Joseph Clark Grew (May 27, 1880 – May 25, 1965) was an American career diplomat and
Foreign Service officer
A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...
. He is best known as the ambassador to Japan from 1932 to 1941
and as a high official in the State Department in Washington from 1944 to 1945. He opposed American hardliners, sought to avoid war, and helped to ensure the soft Japanese surrender in 1945 that enabled a peaceful American
Occupation of Japan
Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the
Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States wi ...
after the war.
After numerous minor diplomatic appointments, Grew was the
Ambassador to Denmark (1920–1921) and
Ambassador to Switzerland (1921–1924). In 1924, Grew became the
Under Secretary of State
Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary.
From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking of ...
and oversaw the establishment of the
US Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carryi ...
. Grew then became
Ambassador to Turkey (1927–1932). As
Ambassador to Japan
The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan.
History
Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the at ...
(1932–1941), he opposed American hardliners and recommended negotiation with Tokyo to avoid war until 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, j ...
(December 7, 1941). He was interned until American and Japanese diplomats were formally exchanged in 1942.
On return to Washington, DC, he became the second official in the State Department as Under Secretary and sometimes served as acting Secretary of State. He successfully promoted a soft peace with Japan that would allow Emperor
Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
to maintain his status, which facilitated the Emperor's decision to surrender in 1945.
Early life
Grew was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, in May 1880 to a wealthy Yankee family. He was groomed for public service. At the age of 12 he was sent to
Groton School
Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...
,
an elite preparatory school whose purpose was to "cultivate manly Christian character". Grew was two grades ahead of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
.
During his youth, Grew enjoyed the outdoors, sailing, camping, and hunting during his summers away from school. Grew attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
and graduated in 1902.
Career
After his graduation, Grew made a tour of the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
and nearly died after he had been stricken with malaria. While recovering in India, he became friends with an American
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
there. That inspired him to abandon his plan of following in his father's career as a banker, and he decided to go into diplomatic service. In 1904, he was a clerk at the consulate in Cairo, Egypt, and he then rotated through diplomatic missions in Mexico City (1906), St. Petersburg (1907), Berlin (1908), Vienna (1911), and again in Berlin (1912–1917). He became acting chief of the State Department's Division of Western European Affairs during the war (1917–1919) and was the secretary of the American peace commission in Paris (1919–1920).
Ambassador to Denmark and Switzerland
From April 7, 1920 to October 14, 1921, Grew served as the
U.S. Ambassador to Denmark
The first representative from the United States to Denmark was appointed in 1827 as a Chargé d'Affaires. There followed a series of chargés and ministers until 1890 when the first full ambassador ''(Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten ...
after his appointment by President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
. He was preceded by
Norman Hapgood
Norman Hapgood (March 28, 1868 – April 29, 1937) was an American writer, journalist, editor, and critic, and an American Minister to Denmark.
Biography
Norman Hapgood was born March 28, 1868 in Chicago, Illinois to Charles Hutchins Hapgood ( ...
and succeeded by
John Dyneley Prince
John Dyneley Prince (April 17, 1868 – October 11, 1945) was an American linguist, diplomat, and politician. He was a professor at New York University and Columbia University, minister to Denmark and Yugoslavia, and leader of both houses of the ...
. He replaced Hampson Gary as the
United States Ambassador to Switzerland
This is a list of United States ambassadors to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
History
Since 1997, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland has also been accredited to the Principality of Liechtenstein. Appointed on Feb ...
after his appointment by President
Warren Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. ...
. In 1922, he and Richard Child acted as the American observers at the
Conference of Lausanne. Grew served as Ambassador until March 22, 1924, when
Hugh S. Gibson
Hugh Simons Gibson (August 16, 1883 – December 12, 1954) was an American diplomat. He was actively involved in disarmament talks from 1925 to 1932. Throughout his career, he remained a leading proponent in the drive to establish a professional U ...
replaced him.
Under Secretary of State (1924–1927)
From April 16, 1924 to June 30, 1927, Grew served as the
Under Secretary of State
Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary.
From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking of ...
in Washington under President
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
and succeeded
William Phillips William Phillips may refer to:
Entertainment
* William Phillips (editor) (1907–2002), American editor and co-founder of ''Partisan Review''
* William T. Phillips (1863–1937), American author
* William Phillips (director), Canadian film-maker ...
.
Discrimination against Black applicants to the Foreign Service
During this period, Grew also served as chairman of the Foreign Service Personnel Board. In 1924, the
Rogers Act
The Rogers Act of 1924, often referred to as the Foreign Service Act of 1924, is the legislation that merged the United States diplomatic and consular services into the United States Foreign Service. It defined a personnel system under which the U ...
created a merit-based hiring process that enabled
Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr.
Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. (May 11, 1899 – April 25, 1990) was an American diplomat, and the first African American diplomat to become an ambassador by rising through the ranks of the Foreign Service rather than by political appointment such ...
to later that year become the first Black member of the Foreign Service. Grew used his position to manipulate the oral part of the exam specifically to prevent further hiring of Black candidates. After Wharton, no other Black person was hired to join the Foreign Service for more than 20 years.
Ambassador to Turkey
In 1927, Grew was appointed as the American ambassador to
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. He served in
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
until 1932, when he was offered the opportunity to return to the Far East.
Ambassador to Japan
In 1932, Grew was appointed by President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
to succeed
William Cameron Forbes
William Cameron Forbes (May 21, 1870 – December 24, 1959) was an American investment banker and diplomat. He served as Governor-General of the Philippines, governor-general of the Philippines from 1909 to 1913 and ambassador of the United States ...
as the Ambassador to Japan, where he took up his posting on June 6. Ambassador and Mrs. Grew had been happy in Turkey, and were hesitant about the move, but decided that Grew would have a unique opportunity to make the difference between peace and war between the United States and Japan. The Grews soon became popular in
Japanese society
The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.
Historical overview
The ances ...
, joining clubs and societies there, and adapting to the culture, even as relations between the two countries deteriorated. During his long tenure in Japan he became well known to the American public, making regular appearances in newspapers, newsreels and magazines, including an appearance on
''Time'' magazine's cover in 1934, and a long 1940 feature story in
''Life'' in which writer
John Hersey
John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to n ...
, later famous for
''Hiroshima'', called Grew “unquestionably the most important U.S. ambassador” and Tokyo the “most important embassy ever given a U.S. career diplomat.”
One major episode came on 12 December 1937. During the
USS ''Panay'' incident, the Japanese military bombed and sank the American gunboat ''Panay'' while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking in China. Three American sailors were killed. Japan and the United States were at peace. The Japanese claimed that they had not seen the American flags painted on the deck of the gunboat and then apologized and paid an indemnity. Nevertheless, the attack outraged Americans and caused US opinion to turn against the Japanese.
One of Grew's closest and most influential Japanese friends and allies was Prince
Tokugawa Iesato
Prince was the first head of the Tokugawa clan after the overthrow of the Tokugawa bakufu, and a significant figure in Japanese politics and diplomacy during the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan. When Prince Tokugawa travelled to ...
(1863–1940), the president of Japan's upper house, the
House of Peers. During most of the 1930s, both men worked together in various creative diplomatic ways to promote goodwill between their nations. The adjoining photograph showed them having tea together in 1937 after attending a goodwill event to commemorate the 25th anniversary Japanese gift of cherry blossom trees to the US in 1912. The
Garden Club of America
The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the record ...
reciprocated by giving flowering trees to Japan.
The historian Jonathan Utley argues in ''Before Pearl Harbor'' that Grew took the position that Japan had legitimate economic and security interests in Greater East Asia and that he hoped that President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull would accommodate them by high-level negotiations. However, Roosevelt, Hull, and other top American officials strongly opposed the massive Japanese intervention in China, and they negotiated with China to send American warplanes and with Britain and the Netherlands to cut off sales of steel and oil, which Japan needed for aggressive warfare. Other historians argue that Grew put far too much trust in the power of his moderate friends in the Japanese government. in some capacity in the German Army, mostly as rear area personnel (ammunition bearers, cooks, drivers, sanitation orderlies, or guards).
Unlike the German prisoners, who were looking forward to release at war's end, the Soviet prisoners urgently requested asylum in the United States or at least repatriation to a country not under Soviet occupation, as they knew they would be shot by Stalin as traitors for being captured (under Soviet law, surrender incurred the death penalty).
[Tolstoy, Nikolai, ''Stalin's Secret War'', New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1981), ][Blackwell, Jon]
"1945: Prisoners' dilemma"
''The Trentonian''
The question of the Soviet POWs' conduct was difficult to determine but not their fate if repatriated. Most Soviet POWs stated that they had been given a choice by the Germans: volunteer for labor duty with the German army or be turned over to the Gestapo for execution or service in an ''Arbeitslager'' (a camp used to work prisoners until they died of starvation or illness). In any case, in Stalin's eyes, they were dead men, as they had been captured alive, "contaminated" by contact with those in bourgeois Western nations, and found in service with the German Army.
Notified of their impending transfer to Soviet authorities, a riot at their POW camp erupted. No one was killed by the guards, but some POWS were wounded, and others hanged themselves. Truman granted the men a temporary reprieve, but Grew, as Acting Secretary of State, signed an order on July 11, 1945 forcing the repatriation of the Soviet POWs to the Soviet Union. Soviet co-operation, it was believed, would prove necessary to remake the face of postwar Europe. On August 31, 1945, the 153 survivors were officially returned to the Soviet Union; their ultimate fate is unknown.
Other work
Grew's book ''
Sport and Travel in the Far East'' was a favorite one of Theodore Roosevelt's. The introduction to the 1910 Houghton Mifflin printing of the book features the following introduction written by Roosevelt:
In 1945, after Grew left the State Department, he wrote two volumes of professional memoirs, published in 1952.
Personal life
![Lilla Cabot Perry, The Trio (Alice, Edith, and, Margaret Perry)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Lilla_Cabot_Perry%2C_The_Trio_%28Alice%2C_Edith%2C_and%2C_Margaret_Perry%29.JPG)
Grew married Alice Perry (b. 1884), the daughter of premier
American impressionist
American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose b ...
painter
Lilla Cabot Perry
Lilla Cabot Perry (born Lydia Cabot; January 13, 1848 – February 28, 1933) was an American artist who worked in the American Impressionist style, rendering portraits and landscapes in the free form manner of her mentor, Claude Monet. Perry was ...
(1848–1933), daughter of Dr. Samuel Cabot (of the New England
Cabots). Alice's father was noted American scholar
Thomas Sergeant Perry
Thomas Sergeant Perry (1845–1928) was an American editor, academic, literary critic, literary translator, and literary historian. He was a lifelong friend and associate of Henry James and a member of the faculty at Harvard University.
Early lif ...
(1845–1928). Through her paternal grandfather, Alice was a great-granddaughter of famed American naval hero
Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The best-known and most prominent member
of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace A ...
. Together, Joseph and Alice were the parents of:
* Lilla Cabot Grew (1907–1994), who married
Jay Pierrepont Moffat
Jay Pierrepont Moffat (January 7, 1896 – January 25, 1943) was an American diplomat, historian and statesman who, between 1917 and 1943, served the State Department in a variety of posts, including that of United States Ambassador to Canada ...
(1896–1943), the
American Ambassador to Canada, in 1927.
*Elizabeth Sturgis Grew (1912–1998), who married
Cecil B. Lyon.
He died two days before his 85th birthday on May 25, 1965.
Descendants
Grew's grandson,
Jay Pierrepont Moffat, Jr. (b. 1932), was the
United States Ambassador to Chad
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Chad.
*9 Jan 1961 – 28 May 1961 W. Wendell Blancke (Resident at Republic of Congo)
*Jan 1961 - May 1961 Frederic L. Chapin (Interim)
*28 May 1961 – 1 Apr 1963 John A. Calhoun
*12 Aug 19 ...
from 1983 to 1985.
In popular culture
In the 1970 film ''
Tora! Tora! Tora!
''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ!) is a 1970 epic film, epic war film that dramatizes the Empire of Japan, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, T ...
'', a historical drama about the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the part of US Ambassador Joseph Grew was played by
Meredith Weatherby Oscar Meredith Weatherby (February 25, 1915 – June 27, 1997) was an American publisher who was the founder of Weatherhill Publications. He spent a large part of his life in Japan and is known in particular for his English translations of literary ...
.
Published works
* ''
Sport and Travel in the Far East'', 1910
*
Report From Tokyo', 1942
* ''
Ten Years in Japan'', 1944
* ''
Turbulent Era, Volume I'', 1952
* ''Turbulent Era, Volume II'', 1952
See also
*
Japan–United States relations
International relations between Japan and the United States began in the late 18th and early 19th century with the diplomatic but force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate. Following ...
References
Further reading
* Bennett, Edward M. (1999). "Grew, Joseph Clark (1880–1965)". ''American National Biography''. .
* DeConde, Alexander, et al. ''Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy'' (4 vols. 2002).
*
* Grew, Joseph C. (1952). ''Turbulent Era: A Diplomatic Record of Forty Years, 1904–1945''. Books for Libraries Press.
* Heinrichs, Waldo H. (1966)
''American ambassador: Joseph C. Grew and the development of the United States diplomatic tradition''. A standard scholarly biography.
* Katz, Stan S. (2019). ''The Art of Peace: An Illustrated Biography on Prince Iyesato Tokugawa''
Excerpt
* Kemper, Steve (2022). ''Our Man in Tokyo: an American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor''. New York: Mariner Books (HarperCollins).
* Ornarli, Baris (2022). "The Diary of Ambassador Joseph Grew and the Groundwork for the US-Turkey Relationship". Cambridge Scholars Publishing
See here* Pelz, Stephen (1985). "Gulick and Grew: Errands into the East Asian Wilderness". 13#4: 606–611. .
* Utley, Jonathan G. (1985). ''Going to War with Japan, 1937–1941''. U of Tennessee Press.
External links
*
United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778–2005*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grew, Joseph
1880 births
1965 deaths
20th-century American diplomats
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Acting United States Secretaries of State
Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark
Ambassadors of the United States to Japan
Ambassadors of the United States to Switzerland
Ambassadors of the United States to Turkey
American expatriates in Japan
American people of World War II
Groton School alumni
Harvard College alumni
People from Boston
United States Foreign Service personnel
United States Under Secretaries of State
Writers from Massachusetts