Of One Blood All Nations
John Bingham: Ohio Congressman’s Diplomatic Career in Meiji Japan (1873–1885)
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I often pass by a wall on which hang portraits of the US Ambassadors to Japan in chronological order. I am drawn to it because I have known a few of them. By comparing the portraits, one can trace the evolution of photography and fashion through the centuries. As the calendar rolls back into the 19th century, the image quality declines until it becomes clear that the portrait is a grainy copy. One of the earliest and most recognizable portraits is of John Bingham, US minister to Japan from 1873 to 1885, the subject of Sam Kidder’s latest book Of One Blood All Nations.
Diplomatic Difference
There is ample scholarship around Meiji-period Japan and the United States, and Kidder’s biography of Bingham contributes significantly to that body. But it also goes further. He makes a persuasive case that “John Bingham did more to shape America’s initial diplomatic relationship with Japan than any other American.”
A leading figure in post-Civil War Reconstruction, Bingham was an Ohio Congressman and one of the prosecutors in the Lincoln assassination case. He was author of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides equal protection under the law.
Without question, Bingham had an accomplished life before coming ashore in Yokohama. As Kidder’s book details, Bingham’s innate decency, sense of duty, and energy led him to build the framework of the two nations’ diplomatic relationship while overcoming obstacles in nearly every direction.
The author shows the perplexing diplomatic and political knots that bound key issues surrounding the bilateral relationship, and how Bingham untied them. His hard-won success elevated the United States’ relationship with Japan from among its ties to other nations.
Bingham inherited a poorly housed and staffed US mission, with far-flung and nearly frontier consulates and incoherent administration. By management talent and diplomatic skill, he left behind an effective mission that was well networked with Japanese officials, influential, and trusted. His personal integrity and example played a key role in the rise of US prestige in Japan.
Context Matters
Diplomacy is sometimes more a prism than a window, and Bingham’s experience in Congress helped him measure what he could do to advance the bilateral relationship against the United States’ political realities and mood of the time.
To this part of the biography, Kidder brings truly impressive work tracing Bingham’s family, faith, and political connections to provide the context for, and limits of, Bingham’s personal political power. Bingham drew on his contacts for trusted advice, to staff key positions with competence, and for personal support.
Distinct from biographies by others, Of One Blood All Nations displays the author’s understanding of Bingham’s faith as the compass of his behavior and decisions. This is insightful and important. Other historians sometimes default to religious caricatures or shorthand about “beliefs of that period.” Kidder accepts Bingham as he was: an industrious but reserved man whose abundant intellect was yoked with an equal weight of modesty. Bingham’s personal diligence, dislike of ostentation, and his integrity distinguished him from other foreign diplomats of the time.
This diplomatic biography is an entertaining read. Bingham contends with many of the same issues—and character types—encountered in modern diplomacy and expatriate life: managing, or suffering as a result of, lags in communication with the capital; judging between when an immediate decision is required and when to wait; and bridging misperceptions as the only person with a foot in each world.
Bingham is not an unknown historical figure but, until now, rarely has his period in Japan been explored. As the book’s conclusion explains, Bingham’s papers and family were scattered, which makes Kidder’s work even more impressive. Faced with these challenges, another writer might have filled in the blanks with speculation. But Kidder set himself the more difficult task of understanding the subject in context. He does not embellish Bingham’s portrait, but restores it so that its long-lost detail and color emerge.
