On US-Japan Relations During The Kennedy Administration Period

After the World WarⅡ, US-Japan relations began from the US occupied Japan alone. The US-Japan relations before Kennedy administration period could be basically divided into two distinct periods if we take the early 1950s as the boundary line. Although the early US policy twists and turns, its fundamental goal of democratization and demilitarization of Japan to wipe out Japan's militarism never changed. However, with the formation of the Cold-War system, the US took Japan as the bridgehead to contain the Soviet Union in the Far East. The US policy toward Japan became support from repression. After achieving independence, Japan got the rapid development of the economy with the support of the US. However, because of the US's "paternalistic" style, the cost of US military, its bases and other issues, the friction between the US and Japan took palace continuously. Until the "Struggle for Security", the US-Japan relations came to a deadlock.In January 1961, the 35th president of the US John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sworn in as president. Facing the severe domestic and international environment, Kennedy made a major adjustment on his predecessor's foreign strategy of anti-communism in the military field and advocated the use of "ideology" to against the Soviet-Led socialist camp. In order to win the'ideology' war, Kennedy administration's main task is repairing the stalemate US—Japan relations. With the active promotion of ideological diplomacy, the Kennedy administration finally completed the US-Japan relations which laid a solid foundation for US-Japan relationship's golden period in 1960's.