Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1-1-2011 Emperors in America: Haile Selassie and Hirohito on Tour Robert Alexander Findlay Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Findlay, Robert Alexander, "Emperors in America: Haile Selassie and Hirohito on Tour" (2011). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 96. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.96 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Emperors in America: Haile Selassie and Hirohito on Tour by Robert Alexander Findlay A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Thesis Committee: Kenneth J. Ruoff, Chair James Grehan Jennifer Tappan Hillary Jenks Portland State University ©2011 i The imperial visits to the United States by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1954 and Emperor Hirohito of Japan in 1975, while billed as unofficial by all parties involved, demonstrated the problematic nature of America’s unstable Cold War political agendas, connected African and Asian Americans with alternative sources of race, nationality, and ethnic pride, and created spaces for the emperors to reinforce domestic policies while advancing their nations on the world stage. Just as America’s civil and governmental forces came together during the imperial tours, in 1954 and 1975 respectively, to strongly promote Cold War ideological narratives to a global audience, African American and Japanese American racial and ethnic groups within the United States created their own interpretations of the tours. Likewise, the governments and imperial institutions of Ethiopia and Japan both appropriated American efforts in an attempt to renegotiate political relationships and produce imperial narratives for domestic consumption. However, fundamental contradictions arose during these tours as both Ethiopia and Japan simultaneously sought to embrace America and to expand their presence on the world stage. The full nature of the political, economic, and social ramifications of these two imperial visits, and the contradictions in American’s Cold War policies revealed by the tours, has yet to be explored. Reactions to the emperors’ tours demonstrated the connections and conflicts between race, nation, and identity. Further the narratives of Ethiopia’s and Japan’s role on the world stage, particularly during these “unofficial” imperial tours, have yet to be fully examined by historians. Only by examining the emperors’ tours within a broader transnational context, taking multiple political, racial, ii and economic perspectives into account, can the consequences of these visits be fully observed and understood. iii Acknowledgements In the course of researching and writing this thesis, I had the good fortune of working with numerous people whose wisdom and generosity helped shape this work. As my thesis advisor, Kenneth J. Ruoff was particularly gracious with his time and energies. He continuously encouraged me to push for a bigger picture grounded in issues of local and personal importance. Likewise Hillary Jenks and Jennifer Tappan contributed many hours to helping me mold my ideas into strings of words that could be made sense of by others. Brian M. Hayashi of Kyoto University also helped focus my work and encouraged a deeper analysis of the material. At Portland State University, James Grehan, Linda Walton, Tim Garrison, and Thomas Luckett contributed to my overall education challenging me to challenge myself. I am thankful for the wonderful library staff at Portland State University as well as the helpful staff at Central Washington University and the President Gerald R Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Joseph Ho, whose expertise at photographing documents allowed me to access material otherwise inaccessible, was also a great help. Several organizations must be acknowledged for their assistance in funding both my education and opportunities to present aspects of this work in broader forums. My graduate fellowship position at Portland State University allowed me to actively research and write my thesis full time while Phi Alpha Theta and The East-West Center at the University of Hawaii allowed me to present my ideas at conferences before audiences of my peers. iv Thanks to my friends- Robert Hegwood, Kathryn Cleland, and Jaqueline Woolcott who not only repeatedly read and edited my work, but also encouraged me with their own academic gifts, great senses of humor, and occasional reality checks. Likewise my family- Mike and Abbey were always in my mind. My parents- Kate, Richard, and Carla deserve special recognition for their encouragement, outlook, and love. And, finally, my deepest gratitude goes to Laurel, who patiently waited for me to finish working. v Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….i Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….……iii Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….……………….1 Chapter 2 Official or Not Here They Come…………….………………………………………….9 Chapter 3 Desegregation, The African American Press, and Haile Selassie’s Tour………….…..35 Chapter 4 Hirohito and Japanese America’s “Secret Pride”……………………………………...62 Chapter 5 Remaking Their Emperors……………………………………………………………..90 Chapter 6 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………...116 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………..120 1 Chapter 1: Introduction The imperial visits to the United States by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1954 and Emperor Hirohito of Japan in 1975 share many commonalities. Both emperors stayed in Blair house in Washington D.C., laid wreathes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and visited the United Nations headquarters in New York. They stayed at the same hotels, received keys to the same cities, and met with famous actors and politicians. They both even got to spend a day exploring Disneyland. But beyond their exciting itineraries, both imperial tours demonstrated America’s Cold War policy agendas, connected African and Asian Americans with alternative sources of ethnic pride, and created spaces for the emperors to reinforce domestic policies while advancing their nations on the world stage. In the immediate post-World War II years, Ethiopia spearheaded decolonization in Africa. Haile Selassie's government took the lead in the movement for collective security by joining the United Nations as a founding member, dedicating thousands of troops to the U.N. efforts in the Korean War, and working to organize a broad array of African nationalists. As the longtime “torch bearer of independence for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora” and the first nation liberated from Axis aggression during World War II, Ethiopia held a special place in the imagination of African nationalists and civil rights leaders.1 Likewise, during the first half of the 20th century, America was seen in the 1Getachew Metaferia, Ethiopia and the United States: History, Diplomacy, and Analysis (New York: Algora Publishing, 2009), 3. 2 Ethiopian imagination as the “counter balance to Europeans” and their colonial ambitions in Africa.2 The declining power of imperialist nations in the post-war world, coupled with America's promises to make good on the policies and ideals of the newly formed United Nations based in New York, contributed to a belief in Ethiopia, and in all of Africa, that the United States would help lead the continent towards a brighter future. Haile Selassie's tour of America signaled a new era in U.S.-African relations. Although plans for Haile Selassie's American tour did not materialize until 1953, the U.S. began crafting its relationship with the independent African nation before the end of World War II. The postwar relationship between the U.S. and Ethiopia began in 1943 during a series of secret exchanges conducted by American and Ethiopian diplomats. America planned to encourage Ethiopian sovereignty with a series of Lend-Lease agreements designed to defend the nation from European influence. This plan was only revealed after President Roosevelt, returning from the 1943 Yalta conference, met with Haile Selassie and other Arab leaders in the Suez Canal.3 Roosevelt knew that America had the opportunity to increase its presence in the Red Sea if Ethiopia remained independent of European colonial rule.4 The British had already made many efforts to claim de facto colonization of Ethiopia as World War II was concluding, and attempted to fold the area into a larger territorial administration run out of Nairobi, a known “center of colonial [power] and 2 Metaferia, 18-19. 3 Statements of John Spencer, former foreign policy adviser to Emperor Haile Selassie, at the Hearings Before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, Second Session, 4-6 August 1976, records page 21. 4 Spencer, 21-23. 3 white-settler rule.”5 Neither America nor Ethiopia intended to see British authority increased in the Horn of Africa and Haile Selassie's tour was in part designed to emphasize America's intentions to keep Ethiopia under its wing and independent from any form of outside imperialism. As U.S. policy makers planned to prevent (re)colonization in East Africa, they simultaneously planned for the occupation of Japan