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

218 • ROOT, ELIHU
China, and, for this reason, supported Japan throughout the
Russo–Japanese War of 1904–1905. At the same time, he did not desire
the complete eradication of Russian power in the Far East precisely
because he realized that nation’s ability to hold Japanese ambitions in
check.
Roosevelt recognized the potential for Japanese–American friction
in the post–Russo–Japanese War era. He sought to preempt this possibility
by arranging for an agreement—the so-called Taft–Katsura
Agreement of 1905—in which Tokyo acknowledged American control
over the Philippines in exchange for Washington’s recognition of
Tokyo’s right to rule the Korean peninsula. In the aftermath of the
Russo–Japanese War, he confronted Japanese–American friction
over both the immigration issue and China. He poured oil over these
troubled waters with the Gentlemen’s Agreement and the
Root–Takahira Agreement. He also recognized that the United
States was not in a position to defend the Philippines in the event that
the Japanese launched an attack on the colony, and ordered the U.S.
Pacific base to be moved from Manila to Hawaii. See also
PORTSMOUTH TREATY.
ROOT, ELIHU (1845–1937). A native of New York, Elihu Root served
as both secretary of war (1899–1904) and secretary of state
(1905–1909). He was a firm believer in the notion that Japan was a
force for order in the Far East, and was never convinced—as he put
it at the Washington Conference of 1921–1922—that China was a
full-fledged member of the family of nations.
After a successful career in corporate law, Root in 1899 was appointed
secretary of war by President William McKinley. He remained
in the post under McKinley’s successor, Theodore Roosevelt,
until 1905. His principal efforts as secretary of war were aimed at the
institutional modernization of the United States Army, and he also
maintained responsibility for the administrations in Cuba and the
Philippines. Root replaced John Hay as secretary of state in July
1905, in which position he worked closely with President Roosevelt
to steer the United States toward a cooperative Japan policy. The Gentlemen’s
Agreement of February 1908 and the Root–Takahira
Agreement of November 1908 represented his principal diplomatic
achievements vis-à-vis Japan.