Hadley, Eleanor M., November 4, 1978

Eleanor M. Hadley (July 17, 1916 – June 1, 2007) was interviewed by Marlene Mayo on November 4, 1978 in Washington D.C. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Hadley enrolled in Mills College in 1934. She was involved in the first two America/Japan Student Conferences there and was a delegate herself from Mills College in 1936. The Conference sparked her interest in Japan. Following graduation, she received a fellowship to Japan from the Cultural Bureau of the Foreign Office for the period September 1938 – March 1940. Hadley describes the living conditions in Japan during that period. She returned to the U.S. to complete her studies, after which, she was recruited to work in the Research & Analysis Branch of the OSS in Washington D.C. Her initial assignment was on wooden shipbuilding in Japan. In October 1943, she began a three-month detail to the Department of State (Commodities Division, International Business Practices Branch), to assist with preparing a paper on corporate organization in Japan. She arrived in Japan in April 1946, with the first group of women to enter the theatre (with the exception of Red Cross and Army and Navy nurses), to work in the Government Section. In the interview, she describes the roles and management style of General Whitney and Charles Kades and her involvement with the staff in the Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) (see page 25). She was also brought in for her views on which companies should be included in the economic purge (p. 26). She left Japan in September 1947.