AUTHORS ON ASIA Senator Mansfield: The Extraordinary Life of a Great American Statesman & Diplomat

Evening Lecture
6:30 – 8 pm

Speaker
Don Oberdorfer, Journalist-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor in International Studies at The Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University

Presider
Desaix Anderson, former Foreign Service Officer; Deputy Chief of Mission in Tokyo under Ambassador Mansfield (1985-1989); Board Member, the Maureen & Mike Mansfield Foundation.

“In the roster of those who have served as Senate Majority Leader and U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Mike Mansfield stands taller than anyone.   His is an inspiring and moving story…Mr. Oberdorfer’s painstaking research and elegant prose make a convincing case that Mike Mansfield truly was one of the most remarkable Americans of the 20th Century.”   

-Ambassador Howard H. Baker, Jr.

“What an extraordinary statesman, what an extraordinary biographer, what a spell-binding story.  A tour de force destined to become one of the small number of classic American biographies.”

-Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Research Professor and founder of Asia Center, Harvard University

Mike Mansfield was majority leader of the U.S. Senate during the administrations of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and Ambassador to Japan for Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Beginning with his service as U.S. Marine in China in the 1920s, he was always fascinated with Asia and was long considered the leading Asia expert on Capitol Hill, even before his record-breaking service of 11½ years in the Tokyo Embassy. Veteran journalist Don Oberdorfer’s new biography, based on Mansfield’s private notes and government documents as well as many interviews, provides the first extensive exploration of his private counsel to U.S. presidents on Indochina, China and Japan as well as other subjects.

Followed by a reception and booksigning.

Tickets: $10; $8 Japan Society, Asia Society, Maureen & Mike Mansfield Foundation members; $5 students & seniors.

Presented as part of U.S.-Japan 150 Years, a year- long celebration commemorating the 150th anniversary of U.S.-Japan Relations.