The
Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was an international NGO established in 1925 to provide a forum for discussion of problems and relations between nations of the Pacific Rim. The International Secretariat, the center of most IPR activity over the years, consisted of professional staff members who recommended policy to the Pacific Council and administered the international program. The various national councils were responsible for national, regional and local programming. Most participants were elite members of the business and academic communities in their respective countries. Funding came largely from businesses and philanthropies, especially the Rockefeller Foundation. IPR international headquarters were in Honolulu until the early 1930s when they were moved to New York and the American Council emerged as the dominant national council.
IPR was founded in the spirit of Wilsonianism, an awareness of the United States' new role as a world power after
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, and a belief that liberal democracy should be promoted throughout the world. To promote greater knowledge of issues, the IPR supported conferences, research projects and publications, and after 1932 published a quarterly journal
Pacific Affairs{Infobox Journal| cover = | discipline = Area Studies| abbreviation = PA| publisher = University of British Columbia| country = Canada| history = 1928 to present| website = http://www.pacificaffairs.ubc.ca| ISSN = 1715-3379...
. After World War II, Cold War charges that the IPR was infiltrated with Communists led to Congressional hearings and loss of tax exempt status. Many IPR members had liberal left orientations typical of internationalists of the 1930s, some ten IPR associates were shown to have been Communists, others were sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and the anti-imperialist tone of the leadership aroused resentment from some of the colonial powers, but the more dramatic charges, such as that the IPR was responsible for the fall of China, have not been generally accepted.
Founding and Early Years, 1925-1939
The IPR was the result of two sets of organizers, one in New York, another in Hawai'i. The New York based effort was organized by Edward C. Carter, Carter, after graduating from Harvard in 1906, joined the
Student Volunteer MovementThe Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was an organization founded in 1886 that sought to recruit college and university students in the United States for missionary service abroad. It also sought to publicize and encourage the missionary enterprise in general...
with the YMCA in India, then worked with the Y in France during World War I. After the war he joined
The InquiryThe Inquiry was a study group established in 1917 by Woodrow Wilson to prepare materials for the peace negotiations following World War I. The group, composed of around 150 academics, was directed by presidential adviser Edward House and supervised directly by philosopher Sidney Mezes...
, a liberal Protestant commission with a genteelly militant flavor which organized conferences and publications on labor, race relations, business ethics, and international peace. Among Carter's constituents were John D. Rockefeller, III, Abby Aldridge Rockefeller, and Dr.
Ray Lyman WilburRay Lyman Wilbur was a medical doctor, the third president of Stanford University, and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior....
, President of Stanford University. Wilbur argued that a new organization devoted to Pacific affairs would fill a gap not addressed by East Coast foreign policy groups. Meanwhile, in Hawai’i, another group was organizing under the leadership of local business interests.
Not everyone approved. Time magazine called Carter, Wilbur, and The Inquiry a “strange and motley crew,” a “little band of élite and erudite adventurers.” Some in the American State Department and Navy opposed discussion of Pacific affairs, fearing that it might interfere with strategic planning at a time when Chinese and Japanese nationalism were on the rise. Carter countered with support from the
Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
and the
Carnegie FoundationThe Carnegie Foundation is an organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands. It was founded in 1903 by Andrew Carnegie in order to manage his donation of $1.5 million, which was used for the construction, management and maintenance of the Peace Palace...
. Using networks of the International YMCA, independent National Councils were organized in other countries, with an International Secretariat in Honolulu.
The first conference was held in Honolulu in the summer of 1925, followed by another in Honolulu (1927), then conferences in Kyoto (1929), Hangzhou and Shanghai (1931), Banff, Canada (1933), Yosemite, USA (1936), and Virginia Beach, USA (1939). Each conference published its background papers and roundtable discussions in a volume in the series
Problems of the Pacific.
Edward Carter took responsibility for the American Council. When he became Secretary General in 1933 he lobbied successfully to have the International Headquarters move to New York. Since 1928 his chief assistant had been Frederick V. Field, who worked with him until 1940. (Field was later attacked for his Communist allegiances (see below), but scholars accept his claim that he combined them with a belief in knowledge for its own sake. ) The American Council moved energetically on several fronts. One of Carter's concerns was that public opinion needed to be informed and school curriculum deepened. Another area was to commission or subsidize scholarship on all aspects of Asia. Over the next decades, the IPR imprint appeared on hundreds of books, including most of the important scholarship on China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Notable was the Chinese Dynastic History Project, headed by the German refugee scholar Karl Wittfogel, which set out to translate and annotate the official histories compiled by each Chinese dynasty for its predecessor. In 1932, the IPR determined to expand its Bulletin into a full fledged journal,
Pacific Affairs{Infobox Journal| cover = | discipline = Area Studies| abbreviation = PA| publisher = University of British Columbia| country = Canada| history = 1928 to present| website = http://www.pacificaffairs.ubc.ca| ISSN = 1715-3379...
. At the recommendation of long time treaty port journalist H.G.E. Woodhead, Carter recruited
Owen LattimoreOwen Lattimore was a U.S. author, educator, and influential scholar of Central Asia, especially Mongolia. In the 1930s he was editor of Pacific Affairs, a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and then taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1938 to 1963...
, a multi-sided scholar of Central Asia who, however did not have a PhD.
The IPR aimed to include all of the countries of the Pacific, including colonies, such as the Philippines and Korea (the Dutch government forbade participation from the Dutch East Indies), and the Soviet Union, which, like the United States, was not a member of the League of Nations. As friction between Japan and China became more intense, it was less possible for the IPR to avoid getting entangled. In 1931, the Japanese invasion forced the conference to move from Hangzhou to Shanghai. In 1932, the Japanese delegation withdrew and succeeding conferences were held without Japanese representation. Since the USSR was a long time rival of Japan and a revolutionary Marxist power, Soviet participation raised many questions and problems. Marxist analysis, such as that brought by Wittfogel, added powerful tools for understanding Chinese history, but Stalin’s interest was scarcely limited to discussions and theories. Carter's sympathy for the Soviet Union led him to defend Stalin's purges and trials, although IPR publications contained both favorable and critical treatments of Soviet policies.
The IPR sponsored other important scholarly excursions into Asian history and society. R.H. Tawney’s long memo for the 1931 Conference was published as his
Land and Labor in China (1931). The Dutch scholar J.H. Furnival’s development of the sociology of Max Weber changed the understanding of Dutch East Indies society. The Marxist analysis of geography in Chi Chao-ting’s work changed the understanding of how history worked for everyone, Marxist or not. Most important was the collaboration between Lattimore and Wittfogel which used an eclectic array of approaches including
Arnold ToynbeeArnold Toynbee was an English economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes.-Biography:...
,
Ellsworth HuntingtonEllsworth Huntington was a professor of geography at Yale University during the early 20th century, known for his studies on climatic determinism, economic growth and economic geography...
, and
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
to develop a social history of China.
The War Years
During the war the IPR organized two conferences, one at Mont Tremblant, Quebec, in December 1942 and the second in Hot Springs, Virginia in January 1945. One scholar noted that the non-official nature of these meetings meant that officials and influential leaders could join in the fray in an ostensibly private capacity, which “gave the I.P.R. a status well beyond its actual size.” Colonial issues and post-war planning were the major areas of controversy. Mrs.
Vijaya Lakshmi PanditVijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician, sister of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru....
of India, for instance, asserted that the conflict in Asia was a race war, and other members of the conference from Asia warned that too harsh a treatment of Japan would lead to anti-Western feeling throughout the Far East. At the roundtables there was criticism and doubt that British would follow the
Atlantic CharterThe Atlantic Charter was the blueprint for the world after World War II, and is the foundation for many of the international treaties and organizations that currently shape the world...
, while British resented the American uninformed and high flown ideals. American leaders, especially those in the International Secretariat, were suspicious and critical, noting that the delegation from India was more British than the British. Americans repeatedly insisted that they were not fighting in order to reconstitute the British Empire, British replied that they would “not be hustled out of evolution into revolution” and that the US might “do well to look into her own Negro problem.” On the positive side, the conferences helped to focus on the political and social developments within Japan after the war, especially the question of whether to abolish the imperial throne. Edward Carter summarized Anglo-American differences and fears: “continuing imperialism as a threat to world peace," on the one hand, and of "anti-colonialism as a recipe for chaos” on the other, and of "imperial tariff protections as a barrier to world trade and of American economic might as a potential bludgeon.” In all likelihood, Carter was forced out of the Secretary General position in late1945 by the European council leaders because of his increasingly out-spoken anti-colonialism.
At home, the American Secretariat came under criticism.
Attack Over Communist Influences and Demise
Over the next years, as the Communist Revolution came to power in China, the IPR was charged with Communist sympathies and even for the loss of China. Despite the heated rhetoric, however, the only charges actually brought were several perjury indictments against Lattimore, and even these were subsequently dropped. The attacks on the Institute began with a wartime study by dissident IPR member Alfred Kohlberg, an American businessman who had owned a textile firm in prewar China. After finding what he believed were Communist sympathies in IPR, in particular Frederick Field, Kohlberg first wrote to other members of the Board, published an 80-page report, then launched a publicity campaign against the Institute.
Among IPR staffers identified later as Communists or collaborators with Soviet intelligence agents were Kathleen Barnes, Hilda Austern, Elsie Fairfax-Cholmely, Chi Chao-ting, Guenter Stein, Harriet Levine, Talitha Gerlach,
Chen Han-sengChen Han-seng was a Chinese sociologist and considered a pioneer of modern Chinese social science, and also a member of legendary Soviet master-spy Richard Sorge's Tokyo ring;He was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu...
(a member of the
SorgeRichard Sorge was a spy who worked for the Soviet Union. He has gained great fame among espionage enthusiasts for his intelligence gathering during World War II. He worked as a journalist in both Germany and Japan, where he was imprisoned for spying and eventually hanged. His NKVD codename was...
spy ring),
Michael GreenbergMichael Greenberg was a scholar of Chinese economics and history. He was alleged to have provided a Soviet spy with information during the 1940s, but was never charged with espionage....
(named as a source in 1945 by defecting Soviet courier
Elizabeth BentleyElizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...
), and T.A. Bisson (Venona's "Arthur"), as well as Kate Mitchell and
Andrew RothAndrew Roth is a biographer and journalist notable for compiling the definitive Parliamentary Profiles of British Members of Parliament...
, both of whom were arrested in the 1945
AmerasiaAmerasia was a journal of Far Eastern affairs, founded by "millionaire Communist" Frederick Vanderbilt Field and Philip Jaffe, and edited by Jaffe and Kate L. Mitchell. It is most noted for a case in which several of its staff and their contacts were suspected of espionage and charged with...
case.
IPR was closely allied with
AmerasiaAmerasia was a journal of Far Eastern affairs, founded by "millionaire Communist" Frederick Vanderbilt Field and Philip Jaffe, and edited by Jaffe and Kate L. Mitchell. It is most noted for a case in which several of its staff and their contacts were suspected of espionage and charged with...
. The two organizations shared the same building, and many members of the Editorial Board of
Amerasia were officers or employees of IPR. An FBI review of
Amerasia and IPR publications found that approximately 115 people contributed articles to both.
In the early fifties, the IPR came under a lengthy investigation by the
Senate Internal Security SubcommitteeThe Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951-77, more commonly known as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and sometimes the McCarran Committee, was authorized under S...
. Critics charged that IPR scholars had been naïve in their statements regarding Communism and
StalinistJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
Russia.
Senator
Joseph McCarthyJoseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
of Wisconsin repeatedly criticized IPR and its former chairman
Philip JessupPhilip Caryl Jessup was a diplomat, scholar, and jurist from New York City.- Early life and education :Philip C. Jessup received his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in 1919. He then went on to earn a law degree from Yale Law School in 1924 and a Ph.D...
. McCarthy observed that Frederick V. Field, T.A. Bisson, and Owen Lattimore were active in IPR and claimed that they had worked to turn American China policy in favor of the
Communist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and the ruling political party of the People's Republic of China and the world's largest political party...
.
In 1952, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS), chaired by Senator
Pat McCarranPatrick Anthony McCarran was a Democratic United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until 1954, and was noted for his strong anti-Communist stance.-Early life and career:...
, spent over a year reviewing some 20,000 documents from the files of IPR and questioning IPR personnel. The committee found it suspicious that
MarxistsMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
had published articles in the IPR journal and that Communists had attended an IPR conference in 1942. In its final report the SISS stated:
Elizabeth BentleyElizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...
testified that
NKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including...
spy chief
Jacob GolosJake Golos , was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet secret police operative in the USSR and of Jewish heritage. He was also a longtime senior official of the Communist Party of the United States of America involved in covert work and cooperation with Soviet intelligence agencies...
warned her to stay away from the IPR because it was "as red as a rose, and you shouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.". Likewise, Louis Budenz, former editor of the
Daily WorkerThe Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it a paper that reflected the spectrum of left-wing...
, testified that Alexander Trachtenberg of the Communist Party-affiliated International Publishers told him that party leaders thought the IPR was "too much a concentration point for Communist; the control could be maintained without such a galaxy of Communists in it."
The accusations of a subversive conspiracy were never substantiated. Owen Lattimore was charged with perjury in testimony before the SISS in 1952. After many of the counts were rejected by a Federal judge and one of the witnesses confessed to perjury, the case was dropped in 1955.
The IPR lost its tax-exempt status as an educational body in 1955, when the
Internal Revenue ServiceThe Internal Revenue Service is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. It is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for interpretation and application of Federal tax law. The official U.S...
alleged that the Institute had engaged in the dissemination of controversial and partisan propaganda, and had attempted to influence the policies or opinions of the government. Under the leadership of
William L. HollandWilliam Lancelot Holland worked with the Institute of Pacific Relations from 1928 until 1960 as Research Secretary; American IPR Executive Secretary and editor of its periodical, Far Eastern Survey; IPR Secretary-General and editor of its journal, Pacific Affairs...
, the IPR pursued legal actions to regain tax-exempt status lasted until 1959. The final court judgment rejected all allegations by the Internal Revenue Service.
Despite the outcome, the IPR's finances were exhausted by the protracted litigation, and the institute dissolved in 1960. Publication of the journal
Pacific Affairs was transferred to
University of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a Canadian public research university with campuses in the Greater Vancouver area and in Kelowna, British Columbia...
, in Vancouver, Canada.