The Imperial Cruise

By James Bradley

Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 6:30PM to 8:30PM

(The speech and Q & A will be in English)

In 1905, at the behest of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft sailed to Asia to negotiate a secret agreement in which America and Japan recognized each other's conquests of the Philippines and Korea. These imperialistic moves lit the long historical fuse that eventually touched off World War II in the Pacific, says our guest author James Bradley. His new book, The Imperial Cruise, retells the story of the voyage, including how Roosevelt's flamboyant daughter Alice, a self-proclaimed hedonist, went along to generate publicity. Bradley weaves into the story details of America's brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines; the takeover of Hawaii by American sugar barons; and Roosevelt's betrayal of promises to protect Korea, which led to Japanese expansionism and Pearl Harbor.

Bradley is the author of Flags of Our Fathers, the Number 1 New York Times best-seller that Clint Eastwood made into a movie; and Flyboys, which told the story of the war from both American and Japanese perspectives. Bradley's father, John, was one of the U.S. servicemen who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima. He studied at Tokyo’s Sophia University and previously worked in Japan as a media consultant. He is president of the James Bradley Peace Foundation, which sends American students to live in Japan for a year. This coming May, the Japan Society of Boston will recognize Bradley with their Distinguished Leadership Award.

The Imperial Cruise is proving controversial. "James Bradley's incendiary new book...is startling enough to reshape conventional wisdom about Roosevelt's presidency," Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times. Come hear why at what promises to be another exciting FCCJ Book Break.

A dinner will be served at a cost of 1,850 yen (including tax). Sign up　now at the reception desk (3211-3161) or online at　http://www.fccj.or.jp. To help us plan proper seating and food　preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled.

Reservations cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

Library Committee, THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN