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OCR Page 1 of 30May 22, 1952
PRESS STATEMENT
By Ambassador Francis B. Sayre
Japan today in the long view is in many respects one of the
most strategic and critical spots of the world. I suspect that
the course which Japan chooses to follow during this coming decade
will profoundly influence during the coming Century the shaping
of Asian history, - and of Western civilization as well. During
these present critical years Japan has been passing through a
period of profound frustration, - her former international objec-
tives ended in catastrophe and her former militaristic leadership
thoroughly discredited.
The concepts of Democracy and of human freedom are knocking
insistently at her gates and demanding revolutionary changes in
her thinking, her ways of life, her international objectives.
How will Japan respond?
As one looks ahead into the next Century will the Japanese
people with other Asians be fighting for or against the civiliza-
tion in which we believe?
In this present period of frustration and dizzy change,
Japan needs help. But the kind of help she needs now can not
be confined to guns and armaments and material assistance. She
needs a steadying hand in democratic and liberal thought, in
Christian fundamentals, upon which our ideas of human freedom and
democracy have been built. The time has come now for Americans
to give Japan of their very best. That includes, at the very
core, Christian ways of thinking.
I am a believer in the Japanese. They are a people of out-
standing intelligence, industry, latent power. I believe in
Japan's future.
That is why I feel proud and happy to have this rare oppor-
tunity to go to Japan as Bishop Sherill's personal representative
to the Episcopal Church in Japan. I covet the chance to share
with the Japanese people their hopes and their planning for the
future.
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