Shigenori Tōgō

*anese politicianThe native form of this personal name is Tōgō Shigenori.:This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Shigenori Tōgō (東郷茂徳, Tōgō Shigenori) (10 December 1882 – 23 July 1950) was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Empire of *an at both the start and the end of the Axis–Allied conflict during World War II. He also served as Minister of Colonial Affairs in 1941, and *umed the same position, renamed the Minister for Greater East Asia, in 1945.

1 Early life
2 Diplomatic career
3 Pacific war
4 Personal life
5 Death
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Early life

Tōgō was born in Hioki District, Kagoshima, in what is now part of the city of Hioki, Kagoshima. His family was a descendant of Koreans who settled in Kyushu after the Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Korea (1592–98). His father took up "Tōgō" as the last name in 1886. He was a graduate of the Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1904, and subsequently studied the German language at Meiji University. He entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1912, after applying for a post five times.

Diplomatic career

Tōgō’s first overseas posting was to the *anese consulate at Mukden, Manchuria, in 1913. In 1916, he was *igned to the *anese emb*y in Bern, Switzerland. In 1919, Tōgō was sent on a diplomatic mission to Weimar Germany, as diplomatic relations between the two countries were reestablished following the *anese ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. He returned to *an in 1921 and was *igned to the Bureau of North American affairs. In 1926, Tōgō was appointed as secretary to the *anese emb*y in United States, and moved to Washington DC. He returned to *an in 1929, and after a brief stay in Manchuria, was sent back to Germany. He was the head of the *anese delegation to the largely unsuccessful World Disarmament Conference held in Geneva in 1932. Tōgō returned to *an in 1933 to *ume the post of director of the Bureau of North American affairs, but was in a severe automobile accident which left him hospitalized for over a month.

In 1937, Tōgō was appointed as *anese amb*ador to Germany, serving in Berlin for a year. After Tōgō was replaced as amb*ador to Germany by Hiroshi Ōshima, he was re*igned to Moscow as the amb*ador to the Soviet Union 1938–1940. During this time, he negotiated a peace settlement following the Battles of Khalkhin Gol between *an and the Soviet Union, and successfully concluded the Soviet–*anese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. He was then recalled to *an by then Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka for re*ignment.

Pacific war

Tōgō adamantly opposed war with the United States and the other western powers, which he felt was generally unwinnable. Together with Mamoru Shigemitsu he made unsuccessful last-ditch efforts to arrange for direct face-to-face negotiations between Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe and US President Franklin Roosevelt in an attempt to stave off armed conflict. In October 1941 Tōgō became Foreign Minister in the Tōjō administration. Once the Empire had decided on attacking, Tōgō signed the declaration of war, as he disliked pressing the responsibility of the failure of diplomacy on others. Following the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that signalled the start of the Pacific War, he worked quickly to conclude an alliance between the *anese Empire and Thailand on December 23, 1941 (based on the Treaty between Thailand and *an (1940)).

As part of a more reconciliatory policy towards the western powers, Tōgō announced on 21 January 1942 that the *anese government would uphold the Geneva Convention, even though it did not sign it.On 1 September 1942, he resigned his post as Foreign Minister due to his opposition to establish a special ministry for occupied territories within the *anese government (the new ministry, the Ministry of Greater East Asia eventually emerged in November of that same year). Although appointed to the Upper House of the Diet of *an, throughout most of the war he lived in retirement.

Upon the formation of the government of Admiral Kantarō Suzuki in April 1945, Tōgō was asked to return to his former position as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In that position, he was one of the chief proponents for acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration which, he felt, contained the best conditions for peace *an could hope to receive. Up until the last, Tōgō hoped for favorable terms from the Soviet Union. At Tōgō's suggestion, *an made no official response to the Declaration at first, though a censored version was released to the *anese public, while Tōgō waited to hear from Moscow. However, Allied leaders interpreted this silence as a rejection of the Declaration, and allowed bombing to continue.

Tōgō was one of the Cabinet Ministers who advocated *anese surrender in the summer of 1945. Several days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and following *anese defeats in the August Storm operation, the *anese government agreed to unconditional surrender.

Following the end of World War II, Tōgō retired to his summer home in Karuizawa, Nagano. However, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers soon ordered his arrest on war-crime charges, along with all former members of the Imperial *anese government; he was held at Sugamo Prison. During the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Haruhiko Nishi agreed to act as his defense attorney. On 4 November 1948 the Tribunal sentenced Tōgō to 20 years' imprisonment.

Personal life

Shigenori Tōgō with his wife Edith and her eldest daughter from her first marriage, Ursula de Lalande, and only daughter from the second marriage with Shigenori Tōgō, Ise Tōgō, in Geneva, 1932

In 1922, despite the strenuous objections of Tōgō's family, he married Carla Victoria Editha Albertina Anna de Lalande (nee Giesecke 1887-1967), the widow of noted German architect George de Lalande (1872-1914) who designed numerous administrative buildings in *an and its empire, including the *anese General Government Building in Seoul. Their wedding was held at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. His wife had one daughter from her first marriage, Ursula de Lalande; together they had one daughter named Ise.

In 1943 Ise married Fumihiko Honjo, a *anese diplomat, who out of respect for his wife's family adopted her surname Tōgō. Fumihiko Togo (1915-1985) later served as the *anese Amb*ador to the United States from 1976 to 1980. The couple's son Kazuhiko Tōgō (born 1945) is a *anese diplomat and scholar on international relations.

Death

Tōgō, who suffered from atherosclerosis, died of cholecys*is in Sugamo Prison on 23 July 1950. A volume of his memoirs en*led The Cause of *an was published posthumously; it was edited by his former defense counsel Ben Bruce Blakeney.

References

External links

Annotated bibliography for Shigenori Togo from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
"Speech to the Diet November 17, 1941," New York Times November 18, 1941. (Ibiblio Chronological Collection of Do*ents Relating to the U.S. Entry into World War II)
Newspaper clippings about Shigenori Tōgō in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW