Mike Mansfield Interview, June 1, 2001

Mike Mansfield and Don Oberdorfer talk briefly about the life of Kazuo Kawai, a Japanese-American newspaper editor, professor and author. Mansfield describes General Douglas MacArthur and his leadership during the American occupation of Japan. Mansfield offers his opinion of the potential remilitarization of Japan. He recalls meeting with Secretary of State George Marshall about the U.S. policy toward China, in preparation for a speech on the subject. Mansfield describes in detail the hysteria stirred up by Senator Joseph McCarthy during his anti-Communist investigations, and Mansfield’s surprise over Montanans’ support for McCarthy and Matusow’s smear campaign against Mansfield. He also recalls his trip to Paris in 1951, when President Harry Truman sent him to the United Nations assembly. Mansfield talks about his wife, Maureen Hayes Mansfield, and how she saved his life by pushing him to obtain a university education and supporting and encouraging him during political career.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/mansfield_interviews/1020/thumbnail.jp