Douglas MacArthur II, a diplomat who was ambassador to Japan from 1957 to 1961, a period when relations between Tokyo and Washington were put on a new footing of equality after 15 years of Japanese subordination, died Saturday at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. He was 88 and lived in Washington.
MacArthur was a nephew of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who became the commander of the Allied occupation of Japan immediately after World War II.After his time in Tokyo, MacArthur went on to become ambassador to Belgium, assistant secretary of state for congressional relations, ambassador to Austria and then ambassador to Iran. There he escaped an attempted kidnapping. He retired in 1972.
While he was ambassador to Japan, he played a crucial role in prolonged negotiations during which Japanese grievances were addressed. Eventually, a new U.S.-Japanese mutual security treaty was signed and ratified by both governments and went into effect in 1960. In that year, Time magazine called him "the principal architect of present-day U.S. policy toward Japan."
He was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., to Arthur MacArthur and the former Mary Hendry McCalla. After graduation from Yale in 1932, he served as an Army officer and then began his Foreign Service career in 1935.
His wife of 53 years, the former Laura Louise Barkley - daughter of Alben Barkley, vice president in the Truman administration - died in 1987.
MacArthur's survivors include a daughter, Laura MacArthur, who lives in Belgium; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.