UCLA Center for East
Asian Studies
Today in Asian History
February 2
1953 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the withdrawal of the U.S. Seventh Fleet from the Taiwan Strait, ending its role as a buffer between the Communist-controlled mainland and the Nationalist (Guomindang)-dominated Taiwan. With the change in relations between the United States and China, however, a ship from the U.S. Seventh Fleet, the U.S.S. Vandegrift, was permitted to make a port call in Shanghai in 1998. Earlier in the year, other Seventh Fleet vessels visited Qingdao and U.S. sailors toured Beijing and the Great Wall.
1972 Opening of the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. The San Jose Mercury offers a review of the 1972 games.
1976 Revelation in US Senate subcommittee hearing that Lockheed had bribed Japanese officials, including former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei (1918-93, P.M. 1972-74). Tanaka was arrested in July and charged with accepting ¥500 million in bribes. This was not Tanaka's first brush with such charges. In 1949 he was re-elected to the Japanese Diet while in jail on charges of corruption. He was acquitted in the 1949 case, but in 1983 he was convicted and sentenced. Appeals, however, kept him from actually serving time.
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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