Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

HARRIS, TOWNSEND • 99
death in 1897. After a brief period in private business, Hara in 1900
joined Hirobumi Itō’s new political party, the Seiyūkai. From October
of that year, when Itō formed his fourth cabinet, Hara served as
communications minister. By 1903, Hara had emerged as one of the
principal powerbrokers within his political party. He served as home
minister in Kimmochi Saionji’s numerous cabinets, and in 1913
worked with Saionji and Admiral Gombei Yamamoto to forge a cabinet
headed by the latter. In 1917, he was appointed a member of the
Advisory Council on Foreign Relations, and in August 1918 formed
his first cabinet. He was the first prime minister to head a majority
party cabinet and hold a seat in the lower house.
Hara paid close attention to his nation’s foreign policy. At its most
basic, his foreign policy was driven by the sensed need for cooperative
relations with the United States and non-interference in Chinese
internal affairs. Both these policies were realized at the Washington
Conference of 1921–1922, although Hara did not live to see the results
of the conference. He was stabbed to death by a 19-year-old
youth eight days after the conference opened.
HARDY, ALPHAEUS (1838–1912). Wealthy businessman from
Boston, member of the Congregationalist Church–sponsored American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and trustee of
Amherst College, Alphaeus Hardy and his wife Susan were Jo Niijima’s
primary benefactors during the young Japanese man’s educational
and spiritual sojourn in the United States from 1865 to 1874.
Niijima referred to himself in English as “Joseph Hardy Niishima”
and regarded Alphaeus and Susan Hardy as his “American father”
and “American mother.” See also DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY.
HARRIS, TOWNSEND (1804–1879). Harris was the first American
chargé d’ affaires, later minister (ambassador) to Japan. A businessman
dealing in the China trade and active in New York politics, Harris
tried unsuccessfully to join Commodore Matthew Perry’s mission
to Japan in 1853–1854. However, he convinced President Franklin
Pierce to appoint him as America’s first resident diplomat in Japan and
took up his post in 1856. With assistance from his secretary and interpreter,
Henry Heusken, Harris negotiated and signed the United
States–Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the Tokugawa