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

PERRY, COMMODORE MATTHEW C. • 205
tack without first issuing a declaration of war. United States President
Franklin D. Roosevelt went before Congress the day after Pearl
Harbor, branding it an act that would “live in infamy.” Implicit in
Roosevelt’s statement was the supposition that Japan had long
planned a “sneak attack”—even as America was negotiating in good
faith. In this way, acting on the war cry “Remember Pearl Harbor!,”
the American people united behind their nation’s war effort. See also
PACIFIC WAR.
PERRY, COMMODORE MATTHEW C. (1794–1858). American
Navy officer and brother of Admiral Oliver Perry. Nearing the end
of his career, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry was asked by
President Millard Fillmore to command a squadron ships sent to
Japan for the purpose of establishing trade and diplomatic relations
between the United States and Japan. Perry and his four ships arrived
in Uraga Bay near Edo on 8 July 1853. The four ships were
larger than any ships in Japan—two were steam-fired frigates
belching black, coal smoke—and became known as “the black
ships” for their dark, ominous appearance. Perry presented a letter
from President Fillmore to Japanese officials asking for good treatment
of shipwrecked sailors; permission to buy wood, water, and
other supplies for American ships; and a trade treaty between the
two countries. Perry departed to allow Japanese officials time to
discuss the matter, and returned in February 1854 with nine ships
to negotiate the first formal treaty between Japan and a Western
country.
Despite the “gunboat diplomacy” element to the negotiations,
Japanese officials refused to grant a general trade agreement to Perry.
Nevertheless, the United States–Japan Treaty of Friendship, usually
known as the Kanagawa Treaty, established diplomatic relations between
the two countries, and other countries soon followed Perry into
Japan and negotiated similar treaties. Perry’s mission began American
formal relations with Japan, allowed other Western countries to
establish relations with Japan, and played a significant role in breaking
open pent-up grievances by many Japanese against the Tokugawa
shogunate, leading to its demise by 1868. See also ANSEI
TREATIES; BIDDLE, JAMES; HARRIS, TOWNSEND; MEIJI
RESTORATION; SAKOKU.