My Year With Ambassador Joseph C

Afterword
Despite the internment, Robert Fearey developed a strong affection for Japan and its people. Much of his career was dedicated to aftermath of the Pacific War.
Among the forty or fifty papers produced by the post-war planning team was Robert’s proposal to end the feudal system of agriculture and give the land to the farmers. Some in the administration argued that tampering with the agricultural system would ruin the economy and lead to dependency on foreign shipments of food. But agrarian unrest had contributed to Japan’s aggressive foreign policy, and many of the defeated soldiers were farmers and farmer’s sons who would not be content to become oppressed peasants again.
On his own initiative, Robert researched the subject and teamed up with Wolf Ladejinsky, a Ukrainian immigrant working at the Department of Agriculture, whose expertise was in the collectivization of agriculture in the Soviet Union. The two of them saw land reform as essential to the restoration of a self-sufficient economy in Japan. Robert developed a draft position paper. He was assigned to work with George Atcheson, political advisor to General MacArthur. After reviewing the draft, Atcheson asked Robert to “polish up” the paper. Atcheson sent it to the General. “I remember that several days later I was in my office when a couple of colonels from SCAP (Supreme Commander Allied Powers) came bursting through the door,” recalled Robert in a 1978 interview on the land reform program. “One of them said, ‘Are you Fearey?’ (I wondered what I had done wrong.) I said ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘General MacArthur took your farm reform program home last night and was very taken by it. He has asked us to work with you on a directive ordering the Japanese government to carry out a land reform program on the lines recommended in your study.’”
Agrarian land reform and the breakup of the industrial monopolies known as zaibatsu, another of Robert’s interests, were two of the most important economic reforms implemented during the occupation. World leaders realized that the punitive peace treaties negotiated at the end of World War I had planted the seeds for a second world war. This time Japan and Germany were allowed to re-build their economies and re-join the community of nations.
As the war came to an end, Robert worked for Ambassador John Foster Dulles on the negotiation of the Japanese Peace Treaty. He accompanied Dulles to the 1950 Japanese Peace Conference in San Francisco as a technical advisor. After a tour with NATO in Paris, Robert returned to Japan in 1959 to assist with the negotiation of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. His final overseas assignment was as Civil Administrator for the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), where he participated in the negotiation of the return of the islands to Japan in 1972. In 1982, the Government of Japan awarded Robert the Order of the Sacred Treasure.
A more complete listing of Robert’s assignments during his thirty-eight year career with the Foreign Service is attached in the appendix.

- editor

Appendix

1. 
   Letter from Ambassador Grew to the Reverend Crocker, March 3, 1941
   
2. 
   Imperial Rescript declaring war, December 8, 1941
   
3. 
   Imperial Rescript announcing acceptance of terms of surrender, August 15, 1945
   
4. 
   Telegram from Ambassador Grew to the Secretary of State, August 19, 1941
   
5. 
   Excerpt from Exchange Ship, by Max Hill, 1942
   
6. 
   Excerpt from Ten Years in Japan, A Contemporary Record Drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Joseph Grew, 1944
   

7. 
   Biographic Summary of Robert A. Fearey
   

EMBASSY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Tokyo, March 3, 1941

The Reverend John Crocker,¹⁸
Groton School,
Groton Massachusetts.

Dear Mr. Crocker:

I wonder if I may impose on your good nature to the extent of asking if you will be willing to inherit one more little job from Mr. Peabody. Of course his duties as headmaster of Groton were not unimportant, but his really outstanding office was that of Elector Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Private Secretaries to the American Embassy of Japan. Fortunately the duties of the office of the Elector are not very arduous and its vacations are longer than its terms because it has had to function only thrice in the past nine years. This spring I must call on it again.

You will readily understand why I turn to Groton for my private secretaries, for my devotion to the School and all it stands for is well nigh inexpressible, and the Grotonians who have come out to me have been admirably chosen. Mr. Peabody’s first selection was Graham Parsons, ‘25, who came out to Tokyo with me in 1932 and later passed into the Foreign Service with, if I am not mistaken, the highest mark out of some 700 candidates. Dave Pyle, ‘32, followed him here, and then came Marshall Green, ‘35,¹⁹ who is now with me but wishes to leave this spring in order to study at home for the Foreign Service examination in September. These young men came out to me soon after graduating from their Universities, two from Yale and one from Princeton.

There is only one requirement for the position, apart from the element of personality. So far as personality is concerned, the young man should be personally qualified to fit harmoniously into our closely-knit and intimate official family where the factor of congenial team-work, both in work and play, is important. We are, in fact, a very close little corporation out hear, and in these times of strain and stress, personal adaptability is important. A difficult personality would hardly fill the bill. But the chief consideration is that the young men who come out here should be interested in preparing themselves for the Foreign Service as a career. This of course involves no commitment whatsoever. In fact Dave Pyle, in spite of an original inclination towards the Foreign Service, somehow got de-routed to the Church and is now preparing for the ministry, which perhaps indicates that our influence is not entirely pagan. My point is merely that the experience offered to my private secretaries is a great advantage as preparation for the Foreign Service and I naturally prefer to have that experience redound to those who are considering the Foreign Service as a career rather than to others who might seek the experience merely for its own sake. If they later change their mind, as did Pyle, no objection whatever is advanced, and the experience is undoubtedly valuable for any profession or activity which the young man may finally choose.

The salary attached to the position is purely nominal. The Government allows my private secretaries a furnished apartment, small but comfortable and free of rental, in one of the modern official houses in the Embassy compound, but they are expected to pay their own passage to Japan and back and I personally pay them the nominal salary of $50 a month (which, as a matter of fact, is just what I myself started on). Marshall Green finds that his annual expenses out here amount to roughly only about two hundred dollars over his $600 salary, and I believe that he gets about as much out of life as anyone. If however financial considerations should be a controlling factor in a young man’s decision, I would always be prepared to help him make the two ends meet.

As for the duties of private secretaries, Jeff parsons once tried to compile a list but finally gave it up as he found the list to be endless and as variegated as the flowers in the field. The clerical work is far from heavy – such things, for instance, as keeping my accounts, paying bills, writing and answering invitations, sending cards, and so forth – and plenty of time is left for more interesting and important matters. I make a point of letting my private secretaries see all the official correspondence of the Embassy, even the most confidential, and encourage them to try their hand at the work of drafting such correspondences. Parsons, in fact, became our expert on Soviet Russian relations with Japan and his despatches (sic) on that subject were highly appraised and appreciated by the State Department. He is now a Secretary of our Legation in Ottawa, and there can be no doubt that his experience with me in Tokyo gave him the background for a very useful and probably successful career. I am hoping the same for Marshall Green. The position is therefore a very intimate part of the Embassy, and it offers an opportunity not only to watch the wheels go round at close quarters but also to contribute directly to their movement. Incidentally, when the British Ambassador and I are too busy to call on each other we use our respective private secretaries frequently to convey confidential messages and information by word of mount. So the job offers plenty of interest.

Am I asking too much in inquiring whether you would be willing to sound out some of the many young University men with whom you are undoubtedly in touch and actually to select someone who seems to you to possess the right qualifications and who expresses an interest in preparing for the Foreign Service as a profession? Green will leave in May, and I am most anxious to have a successor here as soon as possible thereafter. If your choice should fall on someone who is to graduate from his University this June I would of course wait until he could conveniently get here thereafter, say by the middle or end of July. The younger they start, the better chance they have of eventually getting to the top in the Foreign Service.

I have ventured to write to you instead of to Mr. Peabody, as formerly, because I don’t know when the latter is to return to Groton and the time element is important. But if Mr. Peabody has returned by the time that this letter comes, I dare say that he might be willing to make suggestions, and I think that Betsy²⁰ can always be counted on for wise advice in such matters. In any event, if you are willing to help me with this problem, I shall be tremendously appreciative and even if your choice should, through the inevitable hazards of the human equation, prove to be less satisfactory than his predecessors, the responsibility would be mine alone and I would still be grateful for your cooperation. I know that I am venturing greatly in thus seeking your assistance and am perhaps even risking a disinclination on your part to tackle this problem. If such should be the case, may I request a brief telegram to that effect, addressed “Grew, Amembassy, Tokyo”? Otherwise I shall await the result of any exploration that you may be good enough to make, fully realizing that even with a willingness to help, you may find it impossible to locate any young man interested in the proposition. Of course the candidate doesn’t have to be a Grotonian.

Just one more word in this already extensive letter. Having spent nearly thirty-eight years in the Foreign Service, I doubt if any profession, especially nowadays, offers a more interesting lifetime or a greater opportunity for useful public-spirited and patriotic service, and there can be no better way of starting in than as private secretary to an ambassador in a post like Tokyo. Many of our outstanding officers began that way, and among my own former private secretaries, the one of whom I am perhaps most proud, is Norman Armour whom of course you know through Princeton affiliations.

In closing let me express to you and Mrs. Crocker my heartiest good wishes for complete happiness and success in the great work that you have taken on and my hope that I may have the privilege of visiting you at Groton before too many years have passed. It was our hope to get home this spring but the outlook for getting away from this job just now is anything but propitious and I fear that we shall have to postpone that happy dream for a happier day in international relations.
Sincerely yours,

JOSEPH C. GREW

IMPERIAL RESCRIPT

Japan Times and Advertiser, December 8, 1941

We, by grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the Throne of a line unbroken for ages eternal, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects:

We hereby declare war on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our army and navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war, Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their appointed tasks, and all other subjects of Ours shall pursue their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of our war aims.

To insure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the far-sighted policy which was formulated by our Great illustrious Imperial Grandsire and Our Great Imperial sire succeeding Him, and which We lay constantly to heart. To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has now been brought to cross swords with America and Britain. More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms. Although there has been re-established the National Government of China, with which Japan has effected neighborly intercourse and cooperation, the regime which has survived at Chungking, relying upon American and British protection, still continues its fratricidal opposition. Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambition to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, giving support to the Chungking regime, have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia. Moreover, these two Powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge us. They have obstructed by every means our peaceful commerce, and finally resorted to a direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire. Patiently have We waited and long have We endured, in the hope that Our Government might retrieve the situation in peace. But our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement; and in the meantime, they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel thereby Our Empire to submission. The trend of affairs would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of Our nation. The situation being such as it is, Our Empire for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path.

The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our forefathers will be carried forward, and that the sources of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia, preserving thereby the glory of Our Empire.

IMPERIAL RESCRIPT

Nippon Times, August 15, 1945

To Our good and loyal subjects:

After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in Our Empire today, We have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.

We have ordered Our Government to communicate to the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union that Our Empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration.

To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations as well as the security and well-being of Our subjects is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by Our Imperial Ancestors, and which We lay close to heart. Indeed, We declared war on America and Britain out of Our sincere desire to ensure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement. But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by everyone -- the gallant fighting of military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest. Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should We continue to fight it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects; or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have...[line obliterated] ...tion of the Powers.

We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to our Allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire towards the emancipation of East Asia. The thought of those officers and men as well as others who have fallen in the fields of battle, those who died at their posts of duty, or those who met with untimely death and all their bereaved families, pains Our heart night and day. The welfare of the wounded and the war-sufferers, and of those who have lost their home and livelihood, are the objects of Our profound solicitude. The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all ye, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictate of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.

Having been able to safeguard and maintain the structure of the Imperial State, We are always with ye, Our good and loyal subjects, relying upon your sincerity and integrity. Beware most strictly of any outbursts of emotion which may engender needless complications, or any fraternal contention and strife which may create confusion, lead ye astray and cause ye to lose the confidence of the world. Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith of the imperishableness of its divine land, and mindful of its heavy burden of responsibilities, and the long road before it. Unite your total strength to be devoted to the construction for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitude; foster nobility of spirit; and work with resolution so as ye may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep pace with the progress of the world.

FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1941 VOLUME IV, PAGES 382-383

EFFORTS FOR AGREEMENT WITH JAPAN
711.94/2244: Telegram

The Ambassador in Japan (Grew) to the Secretary of State

TOKYO, August 19, 1941-3 p.m.

[Received August 19-11:40 a.m.]

1271. For the Secretary and Under Secretary only. My 1268, August 18, 10 p.m. ²¹

1. In weighing Prince Konoye’s proposal to meet the President in Honolulu it is important to appraise as well as we can the full significance of the gesture. First of all, it shows a remarkable degree of courage because, if the proposal should become prematurely known or, if taking place, the meeting should fail to achieve its purpose, it would in all probability lead to further attempted assassinations. Secondly, it reveals a supreme effort on the part of the Government to maintain peace with the United States in the full knowledge that the proposed meeting with the President would be utterly futile unless the Japanese Government were prepared to make concessions of a far reaching character. Thirdly, it indicates a determination on the part of the Government to surmount extremist dictation.
2. It may also be true that the Government has been driven to this unprecedented step in the knowledge that Japan is nearing the end of her tether economically and that the nation could not survive war with the United States. On the other hand, even if Japan were approaching economic disaster of the first magnitude, there can be no doubt whatever that the Government would reluctantly but resolutely face such disaster rather than cede in the face of progressive pressure exerted by any other nation.
3. The proposal of a Japanese Prime Minister to proceed to foreign soil to negotiate with a foreign chief of state (while such a step, if undertaken, will be regarded by many elements in Japan as humiliating and if unsuccessful would in all probability mean the downfall of the Government) should, in my opinion, be regarded less as the despairing play of a last card than as an act of the highest statesmanship. If viewed in that light it deserves to be met with magnanimity, and the Prime Minister deserves whatever support we can properly accord him in his courageous determination to override the extremists and to sacrifice if necessary not only his political life and that of the Government, but his own life as well.
4. In considering what Japan might be willing to offer to meet the position of the United States there is little doubt but that the Prime Minister in the first instance would appeal for American cooperation in bringing the China affair to a close and would probably be prepared to give far-reaching undertakings in that connection, involving also the eventual withdrawal of Japanese forces from Indochina. A certain remark made to me by the Foreign Minister as reported in my 1267, August 18, 9 p.m. leads me to believe that the Japanese Government would expect that one of the primary conditions to be laid down by the American Government for an adjustment of American-Japanese relations would be Japan’s withdrawal in fact, if not also in name, from the Axis.
5. The time element is important because the rapid acceleration given by recent American economic measures to the deterioration of Japan’s economic life will tend progressively to weaken rather than to strengthen the moderate elements in the country and the hand of the present Cabinet and to reinforce the extremists.
6. The most important aspect of the proposed meeting is that even although the results ensuing therefrom might be not wholly favorable and at best, gradual in materializing, it offers a definite opportunity to prevent the situation in the Far East from getting rapidly worse and for at least arresting the present increasing momentum toward a head-on clash between Japan and the United States. This desideratum alone would seem to justify acceptance of the Japanese proposal in some form or other. It is not in my sphere to evaluate the domestic political reaction to such a meeting, but it would seem to me to carry momentous possibilities in the particular field of international relations.
7. Finally, we must accept almost as a mathematical certainty the thought that if this outstanding and probably final gesture on the part of the Japanese Government should fail, either by rejection of this proposal in any form or by the meeting, if held, proving abortive, the alternative would be an eventual reconstruction or replacement of the present Cabinet with a view to placing the future destiny of the nation in the hands of the army and navy for an all-out do-or-die effort to extend Japan’s hegemony over all of “Greater East Asia” entailing the inevitability of war with the United States.
Grew

Excerpt from Exchange Ship, 1942

Max Hill, former chief of bureau of the Associated Press in Tokyo, included the following story in Exchange Ship, his recounting of the voyage of the Asama Maru. Several of the passengers, particularly the journalists, had been tortured. Near midnight, after a week of sitting in Yokohama Bay, with no information on when or if the ship would sail, tension was high.
“Robert Fearey, private secretary to Ambassador Grew, and a husky 200-pounder who never had enough to eat on the Asama even though he bribed the stewards to get two servings each meal, had promised to drop in before midnight and help us with the sardines and bread.

“We heard someone running down the corridor. Bob appeared in the doorway. He put his hands on the sides and leaned in. He was excited, and his dark hair was rumpled.

“Listen,” he said breathlessly. “There’s a ship outside blinking like hell. I don’t know what’s up.”

“Then he was gone. He had forgot about food. Commander Smith-Hutton, who was sitting on the bed beside me, half turned and held one hand against the side of the ship.

‘The engines have picked up,’ he said.

“All of us could feel the Asama vibrate with the new power flowing from her engines.

…’We’re going, after all, someone said, in a broken voice. He wouldn’t have to go back to prison now.

“…Jane Smith-Hutton jumped up and down in her excitement. ‘Whee!’ she shouted. ‘Let’s wake everyone up!’

“… Soon there were thirty people crowded into a cabin meant for three. We laughed and joked, greeted each newcomer with cheers, Bob Fearey in particular. Hungry as ever, he had come back for his sardines and bread.”

Excerpt from

Ten Years in Japan, A Contemporary Record Drawn from the Diaries and Private and Official Papers of Joseph Grew, 1944
:

“January 22, 1942

“Beat Stone one-up in our golf tournament but was quickly eliminated by Bob Fearey shortly thereafter. Benninghoff won the badminton tournament in a thrilling final from Lamm. There are also going on tournaments in bridge, chess, and checkers. We keep busy.

“Am very proud of Bob Fearey, my private secretary, a grandson of Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts, who has measured up admirably. In the absence of laundry facilities, each member of the staff has been doing his or her own washing, and the lower part of the compound looks like a back yard with the washed clothes and bedding hung out to dry. But Fearey discovered an old washing machine in our garret and he now does the washing for the entire staff twice a day, assisted by Rustad. He is also air-raid warden for his apartment house as well as director of athletics and he also takes his turn as Officer of the Day as well as officer in charge of policing the chancery. Incidentally he is an electrician, radio expert, and air pilot, having taken more than five hundred²² parachute jumps. He did all this during his summer vacations at Harvard. A keen, efficient, and public-spirited young man who should go far.”

Biographic Summary