Author of The Emperor and the Spy
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Winter 2020 Catalogue
University of California San Diego (UCSD): EXTENSION
On January 8th, 2020 the author of The Emperor and the Spy shared a new historical perspective on U.S. Japan relations during the first half of the twentieth century.
This Osher catalogue includes a description of the presentation.
In 1922, Mashbir completed a dangerous mission in Vladivostok, Russia, preventing the outbreak of a regional war between Japan, China, and Russia, which might have expanded further!
The following year on September 1, 1923, the most destructive natural disaster in modern Japanese history occurred, The Great Kantō Earthquake (関東大震災, Kantō daishinsai), a Japanese natural disaster in the Kantō region of the island of Honshū. This earthquake destroyed Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and approximately 140,000 people died.
The Mashbir Archives highlight Colonel Sidney Forrester Mashbir’s significant role in history, drawing from his personal letters, official documents, and photographs, as well as other fascinating historical materials gathered during the past twenty years of research. Colonel Mashbir (1891-1973) wore many hats during his long career: as a spy, a diplomat, a linguist, and as a scientist/inventor. During the 1920s and 1930s, he allied with top Japanese leaders in the pursuit of good relations between the U.S. and Japan.
Two and one half years after the end of WWII, Colonel Mashbir felt the time was finally right to share some of the details of his many adventures in espionage
The below Saturday Evening Post magazines from March 27th, 1948, April 3rd, 1948, and April 10th, 1948 present a three part series about Colonel Mashbir, which has the same title as as Mashbir’s upcoming 1953 autobiography titled; I Was an American Spy.
It is an honor to announce the publication of:
The 65th Anniversary Edition of Colonel Sidney Forrester Mashbir’s exciting 1953 autobiography:
I WAS AN AMERICAN SPY
Besides being a fascinating story, Colonel Mashbir’s autobiography is a textbook in the art of espionage and counter-espionage.
Colonel Mashbir (1891-1973) led an adventurous life – At the age of thirteen, he began his military career as a bugle boy in the Arizona Guard, in the still untamed Arizona Territory. During 1914-1916, he served under General Funston and General Pershing, and went on daring missions across the U.S./Mexican border during the Mexican Revolution, attempting to maintain stability between those nations. He personally escorted the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa to a peace parley with General Pershing in 1914.