President Nixon Meets
Emperor Hirohito
in Anchorage, Alaska

by Michael Dougherty
(California)

A Historic Meeting in Anchorage

On September 26, 1971, Anchorage, Alaska television professionals showed the world an historic event. Scroll down to see the video.

President Nixon met Emperor Hirohito at Elmendorf Air force Base. This was a historic meeting because it was the very first time that a member of the Japanese Imperial Dynasty had ever visited America.

Their historic meeting was televised to a world-wide audience. In the United States it was broadcast by the Today Show on NBC, Good Morning America on ABC, CBS News and by networks around the globe.

And Anchorage, Alaska television professionals were behind the scenes, providing the broadcast.

While the television cameras and production equipment were provided by the Canadian television network, CFTO, the director was from KENI-TV (now KTUU) and the camera operators were from KTVA channel 11, KIMO (now KYUR) channel 13 and KENI-TV.

I was the camera operator from KTVA, (I actually won an Emmy for my camera work in the 1980s on another TV show). During this historic broadcast, the director told me to keep my camera focused on a “two shot” of President Nixon and Emperor Hirohito.

I happened to be in Seattle shortly after the event and while visiting a grocery store I noticed that a shot from my camera of Nixon and Hirohito had made the cover of TV Guide.

If you were living in Anchorage during this historic event, you may remember that it was an exciting time.

Following brief remarks from President Nixon and Emperor Hirohito at Elmendorf, the two were taken by car to the home of Walter J. Hickel, who had been Secretary of the Interior under President Nixon. Around 35,000 Anchorage residents and visitors lined the route of the motorcade.

BONUS

Happily, you can see the historic meeting of Nixon and Hirohito in the video below -

Were you there?

What are your memories of that historic event in Anchorage, Alaska?

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Emperor Hirohito
in Anchorage, Alaska

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I was There!
by: Erin S.

My dad was a squadron commander there at Elmendorf, and I was in kindergarten on base.

I remember the whole school made a massive banner, and we saw the President's plane on the tarmac. I was only 5, but it was a huge deal.

Any time anything big happened, Anchorage basically shut down and everyone attended. The same thing happened with an Apollo space capsule tour and even the circus.

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I was very Close to the Plane when it Arrived Near the Hangar
by: Scott Connolly

I was a Junior in High School, living on Elmendorf AFB and attending West High School.

I had a small Honda 90 cycle and signed up to be a runner for photos by UPI (or perhaps API). So, I was inside the up close press section and was able to witness the Emperor coming off the plane and shaking hands with President Nixon.

I was positioned outside between the plane and the hangar. The press photographer took his photos, and I was off and biking to a photo processing center on base.

It was an amazing experience, though I didn’t have a great understanding of what I was experiencing at 16 years old.

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I Was There ... Anchorage Police Dept. Patrol Officer
by: L.W. Garren

I was a member of the Anchorage Police Dept. and was assigned to work crowd control and as such I was located at the intersection of 4th Avenue and C Street on the day this occurred.

I had been working with Secret Service Agents for several days leading up to the visit by President Nixon and as the Motorcade proceeded down 4th and C the President's car stopped, and he emerged to shake hands with some of the people who were on the sidewalks.

That lasted a short time, only 5-7 minutes or so and he returned to his car, and they continued on down 4th Ave., toward the inlet.

I would love to know if there is any video of this because I was within several feet of President and I would love to buy a copy of the video if one is available.

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I was There!
by: Bill Fikes

My Father got two passes and decided that due to the historical significance of the event my Sister Helen and I should attend.

I still have my guest pass to the event.

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