John F. Kennedy took the oath of office as the 35th president of the United States at the age of 43 in January 1961, drawing much attention all the world over. Four months later in May, Hakumon Herald hosted a big ceremony marking its fifth anniversary on the campus of Chuo University. Present there were some 100 guests invited from inside and outside Chuo, including Vice President Kinsho Katayama, graduates active in the business and judicial circles who had contributed articles to Herald and the editors-in-chief of the campus newspapers at Waseda, Keio and Sophia universities. The celebration was a success in giving the guests a strong message that Chuo had its own English campus journal.

 

However, the publisher of the paper remained the English Speaking Society (ESS), a student club recognized by the school’s Alumni Association (Gakuyukai). It sounded rather unusual for a club of students devoted to enhancing conversational ability to publish a newspaper. Members engaged in the publication felt somewhat tight as they remained confined in one of the two narrow spaces partitioned in the club room of the ESS. They all knew that similar campus papers at 19 other universities across the country were published by their independent English newspaper clubs. Both old and incumbent members ofHakumon Herald had long cherished the dream of publishing their paper in a better and freer atmosphere.

 

The chance to realize that dream came quite unexpectedly. Six months after the memorial ceremony in November, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer visited Chuo to give a lecture on “Japan in Asia.” Hakumon Herald, aspiring to closer international exchanges and world peace, could not afford to miss the chance. We promptly came in contact with the U.S. Embassy and made arrangements to have the ambassador’s speech and the content of a question-and-answer session that followed printed in the 37th edition issued later that month.

 

Yukio Suzuki, then editor-in-chief, visited the embassy later to present the ambassador with a vase and a copy of the edition as a token of our appreciation. Suzuki took the occasion to explain to the ambassador through his assistant about Hakumon Herald’s status at Chuo. He didn’t forget to attach a letter to the vase. It said, “We would be grateful if you could encourage the university authorities to recognize Hakumon Herald as a chartered club.” Within days, a reply came from Earnest P. Young, the envoy’s special assistant. It said, “It would be impossible for Ambassador Reischauer to interfere in such a matter, which is properly in the exclusive domain of internal university affairs.” Young added, however, “Of course, if you would like to drop in my office and discuss the matter with me, I would be delighted to see you again.”

 

Suzuki was thrilled when he also received a personal letter from Reischauer. The ambassador thanked him for the vase and wrote, “I am grateful for the further circulation you have given my remarks (at Chuo) in your newspaper.” Suzuki shuddered, taking the letter as an indication that Herald was acknowledged by the U.S. government.

 

He lost no time in making an appointment with Chuo President Koshiro Shibata. Producing the ambassador’s letter, he talked at length about Herald’s desire to be recognized as an independent club. He touched the president’s nerve, saying, “The origin of our university was English Law School (where all lessons were given in English),” and “For the university to have no English newspaper runs counter to the spirit of its foundation and does not serve the purpose of promoting international exchanges.” His petition did work, aided by the unrelenting preparations and arrangements that had been made to that end by his predecessors. Hakumon Herald became a chartered club independent of the ESS on March 23, 1963. That was about a year after it had filed a formal application. The paper’s 48th edition issued in April 1963 says in its masthead that its publisher is the English Newspaper Association of Chuo University. For Hakumon Herald, Ambassador Reischauer appointed by President Kennedy was indeed the second “Black Ship.”

(The writer graduated in 1964)

 

 

 

ライシャワーは第2の「黒船」だった

―ヘラルド独立の経緯―

大西 邦彰

1961年 1 月、世界中が注目する中、43歳のジョン・F・ケネディが第 35代米国大統領に就任した。4カ月後の5月、白門ヘラルドは創刊5周年記 念式典を学内で盛大に開いた。片山金章学長をはじめ、寄稿してくれた教授、 財界や法曹界の本学出身者、早稲田、慶応、上智など大学の英字新聞編集長ら 学内外の約100人が出席。「中央大学にヘラルドあり」を強く印象付け、式典 は成功裏に終わった。

しかし、発行母体は学友会の公認クラブ英語学会(ESS)。英会話向上を目 的とするクラブが新聞を出すという不自然さ、英語学会の部室を2分して、そ の一方の狭い部屋しか使えないという窮屈さ。しかも全国19の大学の学生に よる英字新聞がほとんど独立したクラブ「英字新聞学会発行」という現実。発 行に携わった先輩、現役スタッフにとって英語学会から独立し、自由な気風の 中で活動したい願望が次第に強くなった。

 

▼大使からの手紙に身震い チャンスは思いがけないところからやってきた。記念式典から半年後の11月、エドウィン・O・ライシャワー駐日米大使が中大で「アジアにおける日本」 と題して講演したのだ。「国際交流、国際平和への貢献」を目指すヘラルドにと ってこの講演を見逃す手はない。すぐさま大使館の了解を取り、同月発行の3 7号に講演内容と質疑応答を載せた。

当時編集長だった鈴木幸雄は掲載紙とお礼の花瓶をライシャワー大使に届け た。その際、鈴木はヘラルドの学内での立場を説明し、大使に「正式のクラブ になるよう大学当局に働きかけてくれるとありがたい」旨の手紙を添えた。ア ーネスト・P・ヤング補佐官から来た返事は「大使がそのような事に口出しす るのは不可能」だった。

ところが大使から直接来た手紙を読んで鈴木の目が点になった。花瓶へのお 礼の言葉に続いて、「私の意見を載せ、配布していただいたことに対しありがた く思っています」とあるのだ。鈴木は「ヘラルドが米国政府に認められた」と 身震いした。

早速、鈴木は柴田甲四郎総長に面会し、大使の手紙を見せながら現状を説明、 「本学の原点は英吉利法律学校ではないか」「英字新聞がないのは建学の精神に 反し、国際交流も進まない」など、泣き所を突いて正式なクラブとして認めて くれるよう懇請した。先輩諸氏が大学当局に様々なルートから働きかけを行い、 すでにレールが敷かれていたことも援軍となった。独立申請書を出してから約 1年、ヘラルドは1963年3月23日、ついに公認クラブとして承認され、 独立への第1歩を踏み出した。翌4月の48号奥付は「英字新聞学会発行」に 代わった。ヘラルドにとってケネディ大統領から送り込まれたライシャワー大 使は第2の“黒船”だった。(文中敬称略。昭和39年卒)