Memoirs of a Trust-buster: A Lifelong Adventure with Japan

Eleanor Hadley was a woman ahead of her time. While working on a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard, she was recruited by the U.S. government for her knowledge of Japanese zaibatsu (business combines) and subsequently became one of MacArthur’s key advisors during the Occupation. After completing her doctorate, she prepared for a career in Washington until she learned she was being blacklisted. Seventeen years passed before Hadley’s name was cleared; she returned to government service in 1967 and began a distinguished career as a senior policy analyst with the U.S. Tariff Commission and the General Accounting Office. Widely known (and feared) by Japanese businessmen and government leaders as the trust-busting beauty, Hadley published Antitrust in Japan, a seminal work on the impact of postwar deconcentration measures, in 1970. She received the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government in 1986.

Hadley’s personal story provides a colorful backdrop to her substantive discussions of early postwar policies, which were created to provide Japan with a more efficient and competitive economy. As someone closely involved in formulating U.S. economic policy toward Japan for nearly half a century, Eleanor Hadley brings a unique perspective–as well as a down-to-earth sense of humor–to the continuing challenge of communicating across the Pacific.