William Richards Castle Jr.

He was U.S. Ambassador to Japan[7] for five months during 1930 to negotiate the changes in warship limits that Japan requested from the five-power London Naval Conference 1930. He was named to this position on December 11, 1929, in large part because he had a private income sufficient to defray the costs of an ambassadorship while the State Department salaries and funds provided for entertainment were so low. Tokyo, with the highest cost of living of any post, had been vacant since Charles MacVeagh (1860–1931) resigned on December 6, 1928. Castle's appointment to Japan was only for the duration of the conference. The press called him a "pinch hitter".[8] He presented credentials on January 24, 1930, and left on May 27, 1930, but in that short time had developed a sympathetic view of Japan's foreign policy. The day before departing he laid the cornerstone of a new American Embassy in Tokyo to replace the structure destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.[9] Japanese dignitaries attending the ceremonies included Prince Tokugawa Iesato (President of the America-Japan Society), Kijūrō Shidehara (Japanese Foreign Minister), and industrialist Shibusawa Eiichi.[10]

Although the modification of the treaty was supported by Japanese Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi, the Japanese military was outraged at any restrictions. Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Kanji Katō refused to attend a farewell dinner for Castle. When Naval Minister Takarabe Takeshi repeated the invitation, the Admiral resigned rather than attend. Another Japanese Naval officer Yeiji Kusakari committed the traditional suicide known as Seppuku, widely thought to be in protest of the treaty.[11][12]

Castle returned to his post of Assistant Secretary of State on May 27, 1930.[13] The position of U.S. Ambassador to Japan remained vacant until William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959) presented his credentials on September 25, 1930.[14]

On April 1, 1931, Castle was appointed Under Secretary of State following the death of Joseph Potter Cotton.[15] He was confirmed on December 17, 1931, and served until March 5, 1933. It was the second-ranking post in the department to Henry L. Stimson in the Herbert Hoover administration. Castle was acting Secretary of State during negotiation of the Hoover Moratorium on World War I reparations in 1931.[16] The press appreciated his communications on the negotiations.[17] In September 1931 Castle tried to defuse the tense situation that developed in the aftermath of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. With the election of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Castle was replaced by William Phillips (1878–1968) as Under Secretary.[18]

From 1933, Castle wrote numerous articles and speeches especially as an outspoken critic of the New Deal. He opposed conflict with Japan, in part because he feared its impact on Hawaii, fears borne out by the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. During World War II he continued to oppose Roosevelt's policies. However, Secretary of State Cordell Hull often consulted Castle behind-the-scenes as one of the few experts on Japanese affairs. Castle spoke out against misleading propaganda. He advocated realistic dialog with compromises from negotiation and mutual trade. He also influenced the Treaty of San Francisco and occupation of Japan after the war.[19]

He married Margaret Farlow on June 3, 1902. Their only child, Rosamond Castle, was born March 4, 1904, married Alan Francis Winslow on October 20, 1923, and died February 26, 1932, leaving three young sons.[20]

Castle was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1932.[21] He received honorary degrees from the University of Rochester in 1932, Doctor of Civil Law from the University of the South in 1935, and Bryant College in 1936.[22] He was elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers from 1935 to 1941. In 1937 he worked for John Hamilton on the Republican National Committee to rebuild the party after the defeats of the 1936 elections. He served as president of Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC, from 1945 to 1952. He died on October 13, 1963, in Washington, DC.[23]

His diaries were donated to Harvard[24] and other papers were donated to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library by his grandsons in April 1970.[22]

His house in Washington DC, designed in 1929 by Carrere & Hastings, survives on 2200 S Street NW in the Kalorama neighborhood.[25]