The Asian-Pacific War, 1937-1945: New Views from the New Century

This year's Richard E Welch Memorial Lecturer is Richard B. Frank, acclaimed historian of World War II. The presentation will address two main themes. The first of these is to replace a framework for the Asian-Pacific War overwhelmingly centered on the conflict between Japan and the United States to one that approaches this phase of World War II as a struggle equally involving the peoples of the Asian continent and the Pacific regions. The second theme will be how the new scholarship transforms our understanding of the Asian-Pacific War. Particular emphasis will be accorded the long neglected but huge role of China in both the course of the Asian-Pacific and the global struggles. In that context, the achievements and failures of Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi or Jiang Zhongzheng), Mao Zedong and Joseph Stillwell in light of the new scholarship will be discussed. Other major issues include: the claims and realities of Japan’s professed mission of the liberation of Asian peoples; the horrendous loss and suffering of noncombatants; and finally the degree to which the Asian-Pacific War shapes the world of the Twenty-First Century.