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government, but they insisted on coming to the Red Cross, because she, the empress, was the head of the Red Cross in Japan. I think he was willing to come--they literally came to the Red Cross headquarters, and I received them.

I think he came because when the son [Akihito] married the present empress [Michiko Shoda], it was at a time when television was just beginning to get underway, and CBS News had covered the installation of the new emperor. There was no satellite transmission in those days. You got it on film, and then you ran it. It was delivered to the station by hand.

I was going to Japan for some other reason, and the News people said, “Gee, maybe you'd like to take the film along of what we did by way of the coverage of the installation of the emperor.” This was film that we'd made in Japan, but shown here.

So I took it over, and called MacArthur [Douglas MacArthur II], who was then the ambassador, and told him I had it. I thought he might want to get it to the proper people. Ruth [Stanton] and I went on up to the island above the main island, and were really just sightseeing. I got an urgent call from the ambassador, saying could I come back--that the Japanese wanted me to make the presentation to the emperor myself.

I guess this was not only the Japanese government, but the American government as well. Anyway, I agreed to come back, and MacArthur and I went over to the Embassy. Ruth was with me, and I said to the ambassador, “What do you do?”--because it's such a formal kind of thing.

He said: “Well, you'll be guided largely by what they are doing, but you'll talk to the