Citizen Diplomacy Bridges Cultural Divides
Richard Thomas started a chain reaction of citizen diplomacy that began with the Hog Lift and continues through cultural exchanges today.
Roscoe Marsden (center, in dark coat), Albert Miller (holding Japanese child), and Kay Marsden, 1960. Photo: Hans Goeppinger
Iowa Farmers: Citizen Diplomats in Japan
"Two Iowa farmers, Roscoe Marsden, Ames, and Albert Miller, Ogden, will accompany the hogs and stay in Japan for two months to acquaint Japanese farmers with modern swine production methods. ...[Iowa farmers] could learn a lot from Japanese farmers as well [because] there has never been any hog disease in Japan."
~Walter Goeppinger Scrapbook, ISU/Special Collections Department
~Walter Goeppinger Scrapbook, ISU/Special Collections Department
Carol Grant, Executive Director, Iowa Sister States
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Richard Thomas illustrates "the power of one," described by Carol Grant as "the kind of diplomacy that everyone in the United States can engage in. You don't have to be in a professional capacity to do that." Thomas' idea for the hog lift initiated a "mutually beneficial trade relationship between Japan and--not only Iowa--the entire United States."
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Photo: Rebekah Frese
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Christie Vilsack, First Lady of Iowa, 1999-2007
On all of her trips to Japan, Christie Vilsack has traveled in an official capacity, but considers herself both a citizen diplomat and an official representative of her country.
Photo: Rebekah Frese
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"The numbers that quantify trade, in dollars or volume, don't tell the whole story. It's the relationship between individuals, built and nurtured over time, that make the trade relations between nations possible. Relationships heal wounds. Relationships build alliances." ~Christie Vilsack |
Photo: Christie Vilsack
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Lori Erickson, Author, Sweet Corn and Sushi
"Often the best way to get a story out is to tell children because they remember it, they respond to it. I thought, too, that it was a natural fit for a children's book because of the pigs. There is something really fun about pigs. And flying pigs, especially. It's too good of a story to be forgotten."
~Lori Erickson
~Lori Erickson
Rebekah Frese with author Lori Erickson
As a citizen diplomat at home and in Japan, Erickson shows her readers the differences and similarities between our cultures. The relationship created through the hog lift, according to Erickson, was an unlikely friendship. Those who had not fought in WW II knew others who had fought or died in conflict. Through her book, she highlights the willingness to put aside the memories of conflict to help people in need--a hallmark of citizen diplomacy.
Lori Erickson (left) and Christie Vilsack (right) in Japan. Photo: Courtesy Christie Vilsack
"It is easy to misread each other. There is a formality about Japanese culture that we simply don't have. The misunderstandings come about because of those deep-seated cultural differences."
~Lori Erickson
~Lori Erickson
Heroism in Action
The heroism in Richard Thomas' promotion of the hog lies in the way the act of kindness brought cultures together.