UCLA Center for East
Asian Studies
Today in Asian History
August 15
1898 U.S. General Arthur MacArthur was designated commandant of Manila and its suburbs.
1945 Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and pledged to surrender to the Allies (8/14 in the US).
1947 At midnight 8/14 India and Pakistan became independent:
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially."
"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity." PM Jawaharlal Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" Speech
1971 Second "Nixon shock" in Japan: 10% surcharge placed on imports into the US and nonconvertibility of the dollar.
1974 The wife of South Korean Pres. Park Chung Hee was shot in Korea by a Korean from Japan.
1981 Japanese prime minister SUZUKI Zenko and his cabinet visited the shrine to Japan's war dead, large controversy in Asia.
1986 Japanese prime minister NAKASONE Yasuhiro abstained from annual visit to Yasukuni Shrine, following Asian protest over history textbook revisions.1995 Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, Japan's Prime Minister MURAYAMA Tomiichi 村山富市 noted that Japan had worked hard to rebuild following the war's destruction. And he asked that in a time of peace and prosperity that his people and others learn from the past.
Murayama's comments included the following:
"During a certain period in the not too distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology. Allow me also to express my feelings of profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, of that history."
Murayama had been in office only a couple months and was the first Socialist prime minister of Japan since just after World War II. He resigned in early 1996.
The AI "Today in Asian History" page was compiled by Clayton Dube. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Send them to <cdube@isop.ucla.edu>.
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