John Moore Allison

John Moore Allison (April 7, 1905 – October 28, 1978) was a US diplomat most commonly known for being US Ambassador to Japan from 1953 to 1957. Before 1953 he had been Foreign Service Officer in various places in China and Japan. From 1957 to 1958 he was Ambassador to Indonesia and from 1958 to 1960 to Czechoslovakia. In the 1960s and 1970s he was Professor at the university of Hawaii. In 1973 he published his memoir, "Ambassador from the Prairie". [cite book |last=Allison |first=John M. |title =Ambassador from the Prairie or Allison in Wonderland |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1973 |isbn=0-395-17205-5]

On January 26, 1938, during the Rape of Nanking, John M. Allison, at the time consul at the American embassy in Nanking, was struck in the face by a Japanese soldier. [cite article |last=Abend |first=H. |title=Diplomat Slapped By Tokyo Soldier |publisher=The New York Times 1938 article Full-length article [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D1FF8355A157A93CAAB178AD85F4C8385F9 here] . (login required)] [cite article |title=1938: Japan |publisher=MSN Encarta Full-length article [http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_461500454/1938_Japan.html here] .] This incident is commonly known as the Allison incident. Even though the Japanese apologised formally on January 30 (after the Americans demanded they do so), this incident, together with the looting of American property in Nanking that took place at the same time, further strained relations between Japan and the United States, which had already been damaged by the Panay incident less than two months earlier.

In 1957, during his ambassadorship to Indonesia, he recommended the U.S. government mediate on the Western New Guinea issue.cite book |last=Friend |first=T. |title=Indonesian Destinies |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=p. 116|year=2003 |isbn=0-674-01137-6] [cite article |title=U. S. To Transfer Envoy In Jakarta |publisher=The New York Times 1958 article Full-length article [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50613FE345E107B93C3AB178AD85F4C8585F9 here] . (login required)]

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