On May 2, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira met in Washington, D.C. and agreed to establish the Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group-informally known as the "Wise Men." This small group of distinguished persons drawn from private life would submit recommendations to Carter and Ohira for maintaining a healthy bilateral economic relationship between the U.S. and Japan.

The prime objective of the Group was to focus on the longer-range potential frictions in the U.S.-Japanese economic relationship. The Group researched the issues and made recommendations to avoid clashes before they occurred.

The Group actively solicited the views of the public (Congress, business, labor, agriculture, and public interest groups) to provide an additional forum for thise wished to be heard. The Group also drew upon research that was currently under way in the two countries and sponsored a modest program of separate independent research to be jointly carried out.

This new collection provides unique, and never published, documents on major international trade issues during the Carter administration. The collection is subdivided into two parts-Director's Chron File, 1979-1981, and the Subject File, 1979-1981.

The Director's Chron File, 1979-1981, consists of correspondence with the members of group, schedules and agendas of meetings, and general memoranda.

The Subject File, 1979-1981, consists of correspondence, memoranda, notes, speeches, press releases, schedules and agendas, and reports.

15 reels