Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 628629630631632633634635636637638639640641642643644645646647648649650651652653654655656657658659660661662663664665666667668669670671672673674675 of 755

Red Cross or have anything to do with it. But then when he came to this country--see, after I came back from giving him the film, I think the Japanese government came and made a special presentation to me of a gift from the emperor, because I had given him that film.

At any rate, someplace on their computer I was listed, and when he came to the States when I was the head of Red Cross, then he wanted to come and personally see me. It was quite an event, and I have photographs that were taken in the Great Hall at the Red Cross, where I'm talking and the emperor is standing there and the empress is standing with her head bowed. The Japanese in the Red Cross that I met in Geneva--there was nothing special about that.

My close associations with the Red Cross internationally were with Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Germany especially, Greece, England. Very close to England.

Curiously enough, I got along very well with the Red Cross representatives from Russia. At the very first meeting--big international convention--it was clear that the Russians wanted to be elected to one of the inner-circle councils, and I felt the United States should be represented. It looked as though we were going to have a tug-of-war, and I went down and saw the Russian delegate and told him that we did not plan to run for that particular thing that he wanted. I guess this was a novel experience--to have somebody, especially from the United States, treat the Russian that way. It [was] the very first meeting, when I met the Russian--he was a government man, because the Red Cross is “ government” in a lot of countries around the world. But certainly in Russia, Red Cross was government. And certainly in Israel, which is another problem I won't go into.

When I met this man--now I've forgotten his name--but he stood up, almost at attention--we