An Itinerant Pilgrim (Travelogue)” (in Japanese), (in Japanese), Yomiuri Shimbun [Yomiuri newspaper], November 9, Kagawa Toyohiko Zenshū [The complete works of Toyohiko Kagawa] 1953, p. 8; “Telling the Truth behind the Secret Kagawa Mission,” 13. (Tokyo: Kirisuto Shinbunsha, 1963), 23:69. Although Dulles held no public office at the time, he served from 31. Smith, Faith and the Presidency, 211–12. 1940 to 1946 as chairman of the Commission on a Just and Durable 32. Kagawa’s cooperative vision had a strong transnational appeal Peace, a group created by the Federal Council of Churches to channel as is demonstrated in the case of Presbyterian missionary Sam H. Protestant thinking on the postwar world. See Ronald W. Pruessen, Franklin, who founded an interracial cooperative in the rural South John Foster Dulles: The Road to Power (New York: Free Press, 1982), 190. after receiving inspiration from working with Kagawa in Kobe. See 22. “Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Far Robert Hunt Ferguson, “Race and the Remaking of the Rural South: Eastern Affairs (Hamilton),” September 17, 1941, in Foreign Relations Delta Cooperative Farm and Providence Farm in Jim Crow–Era Mis- of the United States, 1941 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Print- sissippi,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel ing Office, 1956), 4:455–57. Hill, 2012. 23. “Memorandum Prepared in the Division of Far Eastern Affairs,” 33. Taketoshi Nojiri, “Toyohiko Kagawa’s Brotherhood Economics and Its November 17, 1941, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1941, Modern-Day Significance” (in Japanese), in Yūai no seiji keizai gaku 4:613–14; “Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern [Brotherhood economics], trans. Hisao Kayama and Kimio Ishibe Affairs (Hamilton) to the Secretary of State,” November 18, 1941, in (Tokyo: Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union, 2009); Toyohiko ibid., 614–16. Kagawa, Brotherhood Economics (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1936). 24. Kagawa was not the only party who had tried to reach Roosevelt via 34. Schildgen, Toyohiko Kagawa, 224. Jones. Hidenari “Terry” Terasaki, counselor of the Japanese Embassy 35. Tanetsugu Fukada, “A Great Contribution to Mankind” (in Japanese), in Washington, made a similar overture to Jones in late November. Kumo no Hashira [Pillar of cloud], October 1936, p. 27. According See Gwen Terasaki, Taiyō ni Kakeru Hashi [Bridge to the sun], trans. to Fukada, 3,000 signed decision cards were sent to Kagawa from Mariko Nitta (Tokyo: Koyama Shoten, 1958), 81–92; Jones, “An California. Adventure in Failure,” 613–14. 36. Masaki Nakayama, “Some Thoughts on My Euro-American Trip” 25. Jones, “An Adventure in Failure,” 615. (in Japanese), Kumo no Hashira [Pillar of cloud], September 1936, 26. and Sidney Shalett, Affectionately, FDR: A Son’s Story pp. 9–12.

My Pilgrimage in Mission Norman E. Thomas was born in 1932 in Manchester, New Hampshire, into The Call I a strong Methodist family. Both my father and my paternal grandfather were Methodist pastors. Daily Bible Grounded in Methodism, I later came to understand how rooted reading and prayer were as regular in our home as eating I was in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, using Scripture, tradition, and sleeping. We lived frugally and shared what we had with reason, and experience as the sources and guidelines for my those in need. I remember that my mother invited those who theological and moral reflection. The church of my teenage years asked for food to come in and sit at table with us. Later, as was warmly evangelical. We had altar calls at Sunday morning a teenager, I helped my father deliver Thanksgiving baskets services that varied according to what the presentation of Scripture of food to poor families. But I confess that I never asked the called us as a congregation to do. At a summer youth institute question “What will they eat the other weeks and months of when I was sixteen I “accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and the year?” Ours was charity for the poor without questioning Lord,” affirming that the faith in which I had been nurtured I the systemic causes of poverty. now made my own. My commitment that day was also to full- time Christian service, confirming publicly the call that I had first experienced at the age of twelve. I was grounded from an early age in the idea of mission. When I was a child, my mother told us stories that had been recounted to her by her grandmother about Bishop William Carpenter Bompas, her “Cousin Willie.” Bompas and his wife, Charlotte, were pioneer Church Missionary Society (CMS) mis- sionaries from England to northwest Canada and the Yukon from —[email protected] 1865 to 1906. I treasure a book written for youth in 1930 that tells

176 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 37, No. 3