Robert Lansing's Proposed Bargain with Japan

Abstract

ROBERT LANSING played a more significant role in the conduct of Far Eastern affairs than historians have suspected. Appointed in 1914 as Counselor, a position that is equivalent to the present Undersecretary of State, and in 1915 as Secretary of State, Lansing held key posts in Woodrow Wilson's administration. He did not function in these posts, as recent studies have indicated, merely as an executor of the President's policies.' Rather, he possessed ideas concerning Far Eastern affairs that were often quite distinct from Wilson's. Lansing sought the President's approval of his ideas, but when approval was not forthcoming, he sought to implement his ideas through independent action. American relations with China and Japan were affected by the fact that Wilson and Lansing sometimes worked at cross purposes. Lansing began to deal with Far Eastern problems shortly after he was appointed Counselor. In August, 1914, the Wilson administration embarked upon what developed into a sustained effort to prevent Japan's taking advantage of war in Europe to extend her control over China. As the Secretary of State's principal adviser, Lansing was responsible for planning American action with respect to Japan's invasion of Shantung Province and her Twenty-one Demands on China.2 Out of his work with these problems he developed a proposal for striking a bargain on all outstanding questions between the United States and Japan. An understanding of the proposed bargain is important because Lansing's actions were guided by its terms until at least the latter part of 1917. The idea of a bargain with Japan had its origin in assumptions which Lansing made about the nature of American interests in Japan and China. Lansing, like many informed Americans of his time, believed that the American economy was maturing; that American prosperity would