club pros like Gene Kramer and Robert Trumbull, carefully listening as they framed those trapdoor questions for chiefs of state, learning, learning," he wrote in a farewell article to the No. 1 Shimbun on the Club's fiftieth anniversary. This was a view repeated time and again by other Club members.
When the Club first opened, the idea had been one member to a room, but there were more members than rooms. The only sensible solution was to provide more than one bed to a room. Soon, this didn't seem as much of a problem as first envisaged. Double occupancy turned in emergencies into triple and sometimes quadruple occupancy.
When the Ginza began to come to life, and nightspots like Mimatsu, Marigold, and later Ginbasha sprang up, they became natural oases for journalists seeking R&R from their busy duties. From these nightspots to taking guests, including the Japanese hostesses, to after-hours snacks at the Club was but a short step. And, after that? Members were never at a loss for ideas.
Complaints led to a Club rule: No women on the second floor and above. Then they modified this to read: No women upstairs after 12 midnight. Soon, this was modified to: "between the hours of 4 and 6." This led in turn to an era when the Club was treated to the sight of a stream of resident members and their companions in various states of dress sleepily wending their way downstairs and lolling around the lounge until the all-clear was sounded, when they would find their way up again. On some of these occasions, Al Cullison recalls waking up the bar boys who slept behind the counter with a "Wake-Up Song" ("Open up the bar, boys, open up the bar"), when the assorted members and their guests resumed their libations.
However, lest readers think all members were "the rogues and scoundrels" painted by the honorable Mr. Hughes, AI Kaff of the United Press, Club president in the 1967-68 years, points out the Club did have upstanding members of the caliber of Father Patrick O'Connor, an Irish priest who wrote for Catholic publications and was a popular member of the Press Club during its early No. 1 Shimbun Alley days.
"Father O'Connor sometimes objected to the profanity and sex stories that he heard in the Club's lounge and its adjoining bar," recalls Al. "So, in an effort to rehabilitate his colleagues, the good father presented the Club with a Bible, and for several years the Good Book was prominently displayed next to rows of bottles on the back bar. To more than one member, Patrick, as we called him, suggested a Bible reading. No one was offended by this evangelism in the Press Club bar, and Patrick always remained a member of the gang, well liked and admired. But few of his colleagues asked the bartender to hand them the Bible."
Ah, yes. Another deterrent to excessive enthusiasm and mayhem on the part of members was the Club's own Larry Tighe. A correspondent for ABC, this personable young man with the friendly smile also was a welterweight boxer of some renown in Golden Gloves history. Club presidents made it a point to station Larry at their side when facing a particularly obstreperous member or guest. As far as the records show, no one ever challenged the "Bouncer."
1946
1946 FCCJ FACT FILE
• Membership as of June: 40, of whom 35 were resident.
• Professional events: Military briefings, press conferences, and interviews. No record of Club events.
• Social events: Inaugural party, Anniversary party, and New Year's Eve party. No record of other events.
• President from January 1-June 30: Robert Cochrane (Baltimore Sun); from July 1-December 31: Walter Simmons (Chicago Tribune)
Less than two months after the correspondents moved into their Press Club, a new administration under Bob Cochrane of the Baltimore Sun took over for the next six months of 1946. Emperor Hirohito got the year off to a jump start, choosing New Year's Day to issue an Imperial Rescript telling the people he was not a God-Emperor and should not be the object of worship. For a people taught to revere their ruler with reverence as The Supreme Being, the repository of their trust and confidence, this was like the end of the world. For Club members, it meant getting out of bed, taking a hangover pill, and filing the story.
Cochrane, as president, was assisted by Frank Robertson, INS, as first vice-president, Morris Landsberg of AP in the second vice-president slot, and Ralph Teatsorth of UP and Guthrie Janssen of NBC as treasurer and secretary, respectively. With the war ended, head offices were transferring their personnel to new centers of action. Uncertain when a correspondent might be moved out of Tokyo, the Club limited directors to six-month office terms. As it was, even before the first term expired, Lands-berg had been assigned to Korea and Janssen to Shanghai. The Club replaced them with John McDonald (London Daily Mail) and Burton Crane (New York Times), respectively.
While the Japanese wondered what the future held for them, survival was their biggest problem. Taking note of their plight, the U.S. Department of the Army on January 3 announced that Japan needed three million tons of food urgently. This set in motion a massive U.S. aid program, which started with a shipment of California rice arriving in Yokohama on March 24 and reached a peak of 450 tons of milk, clothing, and other goods on November 30 from LARA (Licensed Agency for Relief in Asia).
SCAP's second priority after disarming Japan was democratizing the nation. On January 4, SCAP initiated a purge of militarist Japanese leaders from public office, then broke up the zaibatsu business cartels and their network of interlocking companies, expelling their top leaders.
Left-wing groups were elated by the return to Japan of Japan Communist Party leader Sanzo Nozaka on January 26. Nozaka received a tumultuous welcome after sixteen years away from his homeland, most of the time in Mao Tse-tung's stronghold in Yenan. His return multiplied the effect of SCAP-ordered measures lifting the wartime bans on labor unions and their May Day gatherings. In line with Occupation directives, meanwhile, the Japanese government set to work drafting a new constitution incorporating these and other democratic principles.
Japan's first postwar election, held on April 10, was a test of the changes introduced by the Occupation. Though not yet incorporated into Japanese law, the draft prepared with Occupation input doubled the number of franchised voters by lowering the voting age from twenty-five to twenty and recognizing woman suffrage. Women were also permitted to run for office. To woo the newly enfranchised, the political parties emphasized women and younger candidates in their slates.
The lead-up to the April 10 election was where the Press Club first became entangled in Japanese politics. The Club invited the leaders of the four main parties to a series of pre-election dinners, where they could explain their platforms.
