(from "Kujira to Inbou" (Whales and Plots), by Yoshito Umezaki, 1986)

Note:
The words of conversations or texts which were made in English are not the exact wording as the original, because they were translated from Japanese texts in the book.

"For Nixon, who targeted the presidential election in 1972, support by environmental organizations should bring in a large number of votes. To gain the votes, he publicly promised the policy of a whaling ban, and he stopped the operation of two whaling companies in California. On this occasion he promised them as follows: "It is not only you. I will stop all the whaling in the world."
- Kouta Hoketsu

In July, 1974, Hoketsu, who was president of Kyokuyo Co. Ltd., stated the above at the press club of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, prior to departure to London for the IWC meeting.

Nixon strongly desired to be elected again in the election in November, 1972. The tide was quite in favor of Nixon. Reasons such as the lack of attractive candidates in the Democratic Party, that rival politicians such as Hubert Humphrey, Muskie, McGovern, Edward Kennedy were far inferior to the strong character of Nixon, supported his situation. But careful Nixon was not optimistic. He examined his rivals in every detail, and worked out thorough countermeasures. The case that made it backfire was the Watergate affair (June 17th, 1972). If this incident had not been revealed, he would have served out his term until 1976 as the 38th President.

As the result of analyzing his rivals, Nixon found that environmental policy was one of his weak points. Muskie had introduced the epoch-making Muskie Act to regulate car fumes, McGovern's sales point - a catch phrase, "The environment takes precedence over the economy" - was acknowledged by the public. The position of Humphrey and Kennedy was also far from that of Nixon, which was industries' side. Whaling was no longer an industry in the USA. Once it had prospered from the early years of the 18th century to the middle of it as an oil producing industry, but it was a mere shadow of its former self. It would bring no damage to Nixon to clean up the two remaining small whaling companies in California. On the contrary, it would bring in several million votes from environmentalists.

In April, 1971, Nixon signed into law the "Marine Mammal Protection Act", and accordingly banned all whaling in the US from January 1st, 1972. At the same time, he transferred the administrative authority on the whaling policy from the Department of Commerce to the Executive Office, and set up a structure to handle it as a highly political matter. At that time, whales were the most interesting subject among environmental organizations in California - the largest electoral bloc in USA and also the home of Nixon.

The California branch of the Friends of the Earth - a worldwide environmental protection organization headed in London - established Project Jonah for the campaign to save the whales, and J. McIntyre was placed as the chairman. Headed by her, various activities were being developed. A point of contact between McIntyre - who needed political power - and Nixon - who need votes by environmentalists - was the whale. McIntyre had strong belief: "Whales should not be the target of utilization by mankind", and writes in her book Mind in the Waters as follows.

"Whales are not a subject for satisfying the economic demands of mankind, but a champion of mystery of the sea. Let's abandon the humanism and admit that whales are the equivalent of mankind, or superior to us and close to gods."

When the IWC meeting was held in Washington, D.C., in June, 1971, a chance to give a speech was approved for the first time for observers of non-governmental organizations. This was due to the groundwork laid by the US government. McIntyre insisted: "Since whales are close to extinction, a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling is necessary". In the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm June, 1972, Russell Train - the chief delegate of the USA - made the same proposal as McIntyre.

Did people in charge of whaling in the US government really believe the story of whale extinction?

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