Description:

China

 

Korean War Era Diplomatic Archive

 

 

[CHINA, JAPAN.] Archive of 26 items related to the diplomatic service of John F. Simmons, 1943-1953. 53 pp., 3.625" x 2.125" to 8.5" x 14". Some materials in Chinese.

 

 

This diverse collection of invitations, programs, and itineraries highlight a state visit from the Crown Prince of Japan to the United States in September and October 1953 and a visit by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy to East Asia in November and December of that same year. The items belonged to a State Department Chief of Protocol who had been an ambassador himself earlier in his career.

 

 

Highlights and Excerpts

Embassy of Japan, “Itinerary of H.I.H. The Crown Prince of Japan, during His Visit to the United States,” Typed Document, August 27, 1953, 7 pp.  Confidential “Program for the Visit of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan to Washington,” Typed Document, September 2, 1953, 12 pp.  Embassy of Japan, “Program for the Visit of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan to the United States of America, September 8, to October 10, 1953,” Printed Pamphlet, 18 pp.

 

Program for Dinner by Japan Society given in Honor of His Imperial Highness The Crown Prince of Japan, Embassy of Japan, Washington, D.C., September 17, 1953, 20 pp.

 

Invitations for John F. Simmons to a variety of events, including

- Vice President Richard Nixon’s luncheon for the Crown Prince of Japan, September 9, 1953;

- Ambassador Eikichi Araki of Japan’s reception for the Crown Prince of Japan, September 10, 1953;

- Ambassador Eikichi Araki of Japan’s dinner for the Crown Prince of Japan, September 10, 1953;

- Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’s dinner for the Crown Prince of Japan, September 9, 1953;

- Vice Admiral Ma Chi-Chuang, Commander-in-Chief, Chinese Navy’s reception for the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, December 5, 1953.

- Ambassador of the Republic of China’s reception at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 10, 1943 (in Portuguese).

 

Three postcards from Taiwan, ca. 1950s.

 

Two notes addressed to Wang Dong-yuan, both in Chinese, with envelopes. The first is an invitation from Chiang Kai-shek and his wife for a dinner meeting. The second is a reminder bill for the services of three geisha performers for dance and entertainment and is curiously partially in Japanese and partially in shorthand Chinese.  Wang Dong-yuan (1898-1995) was a Lieutenant General of the Republic of China, a representative in the Constitutional National Assembly, and a key military advisor to the President. From 1951 to 1961, he served as ambassador to the Republic of Korea. He moved to the United States in 1971 and settled in Los Angeles.

 

Itinerary of the Secretary of the Navy’s Pacific and Far East Trip, 23 November 1953 – 13 December 1953,” Typed Document, November 21, 1953, 9 pp.

 

Historical Background

Japanese Crown Prince Akihito (b. 1933) was heir apparent to the Chrysanthemum Throne from his birth, but he was formally invested as Crown Prince in November 1952. Seven months later, he represented Japan at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London. On the same nearly six-month-long trip that also took him to West Germany and Canada, the nineteen-year-old crown prince visited the United States in September and October 1953.

 

Crown Prince Akihito arrived in New York on September 8, but left immediately for Washington, where he visited Mount Vernon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Capitol, and other sites. He also visited Colonial Williamsburg, Philadelphia, a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, Valley Forge, Princeton, New York City (including a Yankees baseball game), Hyde Park (for a visit with Eleanor Roosevelt), Boston (where he met with President Eisenhower), the University of Michigan, Chicago, Jackson Hole (Wyoming), Yellowstone National Park, Los Angeles, San Francisco (including a UC Berkeley football game), and Honolulu.

 

In January 1989, Crown Prince Akihito succeeded Emperor Hirohito to the throne at the latter’s death. In April 2019, after a reign of thirty years, Emperor Akihito took the unusual step of abdicating in favor of his son Crown Prince Naruhito, and became emperor emeritus.

 

In November and December 1953, Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Anderson (1910-1989) and his wife and a small group including State Department Chief of Protocol John F. Simmons and his wife visited Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul. Anderson served as Secretary of the Navy from February 1953 to March 1954. In May 1954, he became Secretary of Defense, a position he held for fifteen months. He also served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1957 to 1961.

 

 

John F. Simmons (1892-1968) was an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador (1945-1947) and Ecuador (1947-1950). He served as Chief of Protocol in the U.S. State Department from 1950 to 1957, under Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

 

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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