ROBERT HEWSON PRUYN – U.S. MINISTER RESIDENT TO JAPAN (1862–1865)

Abstract

The article examines the activities of the American diplomat Robert Priuyn during the Meiji Restoration, which is not sufficiently appreciated in both domestic and foreign historiography. While serving as the U.S. resident minister in Japan during the Meiji Restoration, R. Pruyn showed his misunderstanding of the causes of the conflict in Japanese society. Pruyn supported the Tokugawa shogunate, which further complicated the position of American diplomacy in establishing good relations with the victorious supporters of the Mikado.