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Transcription: [00:59:10]
(Unknown Speaker) The question is, "what was the real reason why they did not want our president to visit Japan?" I would say first and foremost the majority of the people of Japan were perfectly willing to have the president come. The Socialist Party is the party that is the leading opposition against Prime Minister Kishi.
[00:59:29]
(Unknown Speaker) And the socialists did not want him to come because they felt that his coming to celebrate the anniversary of this hundred years of favorable friendship between the United States and Japan was to underscore the Japan/US security treaty and in a sense to add strength and prestige to the Kishi regime which was advocating it.
[00:59:52]
(Unknown Speaker) And so strictly for political reasons, internal political reasons, they didn't want Eisenhower there patting their opponent on the back, you see what I mean?
[01:00:01]
(Unknown Speaker) From their point of view - with which we as Americans may disagree - from their point of view the timing of the President's visit was unfortunate. Many of them were saying that if he had come at some other time they would have welcomed him too. They have nothing against Mr. Eisenhower, nothing against the United States.
[01:00:19]
(Unknown Speaker) But they have much against Mr. Kishi and they didn't want anything to happen that would give any political fodder and support to Mr. Kishi.
[01:00:28]
(Unknown Speaker) That was the reason why and when it linked the demonstrations became so large and so obviously communist financed, Mr. Kishi himself felt that perhaps an unfortunate incident might occur and if it had between the United States and Japan which Kishi, who is a good friend of ours, did not want to happen.
[01:00:45]
(Unknown Speaker) And I really believe now, this - this is risky for me to prophesize about politics in another country that I don't know very much about -
[01:00:53]
(Unknown Speaker) but on the basis of what many people told me, the Japanese people as a whole, the Japanese nation is so embarrassed by the fact that the leader of a great nation could not come to Japan and be guaranteed safety, that they feel they've have lost face terribly throughout the orient.
[01:01:09]
(Unknown Speaker) They're embarrassed by it and it may cost the Socialist Party more votes in the long run then they would have lost if Mr. Eisenhower would have come.