Born in 1794 in Newport, Rhode Island, into a naval family — his brother Oliver Hazard Perry was also a famous naval officer. After joining the Navy, he championed the modernization of the steam-powered fleet and earned the nickname "Father of the Steam Navy." In 1852, President Fillmore ordered him to command the Japan expedition, and he set out as Commander-in-Chief of the East India Squadron to negotiate the opening of Japan. On July 8, 1853, Perry arrived off Uraga with four warships — the "Black Ships" — led by his flagship Susquehanna. The Japanese, who had never seen steamships, were stunned; a satirical verse of the era read: "Awakened from the slumber of the Pacific by fine tea — just four cups and we cannot sleep at night" (a pun on the ships and a brand of tea). Perry presented President Fillmore's letter to the Shogunate demanding a trade treaty, secured a promise of a reply, and withdrew. In February 1854, he returned with a fleet of seven ships and compelled the Shogunate to sign the Convention of Kanagawa (Treaty of Amity and Friendship), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate and ending over 220 years of sakoku (national isolation). Perry's arrival is THE defining turning point of modern Japanese history — the event that set in motion the upheavals of the Bakumatsu era and ultimately the Meiji Restoration. After returning home, he published his expedition records as "Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan." He died in New York in 1858 of rheumatism and cirrhosis of the liver, aged 63.