Asian Communism and the

1
Asian Communism and the Reverse Course
2
American Occupation

• Initial Purposes
• Disarmament
• Democratization
• Conduct
• MacArthur as SCAP
• Thin US layer
• Use Japanese bureaucracy
• Contrast with Iraq

3
Shift in US Thinking

• Interplay of foreign/domestic issues
• Foreign factors
• Fear of Soviet Communism
• Rise of Mao and CCP in China
• North/South split in Korea
• Southeast Asia as well

4
US Shift (Cont)

• Domestic Factors (partial response to foreign
  threat)
• Cost factors in Occupation
• Republican criticism of Truman administration
• China Lobby
• Ultimately, McCarthyism

5
Upshot

• US change
• From idealistic democratic Japan
• To a renewed and economically viable Japan
• Bulwark of democracy in Asia
• Requires rebuilding and not reforming

6
Reverse Course

• Breath of fresh air for conservatives
• Shock of purge of government and business
  leaders, constitution, growth of left
• Disappointment of left
• Struggle into 1960s, effecting student movement,
  large segment of society
• Seeds of postwar system
• The Japan with which we are familiar
• Shift unmistakable by 1948
• Pronounced after Maos victory in 1949

7
Political Implications

• Depurging of right
• Many returned to civil, political life
• Kishi Nobusuke most famous example
• Now, Red Purge
• Thousands fired from labor unions, businesses
• Many jailed
• Especially hurt labor

8
Conservative Revival

• Left-wing coalition governments lose out
• Yoshida Shigeru in power 1948-1954
• Established the conservative political base,
  still unbroken
• Cemented US-Japan relationship
• Sticking point Article IX

9
Economic Implications

• Dodge Line adopted to facilitate revival
• 3/19/49 Joseph M. Dodge in Japan
• Stem inflation, balance budget
• Reduce money supply
• Set 360 yen to dollar
• Bitterly opposed
• 500,000 lost jobs
• Deflation
• But successful in stabilizing economy

10
Zaibatsu Policy Reversal

• No longer attacked
• cosmetic changes in ownership patterns
• Still around today (keiretsu), neo-zaibatsu
• Irony great US business support for not breaking
  up zaibatsu

11
Japanese Labor

• Shift from SCAP pro-labor stance
• MacArthur forbids
• May Day demo 47
• Labor loses support of SCAP and Japan
• Never becomes a political force in Japan
• Conservative govt.
• repression

12
Key Role of Korean War, 1950-1953

• June 1950National Police Force of 75,000 (later
  SDF)
• Helped speed San
• Francisco Treaty
• Sept. 8, 1951
• Gift from the Gods
• Economic boom

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Ending the Occupation

• Occupation ends formally 4/28/52
• De facto earlier as
• SCAP role ceased due to war
• Soon followed by US-Japan Security Treaty
• Japan as US client
• US bases in Japan
• Nuclear umbrella

15
Assessing the Occupation I

• Mixed review
• Better than anyone expected
• Uniqueness of the experiment
• Compare with Iraq?
• Confidence/arrogance of US
• An unintended consequence
• Founding fathers of Japanolgy
• Like Peace Corps and Mormon missions

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Assessment II

• Positive side
• Constitutionno amendments to a foreign
  constitution
• Land Reformsupport for LDP
• Negative
• Zaibatsu bustingMitsubishi et al still with us

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Assessment II

• Mixed assessment
• Education
• Labor
• Local government
• Economic recovery still stunning
• The human connection still stands out Popcorn on
  the Ginza and Sayonara
• Question for the semester How democratic is
  Japan? What is the US credit/blame for that?