E. Herbert Norman was a Canadian scholar of Japanese history and a diplomat whose postings put him in a key role in regard to Canadian diplomacy during the Pacific War and subsequent Occupation of Japan.
Born in Japan in 1909, Norman attended Canadian Academy, a private international school in Kobe, Japan. In 1925, after unsuccessful treatment in Japan for tuberculosis, Norman convalesced in Canada, then completed his high school education and entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1928, majoring in classics.
In 1935, after completing an MA in Ancient History at Cambridge University, Norman married Irene Clark. He briefly taught classics part-time at Upper Canada College, then, in the Fall of 1936, entered Harvard University on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Far Eastern Studies. Norman's PhD dissertation, published in 1940 as Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State, became an instant classic and was the first of several important works on Japanese history by the young scholar.
Norman joined the Canadian diplomatic service in 1940 as a language officer and was soon promoted to third secretary at the Canadian legation in Tokyo (1940-41). After Canada entered the war against Japan, he was interned by the Japanese government as an enemy alien. Upon his release and return to Canada in 1942 under a prisoner exchange he worked as an intelligence officer on Japanese matters until the end of the war.
After war's end, Norman was seconded to General Douglas MacArthur’s Occupation staff from August 1945 to January 1946. In the spring of 1946 he acted as Canada’s delegate to the Far Eastern Commission, based in Washington and tasked with oversight of the Occupation. That same year he returned to Tokyo as head of the Canadian Mission to Occupied Japan, serving in that position until 1950. Both during and after the war he continued to pursue his academic interests, presenting and publishing numerous papers. His scholarly achievements were recognized by numerous offers of professorships at prestigious universities and his election as president of the Asiatic Society of Japan (1947). And, yet, he ultimately chose to stick to a diplomatic career.
Norman, by then a prominent figure in both academe and international diplomacy, became one of the unlikely subjects of the U.S. McCarthyite witch-hunts of the 1950s. Facing allegations of being a communist and possibly a spy, and with the Korean War under way, he was recalled from Japan in October 1950. After a full enquiry in Canada, Norman was exonerated of all charges and continued to play a key role in External Affairs until renewed American accusations led to his virtual diplomatic "exile" in New Zealand for three years. In 1956, he was posted to Cairo as Canadian ambassador to Egypt where he played an important part in mediating the Suez crisis and projecting Canada into its first military peace-keeping role. However, in 1957, when already under strain, the old charges against Norman were again raised in the U.S. Senate, precipitating his death by suicide in April of that year.
Western interest in Norman has to date focused mainly on his politics and suicide. The lingering effect has been a partial neglect of Norman’s scholarship and diplomatic work or their casting in a distorting light. This is regrettable inasmuch as Norman played significant roles in both fields.
This website aims at documenting as fully as possible both the scholarship and diplomatic contributions of a man who served his country with distinction and exerted a positive influence in Canadian-Japanese relations.
CHRONOLOGY
1897 – Daniel Norman first goes to Japan as missionary
1901 – Daniel Norman marries Catherine Heal in Canada, returns to Japan with bride
1903 – Grace Norman born
1905 – Howard Norman born
1909 – Herbert Norman born in Karuizawa, Nagano Pref., Japan (September 1)
1910 – 1920
– Herbert reared and educated at home by mother (sister and brother sent to Canadian Academy
in Kobe, Japan, in 1913 and 1915, respectively)
1916-17 – family on furlough in Canada
1920 – Herbert enters Canadian Academy, Kobe
1921 – 1930
1923 – Herbert and Howard accompany parents on round-world furlough, stopping in Middle East
“Bible lands”
1926 – graduates from Canadian Academy
– diagnosed with tuberculosis, enters TB sanatorium in Karuizawa
1927 – sent to Canada to convalesce
1928 – enters Albert College, Belleville, Ontario (where brother Howard was teaching)
1929 – enters Victoria College, Toronto
1931 – 1940
1933 – graduates from Victoria College (BA)
– enters Trinity College, Cambridge (Oct.)
1935 – graduates from Cambridge (BA)
– marries Irene Clark
– takes part-time teaching job at Upper Canada College
1936 – enters Harvard Yenching Institute
1937 – granted Harvard MA
1938-39 – finishes PhD, conducts research for Institute of Pacific Relations [IPR]
1939 – joins Department of External Affairs
1940 – sent to Tokyo Legation as language officer
– publication of Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State (IPR)
1941 – 1950
1941 – death of father, Daniel Norman
– promoted to 3rd Secretary, Tokyo Legation
– interned as “enemy alien” (December)
1942 – returned to Canada under prisoner exchange (June)
– works in Ottawa for Canadian government’s ‘Examination Unit’ as intelligence analyst
1943 – publishes Soldier and Peasant in Japan: The Origins of Conscription
1944 – promoted to 2nd Secretary
– continues study of origins of Japanese expansionism
1945 – travels to Manila via San Diego; appointed to MacArthur’s staff (August)
– arrives in Japan, heads SCAP (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) research
department of counter-intelligence
– writes background pieces on Konoe, others (Nov.)
– appointed Canadian representative on Far Eastern Commission
1946 – attends FEC meetings in Japan (January)
– returns to Canada, takes up post in Washington as Canadian representative on Far Eastern
Commission (February)
– addresses Foreign Policy Association in New York on problems facing Occupation (March)
– appointed Head of Canadian Liaison Mission in Tokyo, returns to Ottawa (June)
– arrives in Tokyo to take up post (September)
– elevated to Foreign Service Officer 4 [FSO4] rank (Sept.)
– MacArthur asks Norman to become tutor for Prince Mikasa (Sept.)
1947 – elected president of the Asiatic Society of Japan
– adviser to Canadian delegation, Commonwealth talks on Japanese peace settlement, Canberra
(Aug.-Sept.)
– to England, attends meeting of Institute of Pacific Relations; visits Cambridge for a day (Sept.)
– raised to FSO5 rank (Nov.)
1948 – meets George Kennan twice, after which Kennan advises State Department of ‘serious
divergences’ with Canadian views on Occupation
– Norman meets MacArthur privately to review Tokyo Tribunal sentences (Nov.)
– Norman interviews Prime Minister Yoshida (Nov.)
1949 – publishes Ando Shoeki and the Anatomy of Japanese Feudalism
– status raised to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (March)
1950 – Norman’s name raised in testimony before US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
subcommittee investigating communism and disloyalty in the US State Department (April)
– Norman informed of Senate discussion (April 28)
– External Affairs (Heeney) recalls Norman, effective immediately (Oct. 14)
– on leave, stays with sister (Oct. 23 – 9 Feb., 1951)
– Norman cleared of all charges of disloyalty, reassigned as Head of American and Far Eastern
Division of External Affairs (Dec. 4)
1951 – 1960
1951 – visits Washington for discussions on peace treaty with Japan (April)
– government press release announces Norman’s appointment as Acting Canadian Permanent
Representative to United Nations (May 31)
– to London for talks on Japan peace treaty (June )
– Norman targeted again in testimony before US Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
(August 7)
– to San Francisco for peace treaty conference as adviser to Lester Pearson (Sept.)
1952 – Renewed accusations prompt further interrogation of Norman by RCMP and External Affairs
(January-February)
– Norman persuaded to take on research project, effectively sidelining him from duties as Head of
the American and Far Eastern Division, External Affairs
– Norman cleared but reassigned to External Affairs Information Division (July)
– attends North Atlantic Council meeting on behalf of Canada (Dec.)
1953 – appointed High Commissioner to New Zealand (Jan.)
1954
1955
1956 – appointed Ambassador to Egypt
1957 – allegations re Norman again raised in U.S. Senate (March)
– commits suicide by leaping from Cairo building (April 4)
– Lester Pearson awarded Nobel Peace Prize for role in Suez Crisis