[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 155 (Wednesday, December 1, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2030-E2031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN HONOR OF DR. CHALMERS JOHNSON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 1, 2010

  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and I rise 
today to honor the life and work of Dr. Chalmers Johnson. Best known as 
an influential Asian studies scholar and economist, his insights 
changed the landscape of Asian political economics. His brilliance 
touched the lives of the many students he taught throughout his career, 
and his work provides understanding and vision to many others around 
the world.
  Dr. Johnson's fascination with Asia first began while he was serving 
our country in the Navy during the Korean War. While in Japan, his 
interest in the politics and economy of the region was ignited, and he 
began to learn Japanese. His career in the field of political economy 
started at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned 
his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees before joining the 
political science department. He later founded the Japan Policy 
Research Institute, which provides research and public education in the 
field of Japanese public policy.
  He went on to have a prodigious writing career, which included many 
ideas that challenged contemporary scholarly theory in Asian political 
economics. For example, he was one of the first to suggest that famine, 
not ideology or personalities, drove the Chinese Revolution, and that 
the recovery of the Japanese economy after World War II was state-
driven, rather than a product of the free market. These and other 
groundbreaking insights heavily influenced later political economic 
thought and discussion.
  Later in his career, he became a vocal opponent of major aspects of 
American foreign policy, writing several books decrying America's 
increasing global military presence as an attempt at empire-building. 
In the process, he became a public figure and a voice of opposition to 
the expansion of American military power and global military hegemony.
  Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur 
and me in honoring the life and work of Dr. Chalmers Johnson. The 
boldness of his scholarship will be remembered as revolutionary, and 
his bibliography will be viewed by many students to come as defining in 
the areas of Asian studies, political economy, and international 
relations.
    

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