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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that tends the garden of history every day of

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Speaker 1: the week. I'm Gabelusier, and in this episode, we're looking

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Speaker 1: at the humble origins of Washington, DC's world famous cherry trees.

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Speaker 1: They're pink and white blossoms may be easy on the eyes,

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Speaker 1: but getting them to the US in the first place

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Speaker 1: was a long and hard fought struggle. The day was

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Speaker 1: March twenty seventh, nineteen twelve. First Lady Helen Taft and

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Speaker 1: Viscountess Iwa Chinda planted two Japanese cherry trees in Washington,

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Speaker 1: d C. The planting took place on the northern bank

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Speaker 1: of the city's title base, not far from the future

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Speaker 1: Jefferson Memorial. The intimate ceremony was held in celebration of

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Speaker 1: a gift from the Japanese government, the donation of three

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Speaker 1: thousand and twenty Yoshino cherry trees. Only five people were

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Speaker 1: in attendance that day. They were Helen Taft, Ewa Chinda,

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Speaker 1: her husband, the Japanese ambassador, US Army Colonel Spencer Cosby,

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Speaker 1: who had overseen the planting and a globe trotting travel

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Speaker 1: writer named Eliza Sidmore, who had been instrumental in bringing

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Speaker 1: cherry trees to Washington. The small simple ceremony they held

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Speaker 1: eventually grew into the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a renowned

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Speaker 1: annual event that now draws nearly two million visitors each year.

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Speaker 1: Planting cherry trees along the Potomac was first proposed by

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Speaker 1: Eliza Sidmore in eighteen eighty five. The well traveled socialite

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Speaker 1: had just returned home to Washington, d C. From her

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Speaker 1: first trip to Japan, and she couldn't get the country's

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Speaker 1: flowering cherry trees out of her head. She later explained

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Speaker 1: her fascination, writing quote, the blooming cherry tree is the

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Speaker 1: most ideally wonderfully beautiful tree that nature has to show,

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Speaker 1: and its short lived glory makes the enjoyment the keener

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Speaker 1: and more poignant. Before the year was out, Sidmore made

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Speaker 1: a proposal to the US Army superintendent in charge of

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Speaker 1: the city's public buildings and grounds. There was a barren

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Speaker 1: stretch of parkland along the Potomac waterfront, and Sidmore suggested

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Speaker 1: planting Japanese cherry blossoms there to help liven up the area. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: no one at the Department felt the same way, and

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Speaker 1: her proposal was promptly rejected. Sidmore was undeterred, though, she

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Speaker 1: continued her campaign for the next twenty four years, presenting

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Speaker 1: her idea to one uninterested official after another. Then, in

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Speaker 1: nineteen o nine, the Tafts moved into the White House,

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Speaker 1: and Eliza Sidmo More finally found a fellow cherry blossom

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Speaker 1: fan in a seat of power. A few years earlier,

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Speaker 1: Helen Herron Taft had lived in Japan while her husband

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Speaker 1: led the Second Philippine Commission that gave her firsthand experience

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Speaker 1: of the cherry blossom's beauty, so when Sidmore wrote to

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Speaker 1: her about bringing the trees to Washington, she embraced the

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Speaker 1: idea right away. Sidmore had proposed a plan to pay

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Speaker 1: for the trees, but once the First Lady expressed her interest,

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Speaker 1: the Japanese consule in New York suggested that the city

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Speaker 1: of Tokyo might be willing to donate them as a

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Speaker 1: gift to the US government. Not long after, Tokyo Mayor

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Speaker 1: Yukio Ozaki agreed to send two thousand cherry blossom trees

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Speaker 1: to DC as a token of friendship between the two countries.

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Speaker 1: Ozaki later revealed that the gift was partly a way

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Speaker 1: to thank the US for its role in negotiating an

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Speaker 1: end to the Russo Japanese War just a few years earlier.

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Speaker 1: It was a lovely gesture, but unfortunately it didn't work

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Speaker 1: out as planned. In January of nineteen ten, the shipment

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Speaker 1: of two thousand cherry trees arrived in Washington. They were

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Speaker 1: unloaded and inspected by the Department of Agriculture, at which

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Speaker 1: point it was discovered that all of the trees were

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Speaker 1: infested with insects and parasitic worms. Those non native species

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Speaker 1: posed a threat not only to the trees, but to

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Speaker 1: the whole US ecosystem. As a result, President Taft granted

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Speaker 1: permission for the diseased trees to be destroyed, with most

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Speaker 1: being incinerated later that month. It was an embarrassing ordeal

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Speaker 1: for everyone involved, but Tokyo Mayor Ozaki seemed to take

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Speaker 1: it in stride. He told the US ambassador quote, to

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Speaker 1: be honest about it, it has been an American tradition

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Speaker 1: to destroy cherry trees ever since your first President, George Washington,

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Speaker 1: So there's nothing to worry about. In fact, you should

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Speaker 1: be feeling proud, Osaki didn't just poke fun, though. He

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Speaker 1: also continued to work with and Taft and Eliza Sidmore

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Speaker 1: on plans to send a new batch of trees. Much

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Speaker 1: of the funding for that second round of planting, care

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Speaker 1: and shipment was donated by a private Japanese citizen named

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Speaker 1: doctor Takamene Zokichi. Working closely with Ozaki, he ensured that

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Speaker 1: a full three thousand trees would be raised for Washington,

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Speaker 1: d C. Plus another three thousand for New York City.

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Speaker 1: Rather than risk sending more infected trees, Ozaki decided to

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Speaker 1: start fresh. This time. He had shoots taken from the

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Speaker 1: finest cherry trees in Tokyo and then grafted them onto

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Speaker 1: wild cherry roots. Those were then planted in sterilized beds

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Speaker 1: under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce.

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Speaker 1: After three years of careful nursing, the saplings were finally

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Speaker 1: ready to make their long away to journey to Washington.

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Speaker 1: In late December of nineteen eleven, the second gift of

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Speaker 1: three thousand and twenty cherry trees was dispatched from Japan

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Speaker 1: aboard the steam ship O Wamaroo. The trees arrived in

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Speaker 1: Seattle in early March the following year, and then made

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Speaker 1: their way across the country inside temperature controlled railroad cars.

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Speaker 1: They were unloaded in the nation's capital on March twenty sixth,

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Speaker 1: and a preliminary inspection was conducted on the spot. Thankfully,

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Speaker 1: no signs of disease or infestation were found, and once

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Speaker 1: the all clear was given, a ceremonial tree planting was

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Speaker 1: scheduled for the very next day, and so on the

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Speaker 1: afternoon of March twenty seventh, nineteen twelve, Eliza Sidmore's wish

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Speaker 1: finally came true. First Lady Taft had the honor of

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Speaker 1: planting the first ten foot tall cherry tree, which she

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Speaker 1: reportedly did by hand. Then she invited Viscountess Chinda to

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Speaker 1: plant the second tree. After she had done so, the

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Speaker 1: First Lady presented the Ambassador's wife with a bouquet of

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Speaker 1: American beauty roses, and the ceremony was concluded. There were

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Speaker 1: no photographers and no reporters on hand for the event,

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Speaker 1: but the location of the trees was recorded for posterity.

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Speaker 1: Planting continued for the rest of the decade, with the

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Speaker 1: other three thousand and eighteen trees being distributed between the

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Speaker 1: tidal Basin site, the East Potomac Park and the White

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Speaker 1: House Grounds. More than a century later, about a hundred

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Speaker 1: of the trees from that original batch still remain, including

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Speaker 1: the first two planted on March twenty seventh. You'll find

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Speaker 1: them a few hundred yards west of the John Paul

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Speaker 1: Jones Memorial. They don't exactly stand out from the other trees,

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Speaker 1: but there is a large bronze plaque near their bases

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Speaker 1: which commemorates their planting. In the years that followed, the

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Speaker 1: blossoming trees delighted city residents, just as Sidmore and Taft

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Speaker 1: knew they would. The cherry trees also proved popular with tourists,

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Speaker 1: so much so that in nineteen thirty four, DC commissioners

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Speaker 1: held a three day event to celebrate the late March

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Speaker 1: blooming of the trees. It was such a success that

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Speaker 1: it later became an annual event, the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

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Speaker 1: In the decades since the first trees were planted, many

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Speaker 1: more have been added, including another batch from the Japanese

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Speaker 1: government in nineteen sixty five. Today there are nearly four

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Speaker 1: thousand cherry blossom trees in the US capital. When they

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Speaker 1: bloom each spring, the entire city is awash in fluttering

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Speaker 1: clouds of pink, rose, and white, an annual tribute to

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Speaker 1: the natural beauty of Japan, to its friendship with the

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Speaker 1: United States, and to the tenacity of Eliza Sidmore, the

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Speaker 1: woman who wouldn't take no for an answer. I'm Gabelucier

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode,

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Speaker 1: us at TDI HC Show. You can also pass along

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Speaker 1: any questions or comments you might have by writing to

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Speaker 1: This Day at artmedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another day in

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Speaker 1: History class.