Tsuru Denies Policy Criticisms Indicate Anti-American Feelings

"I am probably still called anti-American in Japan, but they misunderstand me," Tsuru Shigeto '35, visiting lecturer in Economics, declared as he attempted to clarify his political position following his appearance before Senate investigators last month.

Tsuru testified to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee that "I acted like a Communist and spoke and wrote like a Communist," during pre-World War II years, while a student here. Now director of the Institute of Economic Research at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, he has returned to Harvard under the American-Japanese Intellectual Interchange Program.

In Japanese magazines and newspapers Tsuru has criticized American H-bomb testing in the Pacific, restrictions on Japanese trade with Red China, and "America's over-eagerness to expedite Japan's rearmament." He noted that his criticism had been directed toward specific policies, and expressed admiration for the American people and culture.

Here, he is studying the American economic system, comparing it with the economy he studied during the Depression. "I am skeptical about whether the American economic system will be able to maintain its rate of growth and prosperity without spending so much on defense," he added.

Describing his views as close to those of Fabian Socialism and, on the international level, Nehru's neutralism, Tsuru said he gradually shifted toward "realism and moderation" as he matured. He was first disillusioned by the Hitler-Stalin Non-aggression Past.

Interested in the economic implications of militarism in Japan and of the international Depression during the early 1930's, Tsuru decided to major in Economics here after transferring from Lawrence College in 1934.

Tsuru felt he developed "quite radical views" during 1936-37. He promoted the Marxist magazine, Science in Society, and associated with many individuals who held Communistic views. Among his friends was the late E. Herbert Norman, whom he described as "a moderate, quiet academician." Norman, accused of Communism during the U.S. Senate investigation, committed suicide last week in Cairo, where he was Canadian ambassador.

I am coming to doubt my own skepticism, bu there has not yet been any drastic change in my views. I am ready to be persuaded and I should like to learn from my colleagues here," Tsuru continued.