Max Baucus: “in a few days, Washington's cherry trees will come into bloom by the Tidal Basin. As you may know, the Empire of Japan…”

“in a few days, Washington's cherry trees will come into bloom by the Tidal Basin. As you may know, the Empire of Japan gave us these trees in the year 1912, as a gesture of thanks for President Theodore Roosevelt's role in ending the Russo-Japanese War. But with due regard for TR, no one in this century has done more for our relations with Japan than Montana's most accomplished and honored son: Mike Mansfield. Today Mike celebrates his 95th birthday. To honor this occasion, and with thanks for all that Mike has taught me and all of us over the years, I would like to offer some thoughts on our relationship with Japan as we approach the next century. The UNITED STATES-JAPAN ALLIANCE In the past fifty years, America and Japan built an enduring alliance. It is the work of statesmen like Douglas MacArthur and Yoshida Shigeru after the Second World War; Dwight Eisenhower and Kishi Nobusuke, who steered the US-Japan Security Treaty through the Senate and the Diet in 1960; and Mansfield himself in his years of service as Ambassador to Japan. It has weathered the Chinese Revolution and the Korean War. Crises in the Taiwan Strait. Vietnam and forty years of Cold War confrontation. Through it all, this alliance has helped prevent another broad Asian war.…”