Hugh Borton (May 14, 1903 – August 6, 1995) was an American historian who specialized in the
history of Japan, later serving as president of
Haverford College.
Biography
Borton was born on May 14, 1903, to a devout
Quaker household in
Moorestown Township, New Jersey
Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...
.
His parents sent him to Quaker schools and after graduating from
Haverford College in 1927, he and his wife Elizabeth Wilbur, proceeded to find a way of making a living that was in line with their Quaker beliefs. They looked to the
American Friends Service Committee, which set up teaching posts for them at a small school in the foothills of the
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
’s
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...
. In 1928 Borton and his wife were asked to travel to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Japan, to help the Committee's work there.
Borton's three years living among the
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
affected his outlook to the extent that he thereafter devoted himself to studying Japan. Initially, Borton sought guidance from Sir
George Sansom
Sir George Bailey Sansom (28 November 1883 – 8 March 1965) was a British diplomat and historian of pre-modern Japan, particularly noted for his historical surveys and his attention to Japanese society and culture.
Early life
Sansom was born ...
, a British scholar who was then serving in the British Consulate. In 1931, Borton returned to America to further his education. He completed a master's degree in history at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and studied briefly at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. He then traveled across the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
to pursue further study under the supervision of Professors
J. J. L. Duyvendak and
Johannes Rahder at
Leiden University in the Netherlands. He was awarded his PhD by Leiden after several years of work at
Tokyo Imperial University
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
. He returned to the United States to take a position on the faculty at Columbia, lecturing on modern
Japanese history
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventi ...
and language. He also played a key role in structuring the first undergraduate program in
Japanese studies
Japanese studies ( Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japan ...
in the newly expanded Department of Chinese and Japanese. His research publications prior to the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
included ''Peasant Uprisings in Japan of the Tokugawa Period'' and ''Japan Since 1931: Its Political and Social Development''.
Borton’s academic career was interrupted by America’s entry into the Second World War following the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...
, diverting him into public service. Borton cited his Quaker principles in conscientiously objecting to serving in the armed forces, but he was interested in doing what he could to prepare for the peace after the war. In June 1942 he sought leave from Columbia to spend the summer serving on the faculty of the School of Military Government at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
at
Charlottesville
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
. In the fall he moved to the
US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
. It marked the beginning of six years during which he was in the midst of a corps of officials who focused not on the military advancement of the war, but in preparing peacetime measures not focused on punishing Japan, but on reforming it so that a similar war would be less likely to occur. Borton drafted many of the State Department proposals and was a proponent of many of its positions, including those that resulted in key decisions such as the decision not to prosecute Emperor
Hirohito as a war criminal and the decision to not replace the
Japanese government but to disband the
Japanese military
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...
and replace the wartime leadership. His group also sought to implement fundamental reform of the Japanese constitution.
In 1948 Borton returned to academic life at Columbia, where he was a prominent organizer of the East Asian Institute as the University's centre of modern and contemporary East Asian studies. He replaced the inaugural director, Sir George Sansom, and later helped to establish the
Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.
The Association provides members with an Annu ...
, serving as its first treasurer and later as its president. Among his works were ''Japan Under Allied Occupation, 1945–1947'' and ''Japan's Modern Century'', which went on to become one of the most widely used history texts of his period.
In 1957, Borton resigned his post at Columbia to accept an appointment to
Haverford College as its president, before retiring in 1967. In 1972 he retired to his farm in the Berkshire Hills of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
to enjoy the farm life which he loved and to practice his Quaker faith. Borton died on August 6, 1995, at the age of 92 at his home in
Conway, Massachusetts
Conway is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,761 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Conway was first settled by English colonists ...
.
Honors
*
Japan Foundation: Japan Foundation Award, 1980.
Japan Foundation Award, 1980.
/ref>
Books
* ''Peasant Uprising in Japan'' (1938)
* ''Japan Since 1931: Its Political and Social Developments'' (1940)
* ''Japan's Modern Century From Perry to 1970'' (1956)
*
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borton, Hugh
1903 births
1995 deaths
American Quakers
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Columbia University faculty
Harvard University alumni
Haverford College alumni
American Japanologists
People from Conway, Massachusetts
People from Moorestown, New Jersey
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
Presidents of the Association for Asian Studies
Presidents of Haverford College
20th-century American male writers
20th-century Quakers
20th-century American academics