Андрей Гражданцев in Russians in China. Genealogical index (1926-1946)

Not quite sure what to do with this information yet, but here's a reference to Grajdanzev about when he was in China. I'd love to know if any of the other Гражданцев names are of related people.

"НА" stands for Справочник «Весь Харбин» за 1926 год (Roughly, "All Harbin" Directory for 1926). According to this book, there's a copy in the Russian State Library (копия в Российской Государственной Библиотеке [шифр Рос 3-4/2-63]). Would love to know if anyone in the US has it. (WorldCat lists a copy about 1923 that's available in the New York Public Library, but it's the wrong year.) 



Ah me and my weird obsessions...

[Update: The author of Russians in China, Kirill Chashchin, has a blog: http://rusgenproject.com/. Perhaps I should write to him...]

My copy of Grajdanzev's Formosa Today

Around the time I started posting about Andrew Grajdanzev, I bought a relatively inexpensive copy of his 1942 book, Formosa Today, on Amazon. It didn't click with me at the time, but when I received the book, the name "Harold J. Noble" was written at the top of the cover.

I don't know if this means that Noble owned the book or not. The book used to belong to the College of the Pacific--there's a bookplate on the inside front cover that says, "In Memory of Harold Joyce Noble." Noble, who was born and raised in Korea as a missionary kid, was a major in the Marines during WW2 and later on First Secretary in the US embassy in Seoul in 1950. Before that, he received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (writing on "Korea and Her Relations with the United States before 1895") and teaching at the University of Oregon from 1931-1934. He was also a member of the Institute of Pacific Relations. He died at the relatively young age of 50 (I can say that now) aboard a flight from Japan to Hawaii on December 22, 1953, when he was on his way home to California.

Missed a spot: More on Grajdanzev and IPR

An update on Grajdanzev's presence in the McCarran IPR hearings. I missed a few spots where he was discussed more in testimony by Owen Lattimore. This was because they spelled his name differently (but inconsistently) in that part, as "Gradjanzev" or "Gradjansev."

Grajdanzev (spelled correctly) is mentioned briefly in a paragraph about a meeting in a letter from Carter to Holland ("Exhibit No. 53"). The meeting is about "Soviet Policy in the Pacific"; Grajdanzev is said to have attended, along with 12 other people (although Lattimore denied having been there). The context of this testimony is whether Lattimore had met James S. Allen and when he "knew" Allen was a Communist.

He comes up later (as "Gradjansev") in a Feb. 10, 1938 letter written to Harriet Moore of the American Russian Institute about asking Moore and Grajdanzev to write a "rejoinder" to an article to be published in Pacific Affairs by economist L. E. Hubbard (misidentified at times as "L.M. Hubbard") that was critical of the Soviet Union. (This is the article, entitled "A Capitalist Appraisal of the Soviet Union.") Originally Lattimore wanted the Soviet economist, V. E. Motylev, who had protested the Hubbard article to write a rejoinder, but evidently Motylev wasn't willing. So Moore and Grajdanzev were approached to write "the most penetrating and masterly rejoinder that can possibly be produced."

Lattimore stated that a rejoinder hadn't been published, but that an article entitled "The Rate of Growth in the Soviet Union" was published in response to Hubbard's article. That article, written by "Andrew W. Canniff," is here. Lattimore noted that "Canniff" was a pseudonym (and the front matter to the issue of Pacific Affairs identifies the name as a pseudonym),* but he wasn't sure if it was a pseudonym for Moore and Grajdanzev. The Senator questioning Lattimore suggested that Moore was a Communist at the time in question, though Lattimore denied knowing any information about this at that time.

They go on to discuss Grajdanzev ("Gradjansev") for a bit:

Senator FERGUSON. Who was the gentleman there, Gradjansev?

Mr. LATTIMORE. The other was Mr. Gradjansev, who was a White Russian.

Mr. MORRIS. Do you know whether that is the same Mr. Gradjansev who was dismissed from General MacArthur's headquarters for left wing activity?

Mr. LATTIMORE. I did not know that he was dismissed for left wing activity. I know he worked for a while under SCAP.

Mr. MORRIS. Did you know he was dismissed?

Mr. LATTIMORE. Yes; I knew he was dismissed.

Mr. MORRIS. What reason did you believe was the cause of his dismissal?

Mr. LATTIMORE. The reason I heard was that he had given some cigarettes to some Japanese. He was a man who didn't smoke, and he used his cigarette ration to give to some Japanese who were doing some economic work for him, and this was considered, I believe, to be black-marketeering.

This story is slightly different from the one given by Holland (mentioned here) about Grajdanzev selling liquor on the black market to pay his research assistants. Both stories, though, suggest the kind of close observation he was under--as Masuda described it, Grajdanzev was being tailed for some reason.

Lattimore goes on to say that, given the description of "Canniff" in Pacific Affairs as someone who was "studying the agricultural economics of both the Soviet Union and Manchuria," Canniff "was probably Mr. Gradjansev."

Grajdanzev's name (spelled properly this time) comes up again in a 1940 letter from Lattimore to Frederick V. Field that is discussed during Lattimore's testimony. In the letter, Lattimore recalls recommending Grajdanzev to S. Taylor Ostrander (whom Lattimore describes as being connected with the Defense Advisory Commission), who needed "an economist competent to deal with Japanese wartime fiscal policies." "I pointed out that for his purposes the fact that Grajdanzev does not yet have his citizenship might be a barrier, but he told me that in some cases they proceed by appointing someone to a general job, with salary allowances for taking on assistants for such purposes as this."

Going back to the "penetrating and masterly rejoinder," Lattimore says that at the time, he had "no reason to suppose that Harriet Moore was Communist, and I had no reason whatever to suppose that Grajdanzev was Communist, or pro-Communist." (Which makes me wonder if Lattimore is implying that he now thinks Grajdanzev is at least pro-Communist. Unfortunately I don't think he ever answers my question.)

One more time that Grajdanzev comes up in the questioning of Lattimore is when the senators present a translation Grajdanzev did of a Soviet newspaper article praising an article that Lattimore wrote about Soviet treatment of national minorities. Special Counsel Morris asks Lattimore (somewhat sarcastically, I suspect) if it was Grajdanzev's regular practice to forward to Lattimore "favorable references in the Soviet press."  Lattimore's response is that, "as a friend of mine, if he ran across something that would interest me he would send it to me."

Finally, there is Exhibit No. 566-G, which is a 1938 letter from Lattimore to Grajdanzev. It's mostly about Lattimore's response to Grajdanzev's views on the progress of the war in Europe, but Lattimore starts off by writing about what appears to be Grajdanzev's attempts to get US citizenship:

I think you are doing the right thing about trying to arrange your own application to get on the quota. It seems to me that there is a good chance that this will succeed, and if it does it may simplify the problem for Mary. I am assuming, of course, that you will let me know without any delay if there is anything whatever that I can do.

I'm not sure where this exhibit is used in the questioning of Lattimore, though.

The moral of the story: consider alternative spellings of names like Grajdanzev!
--------------------------
* The front matter also identifies "Canniff" as the author of an article entitled "Japan's Puppets in China" that was published in Asia. (This article was published in 1938 in Volume 38, No. 3 of the magazine, pp. 151-153.)

Grajdanzev's publications available online

Here together are links to the books by Grajdanzev that are available online, since print versions are usually expensive (or undependable if you buy facsimile editions):

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. Formosa Today: An Analysis of the Economic Development and Strategic Importance of Japan's Tropical Colony. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942. (limited to search-only)

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. Korea Looks Ahead. IPR Pamphlets No. 15, American Council, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1944. (pdf)

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. Modern Korea. John Day, 1944. (See below)

Grad, Andrew J. Land and Peasant in Japan: An Introductory Survey. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1952. (See below)


Still not found online (links are to WorldCat):
Grajdanzev, Andrew J. The External Trade of Manchuria, 1928-1935: An Analysis. N.p., 1936.

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. (comp.). Statistics of Japanese Agriculture, with Introductory Notes. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1941.

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. The Economic Development of Formosa. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1941.

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. Memorandum on Politics and Government in Korea. International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942.

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. Economic Planning in India. Institute of Pacific Relations, 1945.

A little more about Andrew Grajdanzev in Occupied Japan

Came across a couple of references to Andrew Grajdanzev in Eiji TAKEMAE's The Allied Occupation of Japan (translated and adapted from the Japanese by Robert Ricketts and Sebastian Swann), Continuum, 2002.

In regard to McArthur's SCAP special staff sections:

Lieutenant Colonel Cecil G. Tilton, Chief of Local Government Division, made a singular contribution to the reform of local administration. Holding a BS and MSc from the University of California (Berkeley) and an MBA from Harvard, he had taught at the Universities of Hawai'i and Connecticut before entering the Army. After training at the University of Virginia School of Military Government, he was recruited to teach at the University of Chicago CATS [Civil Affairs Training School]. Tilton was assisted initially by John W. Maseland of Dartmouth College and Andrew J. Grajdanzev, an ardent advocate of decentralization and home rule. Grajdanzev later played a role in drafting SCAP's land-reform programme. Tilton followed Local Government Division to Eighth Army headquarters when it was transferred there in mid-1948. (158-159)

 In regard to Grajdanzev's participation in SCAP decisions on land reform:

By mid-October 1945, SCAP, too, had begun to mull the merits of land reform. When Natural Resources Section failed to move quickly on the issue, MacArthur assigned this task to Civil Information and Education Section. On 9 November, General Headquarters issued SCAPIN-257 ('Agricultural Programme') directing the government to submit a plan on its long-range food-production goals by the end of December. The plan did not concern land reform per se but was to include counter-measures for the problem of tenancy, credit, ground rents and taxes. (340)

Takemae discusses how SCAPIN-411 ("Rural Land Reform") was written based on the view that "egalitarian land reallotment" would "not only prevent a resurgence of militarism but nip radical Socialist and Communist ambitions in the bud" (341). SCAPIN-411 directed that "the government would buy up land from non-operating owners, sell it to the tillers and eliminate absentee landlordism by transferring their property to landless tenants" (341).

CI&E had drawn up SCAPINs 257 and 411, but now Government Section and Economic and Scientific Section also became involved. Work got under way in February 1946 and, in March, primary responsibility for the reform shifted from CI&E back to Natural Resources Section. The drafting committee included William T. Gilmartin and Ladejinsky of NRS (the latter [a "Russian-born agrarian specialist" who supported land redistribution] having transferred to Japan in December for that purpose); Lieutenant W. Hicks of CI&E; and Thomas Bisson and Dr Andrew J. Grajdanzev of GS. On 9 May, Ladejinsky completed a staff study borrowing heavily from ideas that ["radical Japanese agronomist"] Yagi Yoshinosuke had advanced in 1936: national expropriation of tenanted land and its sale to the tillers, compensation for landlords and entrenched tenancy rights. (341-2)

Takemae goes on to describe all the political maneuvering among the delegates of the Allied Council for Japan to nail down the details of the land reform program. There was a lot of haggling over the upper limits of land that landlords could keep--some calling for 5 hectare limits, some calling for 3, and some for 1 hectare. The bill that had to be approved by the Japanese Diet was based on a proposal that "the government fix the amount of tenant-cultivated property a landlord could retain at 1 hectare, impose an absolute limit of 3 hectares (12 in Hokkaido) on all holdings and make the acquisition programme compulsory" (342).

The bill was submitted to the Diet on 7 September 1946, but opposition surfaced from an unexpected quarter. Andrew Grajdanzev of Government Section's Local Government Division protested that the programme was too extreme; what was needed, he said, was 'reform, not revolution.' Grajdanzev convinced GS Chief Whitney to back his demand to clarify exceptions to the 3-hectare upper limit on holdings in a way that would benefit large landowners. Whitney also agreed to modify the composition of the land commissions to favour landlords. [Japanese Agriculture Minister] Wada, however, dug in his heels and refused to budge on the issue, and Schenck threw his full support to the plucky Agriculture Minister, embroiling NRS in a battle royal with the more powerful GS, which won the day. Whitney accused Schenck, in effect, of kowtowing to the Japanese and ultimately browbeat the NRS chief into compliance. Government Section obliged Wada to make exceptions to the 3-hectare limit and impose a land-price ceiling. As Diet deliberations on the amended bill proceeded, NRS abandoned its earlier strategy of secrecy. Schenck warned a Liberal Party delegation of "dire consequences" should Parliament fail to carry the legislation. In that case, he said, the Supreme Commander would have no alternative but to issue a formal directive. The law was enacted without incident on 21 October. (343)

Wow. Lots of quoting there. I don't know much about the agrarian reforms in Occupied Japan besides what I quoted here, but this does give me a little more information on what Grajdanzev was up to in Japan after the war.

[Update, 2/12: This might be useful at some point:

331.42 Records of the SCAP Government Section 
1945-52 
291 lin. ft.

Textual Records: Decimal correspondence, 1945-52. SCAP instructions to the Japanese Government ("SCAPINS"), 1945-51. Issuances of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1945-51, and of General Headquarters Far East Command, 1947-51. Records relating to the Far Eastern Commission, 1945-51. Records concerning the Japanese Diet, 1946-52. Records relating to elections, 1945-51. Records relating to the removal or exclusion from office of individuals considered undesirable as public officials ("Purge Files"), 1945- 51. Records concerning the Japanese Civil Service ("National Personnel Authority File"), 1945-51. Records concerning the economic decentralization program ("Zaibatsu File"), 1945-50. Records relating to religious, cultural, economic, and other organizations in Japan, 1945-52. File containing information on Japanese individuals involved in legal cases under U.S. jurisdiction ("Biographical File"), ca. 1945-52.

https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/331.html#331.42]

Hajimu Masuda on Andrew Grajdanzev

In a comment, "yh" pointed me to a book review of Hajimu Masuda's Cold War Crucible, which contains a paragraph about Andrew Grajdanzev. Here's the passage:




For folks who can't see the Google book (users of Google Chrome?):

The case of Andrew Grajdanzev was even worse. Born in Siberia, and having spent almost his entire life in Harbin and Tianjin, China, before immigrating to the United States in the 1930s, Grajdanzev was Willoughby's number one target and had been placed under strict surveillance in 1946. He was tailed, his room was secretly searched, and his letters were read, though there was no substantial evidence that he had done anything wrong. A three-week counterintelligence investigation found that he tended to eat by himself, stay at home, and visit the same places frequently. This last behavior did attract an investigator's interest, but it turned out that he was regularly learning Japanese and teaching English. Nevertheless, when he returned to the United States, he could not find a job in government at all, due to rumors and attacks, despite his work experience in the SCAP, a Ph.D. in economics, and fluency in Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and English. Eventually he studied library science, starting over completely, and got a job at a small local library. (p. 30)

Willoughby, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was a witness during the IPR hearings. But he wouldn't say anything about Grajdanzev because a Presidential Directive and Army orders didn't allow him to (see page 387).

A couple of news articles featuring Andrew Grajdanzev

On this cool Library of Congress website, "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers," I found a couple of articles from the Washington, D.C., Evening Star that cite Andrew Grajdanzev:

• From the Dec. 14, 1941 issue, an article entitled "Russia in Strategic Spot" by Felix Morley describes an article that Grajdanzev wrote for the IPR's Far Eastern Survey on "Asiatic Russia's War Potential" as "a scientific, comprehensive and reliable estimate" written by "a Russian economist of high repute." 
• From the August 30, 1942 issue, an article entitled "Consumer Goods Weakest Link in Russia's Capacity to Resist," also by Felix Morley, also cites Grajdanzev's Far Eastern Survey article from Nov. 17, 1941. It seems to be the only source Morley uses (at least the only one he cites).

Haven't gone through all of the "Andrew Grad" articles yet. Gotta get back to my main task for today ... choosing shower tile...

More on Andrew Grajdanzev, from Michael Cannings of Camphor Press

Michael Cannings of Camphor Press found some more information on Andrew Grajdanzev on Ancestry.com. (I guess I should subscribe to that service--looks like I could access a lot of info that way.) Here's what he had for me:

The first entry is a passenger manifest for the SS President Grant, sailing from Shanghai to Seattle, WA in 1937 – he is listed as a teacher with his last residence in Tianjin. I've attached it here. His name is listed as Andrew Jonas (note the "s" but it's almost certainly the same guy).

He is listed as resident in Oakland, CA in 1939.

According to his US naturalization records Andrei Iona Grajdanzev (anglicized as Andrew Jonah Grajdanzev) was born in Ussolie (now known as Usolye-Sibirskoye) in Russia, 10 November 1899. Here's his certificate recording his application for naturalization:

Naturalized 26 June 1945 in New York. Spouse named as one Mary Grajdanzev (née Jakov).

From 1945–1949 he's listed in the NY phone book.

Then there are two index cards from the Associated Press records, attached here.

His name in Russian is Андрей Ионович Гражданцев – running it through Google (plus Google Translate) shows a bit more info, along with someone who says he's his great-great-nephew.

https://m.ok.ru/group52677088247981/topic/64410290451885

Moved to Harbin 1924, later taught at Nankai University in Tianjin. A Russian speaker would be able to tell you more. And there's a picture:

I hope that's of some help!

Michael

It is indeed! I looked at the link to OK.ru, which is, according to Wikipedia, sort of a Russian version of Classmates.com. At first I tried to read it with my rusty high school Russian, but gave up pretty quickly and used Google Translate to get these results:

Letter of the day
Andrei Grazhdovtsev, orientalist-economist
Letter from the Rostov region
Wanted: Information about Andrey Grazhdovtsev  Year and date of birth: 1900
Search geography (spr.): United States
“This is my great-grandfather's brother. My grandfather lost contact with him. I am interested in his fate - where he lived, how he died ...
Citizens (Grajdanzev) Andrey Ionovich (Andrew Jonah), 1898 or 1899 born. - Orientalist economist.
Since 1924 in Harbin. He graduated from the economic department of the RSUF. Private Associate Professor in the Department of Political Economy (1933-34). Then he taught at Nankai University in Tian. "
Application No. 2497373

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  25 Dec 2015 07:04

  NB

  Hello! Citizen Andrei Ionovich is a cousin of my great-grandfather Mikhail Ionovich Graditsev.
  My great-grandfather was born in 1892 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Sayan District, the village of Usolye. Education received a secondary. He was one of the officers of Kolchak. After the defeat of Kolchak lived in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Sayan district, the village of Voznesenka. He taught Russian language and literature at school. September 8, 1937 was arrested. Sentenced: Troika at UNKVD of the Krasnoyarsk Territory on October 31, 1937. Shot on November 7, 1937, a week after the sentence was pronounced Verdict: VNS Rehabilitated on December 30, 1958 by the Krasnoyarsk Regional Court. Place of burial Krasnoyarsk. The Grazhdrantsevs had many brothers, two of them lived in Usolye. After the execution of my husband, my great-grandmother left Krasnoyarsk with children for one of the brothers in Usolye and lived there until the end of his days. Relatives of Andrei Ionovich currently reside in Usolye-Sibirskiy. This is his niece, Grantsevtseva Elena Mikhailovna, and many grandnephews. We know that Andrei Ionovich eventually emigrated from China to the USA. He lived there and taught. But where exactly is unknown. Still, at the time of the Soviet Union from
  The United States received a request for relatives of Andrei Ionovich living in the USSR about some kind of inheritance. But because of the repression
  Citizen Mikhail Ionovich
  relatives were denied the interest of the inheritance. Everybody knows this from the words of his niece Grazhdovtsena Elena Mikhailovna. Another of his niece Rudenko (by her husband) Tatyana Mikhailovna died in March 2014, this is my grandmother.
• • Share

  Jan 20, 2016 6:13 pm

  Marina Savostina (Rudenko)

  Call the author of the application
  2497373 from the group "Wait for me" to search for information on Andrew Ionovich Grazhtsevtsov. I would like to meet you. After all, we are relatives.
• • Share

  8 Feb 2016 08:30

  Alexander Fomin

  Hello! I found quite a lot of information about your relative. In America, he was a famous scientist. Read more - on the page "Wait for me" with the same application "In contact"
  https://vk.com/feed?section=comments
• • Share

  8 Feb 2016 08:56

  NB replied to Alexander Fomin

  Thank you very much! I saw the information you found, though I did not have time to read it! I will study tonight! It has long dreamed of finding at least some facts, but here such luck

I don't intend to join VK.com (a Russian social networking service) to find out more about Grajdanzev (this is sort of a hobby, after all), but if anyone reading this reads Russian and happens to be a member of VK, I'd appreciate any help you could give me!

[Update, 6//2/19)] Turns out I didn't need to join VK--I just Googled his name in Russian and came up with this website: https://vk.com/wall-96412344_1807.

Андрей Гражданцев, востоковед-экономист

Письмо из Ростовской области
Разыскивается:
Информация о Гражданцеве Андрее Ионовиче
Год и дата рождения: 1900
География поиска (спр.): США

«Это родной брат моего прадеда. Связь с ним потерял мой дедушка. Мне интересна его судьба - .где жил, как умер...
Гражданцев (Grajdanzev) Андрей Ионович (Andrew Jonah), 1898 или 1899 г.р. -  востоковед-экономист.
С 1924 г. в Харбине. Окончил экономическое отделение РЮФ. Приват-доцент по кафедре политэкономии (1933-34). Затем преподавал в Нанькайском университете в Тянь».
Заявка № 2497373

Жди Меня | Национальная служба взаимного поиска людейpoisk.vid.ru

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Marina Komarova

у семьи довольно много данных Можно попробовать(семье) запросить Международный Красный Крест Организация просит в запросе место рождения Если вот эти сведения о брате разыскиваемого то скорее всего место рождения одно Сайт Жертвы политического террора в СССР Копия Гражданцев Михаил Ионович
Родился в 1892 г., г. Усолье Иркутской губ.; образование среднее; Учитель в средней школе. Проживал: с. Вознесенка Саянского р-на КК.
Арестован 8 сентября 1937 г.
Приговорен: тройкой УНКВД КК 31 октября 1937 г., обв.: КРО.
Приговор: ВМН Расстрелян 7 ноября 1937 г. Место захоронения - в г. Красноярске. Реабилитирован 20 октября 1989 г. прокуратурой КК
Источник: Книга памяти Красноярского края

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9 Oct 2015

Alexander Fomin

Здравствуйте! Ваш родственник - очень знаменитая личность, автор многих статей по Японии, Китаю, Корее, одну из которых я сейчас читаю по профессиональной необходимости (я историк). Во время второй мировой войны и после нее он был одним из ведущих американских экспертов по этому региону.

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8 Feb 2016

Alexander Fomin

Из биографических сведений о нем могу сообщить следующее (из предисловия к статье):
Dr A.J. Grajdantsev first studied Japanese agriculture in 1930 when he made his first visit to Japan. During World War II he was a member of research staff of the Institute of Pacific Relations. During the occupation of Japan he served as Chief of the Prefectural Branch of the Governmrnt Section in General Headquarters, SCAP.

Вот, кстати, ссылка на одну из его статей: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-korea/1..

Желаю успехов!
А.М.Фомин.

Korea in the Postwar Worldwww.foreignaffairs.com

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8 Feb 2016

Alexander Fomin

Впоследствии он публиковал свои работы под именем Grad, Andrew Jonah,

Например вот эту: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004987..

Land and peasant in Japan : an introductory survey / Andrew J. Grad.babel.hathitrust.org

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8 Feb 2016

Alexander Fomin

Кроме Вас его разыскивают также коллеги - ученые:

http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_kore..

[KS] Inquiry about Andrew Jonah Grajdanzev (Andrew J. Grad)koreanstudies.com

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8 Feb 2016

Alexander Fomin

В этом файле см. с. 5.

dinas.pdf

5.8 MB

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8 Feb 2016

Alexander Fomin

Скачал здесь: http://www.uozima.ru/index.php/sovet-po-poiskovo-issl..

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Andrew Grajdanzev and the McCarran IPR hearings

A few thoughts about Grajdanzev's "virtual" presence in the IPR hearings and comments on his scholarly abilities that came out of those hearings. Grad himself wasn't a witness at the hearings, but his name came up quite a few times, and some exhibits were entered that refer to his research and writing skills. But there are mixed impressions of his research abilities--some people praise them, while one other is quite critical of them.

I mentioned a while back that Andrew Grajdanzev's name came up along with George H. Kerr's during the 1951-52 Senate subcommittee hearings on the Institute of Pacific Relations (the "McCarran Committee" or the McCarran hearings). On April 2, 1942, Kerr (at the time, a military intelligence analyst in the War Department in D.C.) wrote to William Holland of the IPR regarding some galley sheets he had received of Grajdanzev's "extraordinarily good work"--Grad's Formosa Today (1942). Kerr calls the book "excellent" and comments that "[t]hat there are only a few very minor suggestions I might make, none of first importance." Holland replied on April 3 (from New York City! How did mail travel so fast back then!?). He sent along an advance copy of the book and again asked for any feedback from Kerr.

So here we have Kerr's words that show he was impressed by the quality of Grajdanzev's work. There's also an exchange between Edward Carter and Lt. Col. Frederick D. Sharp of Military Intelligence (plus an unknown "Mr. Thurber"). The first letter, from Carter to Sharp, is dated July 10, 1941 and concerns a request Sharp had made about the Siberian railways. Carter is sending along a "very tentative memorandum" based on some quick research. (Oddly, in Exhibit 89, the sentence reads, "With sources he has drafted the enclosed very tentative memorandum, a copy of which I enclose." But a few pages earlier in the testimony section, the sentence is written, "Without sources he has drafted the enclosed very tentative memorandum, a copy of which I enclose." So was the memorandum written with or without sources? Perhaps we'll never know...)

Later on (July 23), Carter sends to a Mr. Thurber (a colleague of Sharp's, it seems) a first draft of notes on the Tran-Siberian Railway. Lt. Col. Sharp writes back on the 24th (at least they're both in NYC), praising the report that was "drawn up so ably by your colleague, Mr. Andrew Grajdanzev." He goes on to write,

To thank both you and him in proportion to its value would be difficult. May it suffice to say that our own researches are at an end with such a reference source, and that Mr. Thurber, of my office, will be sorely tempted to draw on your knowledge of industries and raw materials east of the Urals, which is the next goal.

So here is another example of praise of Grad's work. Grajdanzev's work is even used in an IPR letter asking for donations, as shown in Exhibit 88, a letter of November 26, 1941. The letter says that

Mr. Grajdanzev prepared a monograph [about the Trans-Siberian Railway] which has been hailed in three Government departments as far more accurate than anything which they themselves could have prepared. This is just a sample of the kind of work which the institute is able to do and explains why the governments in this and other countries are so eager to get the services of members of the institute staff.

All of the above exhibits were presented during the testimony of Major General Charles Willoughby, Chief of Intelligence, Far Eastern Command and United Nations Command, on August 9, 1951 (beginning on page 353 in this volume).

However, later testimony by Professor David Rowe of Yale University (from March 27, 1952) casts Grajdanzev's research abilities in a different light. When asked about Grad's time at Yale in 1947, Rowe states that Grad had come on a grant from the Ford Foundation that had been obtained for him by William Holland. Holland mentions this in his memoirs, too. Rowe states that Grad was originally supposed to work there for two years under supervision by several faculty members. However, Rowe says that Grad was asked to leave because "we disapproved of his work." As he puts it,

We considered his work not to have sound scholarly method in it. It was so bad from that point of view that we finally reported adversely to Mr. Holland in a letter signed by myself and at least four of my colleagues, everyone of whom, including an economist, a sociologist who specialized on Japan, the late John Embree, who was my colleague there at Yale; a geographer, Karl Pelzer, who is a great expert on Asiatic geography; Prof. Chitoshi Yanaga, who was associate professor of political science at Yale. And the general agreement was that the work simply did not stand up from a scholarly point of view.

Rowe stresses that while the work had a "left wing" bias, "that wasn't the fundamental basis of our objection to it. ... We raised objections from a methodology aspect, and we simply came to the conclusion that this man was not a sound scholar in the field." Rowe goes on to express displeasure with how Holland handled their advice--he says that Holland "proceeded to act as though our objections didn't cut any ice" and "went right back and got more money to keep on supporting him, and sent him up to Columbia and had him affiliated there."

It should be noted here that Rowe appeared as a "friendly" witness at the McCarran hearings. He had clear problems with the IPR and had actually quit the organization in 1950 because he was critical of its left-wing political stance. At one point he said of Owen Lattimore, "my subjective opinion for what it is worth, in light of my knowledge of the subject matter, my 20 years of study in the far eastern field, is that as of today among far eastern specialists in the United States Lattimore is probably the principal agent of Stalinism." (He sort of backtracks later on by (re)defining "agent": "When I said that he was an agent of Stalinism, I am talking about ideologies and ideas and that he is promoting these ideas and ideologies." As he admits, "I have no positive knowledge by which I could identify this man as a formal Communist affiliate. In other words, I can't prove one way or another whether he was ever an agent of the Russians.") But his primary criticism of Grajdanzev's work has to do with methodology, he says. It would be interesting to see the original letter he mentions--perhaps it's at Columbia University (there's correspondence between Rowe and Holland from 1947; there's also, by the way, correspondence between Grajdanzev and Holland from 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951). Maybe I need to get down there sometime...

No conclusion here yet, though I am curious about how some people could consider Grad's work to be of such high caliber and others could consider it unsound scholarship. It could very well be that Grajdanzev was better at researching and writing for some audiences (government organizations) than others (academics). I found a review of Grad's Land and Peasant in Japan (1952), which I previously (mis)understood to be an unpublished manuscript. The author of the review criticizes the book for being too ambitious in scope and not living up to that ambition, but at the same time praises the book for "the wealth of new information and pertinent insights they [Grad's efforts] afford in the agrarian scene in prewar, wartime, and postwar Japan at national and local levels" (187). The reviewer calls the book "a compendium of Japanese agriculture," which isn't exactly a compliment if Grad was expected to write a carefully argued academic discussion, but could be seen as a compliment if he meant to cover a lot of ground in a more general overview. Updated: I see that in another part of the McCarran hearing testimony, a witness named William W. Lockwood describes Grajdanzev's Formosa Today as "mainly a compilation of factual material." That description sounds a bit similar to the description of Land and Peasant in Japan that's in the review.