The Changing Political Context
The Changing Political Context
During the early years of the Australian trials, the international political context was favourable. The U.S. led Occupation of Japan was focused on reforming or punishing Japan. The threat of communism to regional security and the hopes of a democratic Japan, however, was never far from the minds of key U.S. thinkers, in both Japan and Washington. Gradually the Occupation entered a second phase, the Reverse Course. The U.S. began to take steps to rehabilitate the Japanese economy and support Japan’s recovery from the war, in an effort to strengthen Japanese institutions against communist influence. In this new political climate, war crimes prosecutions quickly became unfashionable. The Australian government remained suspicious of Japan throughout the Reverse Course, and found it hard to accept the U.S. line that communism was now a greater threat to the Pacific than Japan.
Keywords: Reverse Course, Cold War, Occupation of Japan, Communist China
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