The Cherry Tribute Continues...

Japan’s donation of 2,000 cherry trees arrived in the United States in January 1910, and to the dismay of all where infested with insects and nematodes. The Department of Agriculture determined the shipment would need to be destroyed and President William Howard Taft gave his consent to burn it. Japan proposed a second donation of 3,020 trees, of twelve varieties, specifically grafted from the famed tree banks of the Arakawa River. The grafts arrived two years later; among them were twenty Gyoiko Trees designated for White House grounds.

Of Festivals and Roses - on March 27, 2012 “Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin…at the ceremony's conclusion Mrs Taft presented a bouquet of American Beauty roses to Viscountess Chinda. And Washington's renowned National Cherry Blossom Festival grew from this simple ceremony witnessed by a few persons.”

Marching forward 1935-38: The first Cherry Blossom Festival was jointly sponsored by civic groups.

Newsworthy in 1938: “So prominent were the cherry trees that a group of indignant women chained themselves together near them in a political statement against President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They sought to stop the workmen who were preparing to clear ground for the construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. A compromise was reached wherein more trees would be planted along the south side of the Tidal Basin to frame the memorial.”

Of Cherry Blossom Pageants and Pearl Crowns 1940-48: The Cherry Blossom Pageant was introduced along with Cherry Blossom Princesses from each state. Several years later, Mr. Yositaka Mikimoto donated the Mikimoto Pearl Crown for the Festival Queen’s coronation, although the queen wears the crown for only a few moments due to it’s weight!

Newsworthy in 1941: “December 11, four cherry trees were cut down in suspected retaliation for the Japanese attack against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The exact reason for the vandalism never was substantiated. In hopes of preventing future damage during the Second World War, the trees were referred to as the "Oriental" flowering cherry trees” from that point forward.

The 1954 Stone Lantern to present day: Japan presented a 300-year-old Japanese Stone Lantern to Washington DC to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Treaty of Peace, Amity and Commerce between the US and Japan signed by Commodore Mathew Perry at Yokohama on March 31, 1854. The granite lantern is eight feet high and weighs approximately two tons. And to this day the Lighting of The Lantern officially opens the festival as an agent of friendship. 

References: The National Arboretum and Park Service