Life, Law and Asia:

Conversations with Jerome Alan Cohen

In 1960, Jerome A. Cohen, a young law teacher at Berkeley who had clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices, accepted an offer to study a subject that was virtually unknown — the legal system of the People's Republic of China. That decision marked the beginning of a long career in which Professor Cohen would advise Henry Kissinger on Sino-American rapprochement, be the first Western lawyer based in Beijing under the Communist regime and advocate for human rights throughout East Asia. Professor Cohen has given a series of informal talks on LIFE, LAW AND ASIA now available online (filmed in 2008-2009).

Chapter 1

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Youth Looks Ahead To A Richer and Fuller Life 1947 (3 min, 1:33)

• 2) The Gichner Case: Oriental Pornography 101 (8 min 10 sec, 4:33)

• 3) Who Understands the Law of Red China (14 min 10 sec, 12:43)

• 4) Justice Frankfurter V. Dean Prosser (2 min 48 sec, 26:31)

• 5) First Chinese Lesson Aug. 15, 1960 9AM (4 min 55 sec, 29:19)

• 6) Building Support among family for studying China (10 min 57 sec, 34:14)

• 7) Missing Camelot to Slog Through Chinese (6 min 52 sec, 45:11)

• 8 ) Jerome B. Cohen? (3 min 57 sec, 52:03)

• 9) Native Chinese Teachers (6 min 34 sec, 56:00)

• 10) Get us Out of Taiwan (4 min 9 sec, 1:02:34)

• 11) That’s Oakland…(2 min 19 sec, 1:06:43)

• 12) We Do Not Have a Panda Department (9 min 9 sec, 1:09:31)

Chapter 2

 Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) From Berkeley to Hong Kong (8 min 31 sec, 0:29)

• 2) Living Among the People, Hobnobbing with the Colonial Elite (10 min 19 sec, 9:00)

• 3) Meeting Refugees from the Mainland (9 min 59 sec, 19:19)

• 4) Macao (11 min 49 sec, 29:09)

• 5) The Interviewing Process (10 min 47 sec, 40:49)

• 6) Harvard Calling (11 min 34 sec, 51:36)

• 7) The Highlight of Academic Life (6 min 18 sec, 1:04:10)

• 8 ) A Good Fundraiser? (5 min 48 sec, 1:10:28)

Chapter 3

 Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) 1964, China Explodes Atomic Bomb (1 min 12 sec ,0:21)

• 2) Chiang Kai Shek, Leader of Taiwan, Favored Ally of the U.S. (3 min 51 sec, 1:33)

• 3) Forming the National Committee on U.S. – China Relations (7 min 53 sec, 5:24)

• 4) Writing the Secret Memo (5 min 05 sec, 13:17)

• 5) August 6, 1971 the Secret Memo Published in US Congressional Record (8 min 25 sec, 18:22)

• 6) America’s Own Cultural Revolution (2 min 16 sec, 26:47)

• 7) Oct. 1970 Canada Establishes Diplomatic Relations with China (6 min 36 sec, 29:03)

• 8) Why was the Secret Memo published? (4 min 13 sec, 35:39)

• 9) Remaking U.S. China Policy (6 min 27 sec, 46:34)

• 10) The Japanese Response (3 min 08 sec, 53:01)

• 11) The Taiwan Question (3 min 55 sec, 56:09)

• 12) May-June 1972 Trip to China as Guests of the Chinese Government (9 min 34 sec, 1:00:04)

• 13) Dinner with Zhou Enlai (4 min 12 sec, 1:09:38)

• 14) The Soup Is Not Too Clear (4 min 50 sec, 1:13:50)

Chapter 4

 Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) As Close as the Lips and the Teeth (3 min 18 sec, 0:19)

• 2) 1969 Trip to Korea (1 min 04 sec, 3:37)

• 3) 1971 U.S. – China Relationship Develops, Korea Concerned (3 min 48 sec, 4:41)

• 4) Leaving Japan for North Korea via China (3 min 46 sec, 8:29)

• 5) Romancing the North Koreans (4 min 03 sec, 12:15)

• 6) Louis the XIV Gets a Job (2 min 22 sec, 16:18)

• 7) Right Wing Japanese Police Protection (4 min 23 sec, 18:40)

• 8) The Kids Find a Social Life in China (3 min 21 sec, 23:03)

• 9) Why Go to North Korea? (2 min 32 sec, 26:24)

• 10) Anti-America Month(3 min 16 sec, 28:56)

• 11) Introducing You to the Realities of Korea (3 min 19 sec, 32:12)

• 12) Keeper Bae and the Mercedes Drivers (6 min 20 sec, 35:31)

• 13) Getting from Caviar to Lemon Ice Cream (3 min 43 sec, 41:51)

• 14) Isolated in Pyongyang (4 min 32 sec, 45:34)

• 15) Getting Out of North Korea (2 min 01 sec, 50:06)

• 16) North Korean Culture (5 min 16 sec, 52:07)

• 17) Don’t Mention China in North Korea (1 min 42 sec, 57:23)

• 18) Worshipping Kim Il Sung (5 min 04 sec, 59:05)

• 19) Leaving Pyongyang by Train (4 min 27 sec, 1:04:09)

• 20) Missing the Big Bosom (3 min 57 sec, 1:08:26)

• 21) News from Home in Beijing (5 min 08 sec)

Chapter 5

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Is your Subway Working? (8 min 10 sec, 1:26)

• 2) Deng Xiaoping Meets Shirley Maclaine (1 min 25 sec, 9:36)

• 3) Singapore in 1973 (2 min 55 sec, 11:01)

• 4) Trade with China (2 min, 13:56)

• 5) Recognizing the People’s Republic of China (11 min 49 sec, 16:56)

• 6) The Carter Administration (8 min 35 sec, 28:45)

• 7) Normalization of U.S. – China Relations (2 min 52 sec, 37:20)

• 8) Too many Harvard graduates! (4 min 25 sec, 40:12)

• 9) Escorting the Kennedy Family to China (4 min 32 sec, 44:37)

• 10) Getting a Meeting with Deng Xiaoping (5 min 55 sec, 49:09)

• 11) Keeping the Kennedy’s out of a Chinese University (4 min 37 sec, 54:44)

• 12) Seeing a Chinese Court? (2 min 21 sec, 59:21)

• 13) Post-normalization of Relations with China (6 min 29 sec, 1:01:42)

• 14) China needs tax law training in the U.S. (10 min 14 sec, 1:08:11)

• 15) Setting Up Shop in the Peking Hotel (10 min 3 sec, 1:18:25)

Chapter 6

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Thinking About North Korea from the 1970s to Now (3 min 29 sec, 0:24)

• 2) Trip to North Korea, 1997 (3 min 34 sec, 4:03)

• 3) Korean Delegation Visits Jerry in the U.S. 1998 (7 min 16 sec, 7:47)

• 4) Bringing Foreign Business to North Korea, An Attempt at Trade (6 min 33 sec, 15:03)

• 5) Establishing Training Program in International Business Law in North Korea vs. China (16 min 7 sec, 21:36)

• 6) Setting Up a Law Firm in Pyongyang (3 min 38 sec, 38:13)

• 7) Big Legal Case in Singapore Critical to Koreans (8 min 14 sec, 41:51)

• 8) Changing Korean Attitudes Toward China (8 min 14 sec, 50:05)

• 9) South Korean Dislike of Contact with North Korea (6 min 3 sec, 55:42)

• 10) New Positive Attitudes Toward North-South Korean Contact (1 min 24 sec, 1:01:45)

• 11) Kim Dae Jong, the Kennedy of South Korea (3 min 4 sec, 1:16:12)

Chapter 7

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Dean Acheson Comes to Yale Law School to Speak (7 min 20 sec, 0:25)

• 2) 1955 – 57 Experiences as a Law Clerk on the Supreme Court (9 min 37 sec, 7:45)

• 3) Chief Justice Earl Warren (7 min 28 sec, 17:22)

• 4) How Earl Warren Came to be on the Supreme Court (5 min 57 sec, 24:50)

• 5) Justice Black, Warren and Frankfurter Different Styles Different Characters (10 min 15 sec, 30:47)

• 6) The Warren Court and beyond (8 min 47 sec, 41:02)

• 7) The Kingmaker, The Head of the FBI, President Eisenhower and I (11 min 8 sec, 49:49)

• 8) One of the Few To Clerk for Two Supreme Court Justices (6 min 59 sec, 1:00:57)

• 9) The Man Not Meant To Be a Justice (5 min 40 sec, 1:07:56)

Chapter 8

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Justice Frankfurter (12 min 16 sec, 00:28)

• 2) White House Dinner Fit for the Queen of England (6 min 43 sec, 12:44)

• 3) Justice Frankfurter In Action (14 min 49 sec, 19:27)

• 4) Dean Acheson (13 min 23 sec, 34:16)

• 5) The Life of a Corporate Lawyer Not For Me (8 min 53 sec, 47:39)

• 6) Joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office (9 min 49 sec, 56:32)

• 7) Sorting Through Legal Cases and Life (3 min 50 sec, 1:06:21)

• 8) Jerry and The Little Man v. His Old Law Firm (2 min 56 sec, 1:10:11)

Chapter 9

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Korean Harvard Law School Students (7 min 42 sec, 0:21)

• 2) Spring 1971 Kim Dae Jung Runs for President (3 min 52 sec, 8:03)

• 3) Kim Dae Jung Meets Senator Kennedy (2 min 5 sec, 11:55)

• 4) Another Democratic Presidential Hopeful, Kim Yong Sam (3 min 3 sec, 14:00)

• 5) Aug. 1973 Getting the Call: Kim Dae Jung Kidnapped, Life Threatened by Korean C.I.A. (2 min 58 sec, 17:03)

• 6) Calling Kissinger To Help with Kim Dae Jung’s Rescue (4 min 30 sec, 20:01)

• 7) Kim Dae Jung’s Life Threatened More Than Once (3 min 12 sec, 24:31)

• 8) Speaking Up About North Korea’s Dictatorship during South Korea’s Dictatorship 1974 (3 min 36 sec, 27:43)

• 9) 1973 South Korea Rolls Out Red Carpet Competing with North Korea (3 min 5 sec, 31:19)

• 10)1976, On Presidential Nominee Jimmy Carter’s Foreign Policy Advisory Committee (3 min 57 sec, 34:24)

• 11) South Koreans Seeking Connection with China (2 min 48 sec, 39:21)

• 12) In 1979, China Was Not Ready for Connections with South Korea (3 min 23 sec, 42:09)

• 13) Similarities between South Korea and Taiwan (4 min 3 sec, 45:32)

• 14) Knowing the Candidates for Three South Korean Presidential Elections Starting in 1987 (10 min 11 sec, 49:35)

• 15) Business Relations between South Korea and China (9 min 48 sec, 59:46)

• 16) The Brutality of the Korean C.I.A. (3 min 15 sec, 1:09:34)
  

Chapter 10

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Foreigners Can Live in China (2 min, 0:00)

• 2) Diplomat, Academic, Journalist or Businessperson? Which granted the best access to China? (4 min 38 sec, 2:46)

• 3) Answer: Teaching Business Law Privately (3 min 39 sec, 7:24)

• 4) Hardest Job in China: Being the General Manager of the Peking Hotel (2 min 30 sec, 11:03)

• 5) First Law Professors from America in China Teaching in Chinese (5 min 51 sec, 13:33)

• 6) First Art History Professor from American Lecturing in China (9 min 17 sec, 19:24)

• 7) “Democracy Wall” period in China 1978-1979 (7 min 02 sec, 28:41)

• 8) Difficult Atmosphere for grassroots U.S. – China Relations (6 min 41 sec, 35:43)

• 9) Working in China is Taking Part in History (6 min 23 sec, 41:24)

• 10)Living the “High Life” at the Peking Hotel (6 min 15 sec, 47:57)

• 11) Trip to Tianjin (1 min 29 sec, 54:12)

• 12) The Trial of the Gang of Four on T.V. (2 min 25 sec, 56:41)

• 13) A Quick Thanksgiving in Fujian (1 min 31 sec, 59:06)

• 14) What the Chinese mean by Equality and Mutual Benefit (2 min 03 sec, 1:00:37)

• 15) A Beijing Halloween (3 min 02 sec, 1:02:40)

• 16) Privacy? (1 min 10 sec, 1:05:42)

• 17) Rapid Modernization Seen Through the Hotel Industry (1 min 08 sec, 1:06:52)
  

Chapter 11

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Quick Review of Why Beijing Was So Hard to Leave in 1980 (4 min 07 sec, 0:22)

• 2) Why Harvard and Washington Were Not More Alluring than China (1 min 59 sec, 4:29)

• 3) Recruiting Chinese Students for LLMs and JDs in the U.S. (6 min 43 sec, 6:28)

• 4) Marrying a Passport Can Be Most Effective (2 min 34 sec, 13:11)

• 5) Deciding to Stay in China was half the battle Real Question was: How to Establish a Law Practice There? (6 min 47 sec, 15:45)

• 6) Making Contracts in China: The Thrill and Challenge of Negotiating in the 1980s (4 min 02 sec, 22:32)

• 7) Capitalists Take Risks. We’re Socialists! (2 min 40 sec, 26:34)

• 8) Stay Alert in Accepting Oral Representations (6 min 55 sec, 29:16)

• 9) Internal Documents (1 min 9 sec, 37:11)

• 10) The Role of Lawyers in China 1979 to mid 1980s (8 min 42 sec, 38:20)

• 11) Getting to Know the Chinese Side Across the Table (3 min 17 sec, 47:02)

• 12) Security of Negotiations and Chinese Criminal Justice (10 min 23 sec, 50:19)

• 13) Don’t Be the Mouse in the Grass when Two Elephants Are Fighting (7 min 33 sec, 1:00:42)

Chapter 12

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) If We Hold Japan Up in a Mirror We Can See What China Should Become (2 min 23 sec, 0:19)

• 2) First Trip to Japan in 1961 A Successful Encounter with a Future Student (6 min 25 sec, 2:42)

• 3) Second Trip to Japan 1963 Taking a Bite, but Wanting More (3 min 31 sec, 9:07)

• 4) 1971, The Dictatorship of Doshisha University, Kyoto (7 min 30 sec, 12:38)

• 5) First Sushi Restaurant Experience (4 min 13 sec, 20:08)

• 6) Japanese Law Professors Highly Theoretical (3 min 4 sec, 24:21)

• 7) Kamikaze Skiing in Japan! (3 min 18 sec, 27:25)

• 8) Learning Japanese – Learning Women’s Japanese (4 min 4 sec, 30:43)

• 9) Kissinger’s Secret 1971 Visit to China and Nixon’s Follow-Up Shock Japan (4 min 33 sec, 35:27)

• 10) The Mitsubishi Chair (6 min, 40:00)

• 11) Watch out for Motorboat Millionaires (4 min 35 sec, 46:00)

• 12) Co-Teaching with Japanese Law Professors (6 min 55 sec, 50:35)

• 13) Japanese Attitudes Toward Doing Business with Communist China (5 min 2 sec, 57:30)

• 14) Chinese Attitudes Toward Doing Business with Japan (3 min 43 sec, 1:02:32)

• 15) World War Two Generation living in Japan with Former Enemies” (4 min 10 sec, 1:05:15)

• 16) Inquiring Missionary Minds Want to Know: Did You See the Second Coming in Communist China? (3 min, 1:09:25)

Chapter 13

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) The Opportunity to Visit Taiwan, 1961 (2 min 3 sec,0:20)

• 2) Being Hosted in Taipei (3 min 4 sec, 2:23)

• 3) Agreeing to Study the law of Taiwan as well as the law of Red China (2 min 25 sec, 5:27)

• 4) Learning Chinese Modesty (1 min 36 sec, 7:43)

• 5) A Star Taiwanese Pupil (1 min 46 sec,9:34)

• 6) 1968 Investigating Criminal Justice in Taiwan (1 min 46 sec,11:20)

• 7) 1969 Visa Denied… but not for long (3 min 39 sec, 14:36)

• 8) Concerned that there are no jobs in Chinese Legal History for another star Taiwanese pupil (4 min 12 sec, 18:15)

• 9) Tea with Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek (3 min 13 sec, 22:27)

• 10) Secret Visit with Taiwan Independence Supporter Peng Minmin (3 min 11 sec, 25:40)

• 11) One Last Risk on Behalf of Chinese Legal Education Before Leaving Taipei (1 min 42 sec, 28:51)

• 12) As U.S. – China Relations Develop Taiwan Grows More Anxious Over Its Own Status (2 min 15 sec, 30:33)

• 13) 1975 Lecture on Comparative Criminal Justice, Mainland China vs. Taiwan Too Sensitive (2 min 24 sec,32:48)

• 14) Promoting Normalization of U.S. – China Relations -Extremely Sensitive in Taiwan by 1977 (4 min, 35:12)

• 15) 1984, the case of Henry Liu, Living in San Francisco-Assassinated by a Taiwanese gang who fled back to Taiwan (7 min 48 sec, 39:12)

• 16) Enter Frank Hsieh to join in fighting one of the biggest murder cases in Taiwan’s history (4 min 32 sec, 47:00)

• 17) Lunch with the Murder Mystery Guest (6 min 29 sec, 51:32)

• 18) The Defendant’s Weak Defense (2 min 55 sec, 57:14)

• 19) The Verdict, the Publicity (line break) the Inherent Danger of the whole experience (5 min 41 sec, 1:00:09)

Chapter 14

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Understanding American and English Legal History To Better Understand China’s (4 min 9 sec, 1:17)

• 2) Annette Lu: from Taiwan prison to high public office (4 min 18 sec, 5:26)

• 3) Annette Lu: the first woman ever to be Vice President of the Republic of China (3 min 17 sec, 9:44)

• 4) Zhang Fumei: from Jerry’s first Taiwanese student at Berkeley to public office in Taiwan (6 min 46 sec, 13:01)

• 5) Annette Lu unsuccessfully runs for president: Did sexism prevail? (2 min 3 sec, 19:47)

• 6) Frank Hsieh did get the presidential nomination in Taiwan but nothing more (48 sec, 22:50)

• 7) Proud Professor of Ma Ying-Jeou, future mayor and president of Taiwan, knew no evidence that Ma was ever a spy at Harvard (6 min 30 sec, 23:48)

• 8) Proud Professor of Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-Jeou Rejects Silence (4 min 8 sec, 30:28)

• 9) Proud Professor of the Leader of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court Lai Ying-Jaw (3 min 50 sec, 34:36)

• 10) Taiwan Law Professors Should Tell the World of the Tremendous 20 years of Progress in the Development of their Legal System (1 min 34 sec ,38:26）

• 11) Sad Irony that Taiwan’s Dictator Chiang KaiShek Touted Freedom More (4 min 56 sec, 42:0)

• 12) Need More Reliable, Consistent News Reports about Taiwan (4 min 30 sec, 46:56)

• 13) Proud Professor of Taiwan’s Leading Chinese Legal Historian Chang Weien (5 min 20 sec, 51:26)

• 14) Advice to President Ma: Broaden Cooperative Efforts with China and Broaden your Base (7 min 30 sec, 56:4

Chapter 15

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Espionage Case #1: Jack Downey and Richard Fecteau (18 min 41 sec, 0:30)

• 2) Chinese Speaking Lawyer Needed to Get Hostages Our of China (24 min 8 sec, 19:11)

• 3) Espionage Case #2: Publishing Material from China’s 1966 Cultural Revolution Still Classified as State Secrets in 1999 (16 min 26 sec, 43:19)

• 4) Espionage Case #3: From Chinese Jail to American Jail to Immigration Jail (20 min 50 sec, 59:45)

Chapter 16

Story, Duration, Starts At

• 1) Espionage Case #4: Leaking State Secrets to a Foreign Newspaper (17 min 42 sec, 0:30)

• 2) 1993 Trip to Pakistan (22 min 5 sec, 18:12)

• 3) From Pakistan Into Far Western China (10 min 33 sec, 40:17)

• 4) Living In Beijing 1979-81 (5 min 24 sec, 50:50)

• 5) Joan’s Talks at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (6 min 52 sec, 56:14)

• 6) Teaching Law at Tsinghua University in Beijing 2002-5 (8 min 12 sec, 1:03:06)

China Connection: Jerry

All Eyes and Ears