In pre-war days the concentrator in Far Eastern languages was something of a freak. It is not surprising, therefore, that in his graduate days Edwin Reischauer should have found himself at the head of a one-man class in Chinese. It is still less surprising, that, with the present demand for men versed in the outlandish tongues of the Orient, the freak of yesterday should suddenly be transformed into the expert of almost unique utility today. He who once imbibed the cup of knowledge in solitary splendor now dispenses its to some sixty would-be Intelligence men, interpreters, and Far Eastern experts.

Born in Japan of missionary parents, Dr. Reischauer came to Harvard as a graduate of Oberlin College. Two years of intensive study in the history of Far Eastern languages won him a Fellowship from the Harvard Yenching Institute, and the opportunity for further research in Paris, Tokyo, and Peking. It was during this period that he accumulated the bulk of his truly gargantuan store of knowledge, not of Far Eastern history alone, but also of the dark and tortuous workings of the Oriental mind. At the same time, the student of history had a unique opportunity of watching history in the making. Already the clouds of war were breaking over the Far East. In Tokyo Reischauer witnessed the outbreak of the "China Affair." In Peking he studied to the accompaniment of Japanese gunfire from the surrounding hills. Finally, in 1938, leaving the Sons of Heaven to pursue their murderous course of aggression, Reischauer returned to the comparative calm of Harvard, where he was appointed Faculty Instructor in Far Eastern Languages. Today, through the medium of Japanese 6, Dr. Reischauer and his senior colleague, Professor Elissceff, are helping to meet the acute military need for men with a speaking knowledge of the enemy tongue. But even more important than the needs of the immediate present, according to Dr. Reischauer, is the long-range necessity of appreciating the Oriental viewpoint without which the peace can never be won. Says he: "There is no better way of learning to appreciate a people than through a study of their language." Hence his great hope that some day the men he is teaching will help destroy the old idea of "East is East and West is West." "The first prerequisite to a lasting peace," he insists, "is a meeting of the twain."

Meantime, in his home on Longfellow Road. Dr. Reischauer lives with his wife and two children in an atmosphere that is decidedly Oriental. Though the family doesn't eat with chopsticks, the living rooms are filled with curios and souvenirs of the East. All tend to support the view that some day, the slim, bespectacled instructor with the athletic build and the infections laugh will return to his beloved East. If he does, his mission will be one of sympathetic friendship and not of conquest.