Edward J. Baker: A Journey of 40 Years

Edawrd J. Baker at the Korea Institute.

Ed’s connection to Korea began in 1966, when he and his wife, Diane, traveled to Korea as part of the first Peace Corps group to go to Korea. Korea Institute Director Professor David McCann and his wife, Ann, were members of the same group. After teaching English at the College of Education at Seoul National University from 1966 through 1968, Ed stayed on to work for the Fulbright Commission for another two years. It was during this time that Ed met Professor Jerome Cohen from the Harvard Law School who was visiting Korea. Ed had been at the Yale Law School for two years, and Professor Cohen encouraged him to come to Harvard. After a semester at the Harvard Law School in the fall of 1970, he returned to Yale to finish his degree.

Ed’s interest in Korea brought him back to Harvard in 1971 after passing the bar exam, to enter in the Regional Studies-East Asia (RSEA) program, and then in History and East Asian Languages (HEAL). He returned to Korea on a Fulbright for dissertation research, and spent another two years in Korea doing research on the Japanese colonial period.

Upon returning to Harvard for a year, it was again Professor Cohen who influenced Ed’s path, this time introducing him to the staff director of the Investigation of Korean-American Relations which was about to be undertaken by the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. He worked for the Subcommittee in Washington, D.C. as a Korea specialist for the duration of the investigation, 1977-1978.

After serving in government for two years, Ed finally returned to Harvard, this time for good. While at the Harvard-Yenching Institute from 1981 to 2005, in addition to broadening his interests to include higher education in the humanities and social sciences include China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, Ed maintained his connections with and dedication to Korea, particularly after becoming a member of the Korea Institute Executive Committee in the early 1980s.

At that time, in the early days of the Institute, Ed recalls that the priority was, as it remains today, to strengthen, broaden and deepen Korean studies at Harvard. Chinese studies and Japanese studies were both already well established. There was a clear need for faculty in modern Korean history, Korean literature and in the social sciences. There was only one faculty member, Edward W. Wagner, who taught Korean History. And despite the fact that Mr. Kim Sung Ha was doing a good job in the Korean section of the Harvard-Yenching Library, there was a constant concern to support and develop the Korean section. In fact, an entire Korean studies program had to be developed, but the Korea Institute and Korean studies had no funding and no means, not even office space at that time.

As Ed observes, many significant changes for the better have taken place since then. Not without its growing pains, the Korea Institute over the years has been transformed into an organized and purposeful center, with thoughtful and thorough administrative leadership from Carter Eckert and the current director, David McCann. Many interesting visitors come to the Institute, and new vital programs, seminars, talks and gatherings take place regularly. Fellowships, grants, and research opportunities are available to students. The Korea Institute has become a center for Korean studies and the focal point for Korea at Harvard University for Korea, for which countless thanks are due to our supporters, friends, and dedicated faculty, staff, and students.

As for the ‘wish list’ from the early years, we now have a professor in modern Korean history, and in Korean literature (Korea Institute newsletter, Autumn 1997, vol. 4, no. 1, “McCann Returns to FAS”). Funding for a chair in the social sciences has been raised. With the dedication and leadership of Mr. Choong Nam Yoon, the Korean section of the Harvard-Yenching Library is now the foremost source of Korean materials outside of Korea (Korea Institute newsletter, Spring 2005, vol. 11, no. 2, “Mr. Choong Nam Yoon Says Farewell”). The Korea Institute even has its own office space and staff, now centrally located on campus in the newly constructed Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS). Although the Institute still does not have permanent funding comparable to Harvard’s other international centers, it is an established part of the University, with a promising and bright future.

For Ed’s future, although he is now retired from the Harvard-Yenching Institute, he plans to continue as a consultant to the Institute, traveling extensively throughout Asia (Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam) every fall to conduct interviews. There are preliminary plans to teach and conduct research at Hanyang University on Korean political history since the 1960s. Ed also plans to write a book on this period of Korean political history as seen by sympathetic foreigner with considerable first hand experience and many Korean contacts in the democratic movement. Finally, the Korea Institute is pleased that Ed, in spite of his very busy retirement plans, will continue as a regular Executive Committee member.

Ed recently gave a talk at the Kim Dae-Jung Library in Seoul, Korea, entitled “The Rough Road to Democracy in Korea, 1960-1992: The Observations of an American Friend.” The full text of this talk is on the Korea Institute home page: [LINK]