Japanese American Relocation Camps 1940's

We are all familiar with this shameful episode in American History, one sanctioned by one of the most liberal Presidents ever elected to the White House in FDR.  I will not try to recall that but add a few notes I came across while reading a novel about the effects on two families in Seattle during that time.  The Japanese American community-most of which were Americans by birth and spoke only English-in Seattle were sent to a camp in western Idaho called Minidoka.  This source notes that rebellion within the camp, did not occur even thou the inmates vastly outnumbered the guards, because the inmates were "showing their loyalty to the US by their obedience".  I am sure you all know, but I think it worth repeating, that the War Relocation Authority-that ran the camps-wanted all males 17 and older to "sign of oath of loyalty to the US".  That would allow them to be drafted to serve in the US army fighting Germans and Italians.  Many did just that and formed the "Go for Broke" 442nd Regiment becoming one of the most highly decorated American units in the war.  Some did not sign the oath and were considered "resisters" and sent off to another camp.  I wonder what happened to them.

The author notes an incident of a US soldier shooting and killing a Japanese American inmate in the camp who was trying to direct a construction truck from going the wrong way in the camp.  The soldier was not tried or punished.  He was, however, fined for the "unauthorized use of government property"; that being the bullet he used to kill the inmate.

At wars end, some members of this community returned to their former homes to find nothing left of their homes, businesses and personal property.  The author does note that a large collection of personal papers and photos were stored in the basement of the Panama Hotel in that city and was not found to many years after the war.  The Japanese Americans who did return couldn't find homes or apartments to rent and only a few remained.  The American Friends Service Committee is one, if not the only, groups to help them.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009)

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

I came across this bit of information in a novel about the Japanese Relocation period on the west coast of the US in the early days of WWII.  When the above act was passed it created a problem for fishermen on the west coast as they wanted and needed cheap labor (somethings never change).  At that time the Chinese workers worded for less and worked very hard.  So hard that when canning machines were introduced they were referred to as "Iron Chinks".  Local businessmen however, still needed cheap labor so they got around the Exclusion Act by bringing in Japanese workers.  This created harsh feelings between the Japanese and Chinese communities on the west coast.

(Source:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  2009

Tuskegee Airmen and US race bias.

I came across an obituary recently about an African-American Air Force pilot who died at the age of 93.  He was Woodrow Wilson Crockett aka "Woody".  He was born to an Arkansas sharecropping family who hoped to be a mathematician but when the money ran out he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940.  He got his flight training at the Tuskegee Institution in Alabama being the 79th graduate of that program.  He served in Italy from 1944 to the end of the war and then flew combat missions in the Korean War.  He logged 5000 hours as a command pilot, flew 149 combat missions in WWII and 45 in Korea.  At one point his unit flew against German Messerschmitt jet fighters and shot down two.  He was awarded the Soldier's Medal for rescuing downed pilots, the Distinguished Service Medal, Air Medal and other awards during his flight career.

Maybe this story is not uncommon among many of his generation, but what struck me was his remembrances of the racial bigotry he and other black pilots faced from their "their fellow Americans".  He tells of "watching movies during free time, the German POWs could also go into the theater, but the black soldiers had to sit in the balcony in the back...they called it the 'Crows Nest'.  Things weren't too glamorous".  He also noted that German POWs were "shown more respect" than black US soldiers.  I have previously read of such stories but this struck me as more significant, coming from a veteran and witness.  (It is very hard for me to imagine the depth of one's hatred that would cause one American to treat another that way).

(Source:  "Tuskegee veteran flew 194 combat missions" by Megan McDonough of the Washington Post.  Printed in The Virginian Pilot on 9/12/12)

USS Indianapolis

I always wondered if the story of the Indianapolis was how it was presented in the movie "Jaws" in that men were left to drown or be eaten by sharks because the Navy did not want to divulge the mission of the ship prior to the atomic bombing of Japan.  I read an old article recently that cast some doubt on that theory.  The ship was hit by two or three torpedoes on July 29, 1945 and sunk within 13 minutes and only 318 men survived.  A court of inquiry was convened on Aug 13, 1945 and a court-martial of the Captain followed by the end of December.  This source says that no distress signal was sent due to destruction of the communications system on board the ship and the rapid sinking thereof.  In WWII there were 436 US naval vessels lost to enemy action and a court-martial for the Indianapolis was the only legal action taken.  The captain was found to have failed to follow a "zigzag" course which was blamed for the loss.  During the trial in December, of Captain McVay, the Japanese commander-a Commander Hashimoto-of the sub that sank the ship was brought to the trail to testify and he noted no criticism of McVay for his actions.  Many in this country-including some in Congress-were outraged at this decision to have Hashimoto testify.  McVay's career was over but other than that it does not seem much legal action was taken against him.  In Dec 1960 the survivors held their first reunion and many greeted McVay warmly.  Interestingly or cruelly, the Navy re-used the name "Indianapolis" for a nuclear submarine.  (A point here might be that Hollywood does not always-if ever-present the truth when a good story line is possible).

(Source:  "The Agony of the Indianapolis" by Kenneth E. Ethridge.  American Heritage Magazine Aug/Sept 1982).

"New Deal"

I came across an interesting item on NPR OnLine yesterday.  It was about a FDR New Deal program that built towns for groups of people outside of major cities and across much of country.  It appears that there were about 100 of these towns constructed in the 1930's and the one being noted in this source was the town of Roosevelt, NJ.  I visited the site some years ago to photograph a mural painted by Ben Shahn under a WPA program (actually it was under another of the federal government's programs but I don't remember the exact name at this moment).  That mural covered an entire wall over the entrance to a middle school cafeteria; most of the New Deal murals were painted in post offices.  

The towns had some kind of factory and a 500 acre farm that was intended to produce a product for sale.  The gov't built homes along with the factory and farm and gave them to people who moved from a city area, to "be owned and run by the residents".  Roosevelt was populated by NYC garment worker.  It seems most of the towns "failed" because they couldn't  produce enough to make a profit; but obviously some parts of the towns still exist.  If you google "New Deal Towns" a list of these towns should be found.

(Source:  "New Deal Town Turns 75. Utopian Ideals Long Gone: by Janet Babin at www.npr.org.  9/23/12)

Rice Cultivation pre Civil War

I came across this reference to rice cultivation by African Americans slaves in South Carolina, while reading an article about the Air Force inadvertently dropping an atomic bomb on Mars Bluff, SC in 1958.  In 1993 historian Amelia Wallace Vernon wrote a book entitled African Americans at Mars Bluff, South Carolina.  The book "...documents the successful private cultivation of rice by slaves in Mars Bluff and their descendants into the twentieth century and develops persuasive evidence that the technical expertise to raise rice in South Carolina (and Louisiana) came from slaves brought over from middle Africa, where it was the staple crop".  This piece of history is noted in this article because the bomb that was dropped in 1958 landed  a few hundred yards from those rice fields of Pre-Civil War time.

(Source:  "Aircraft 53-1876A has lost a device" by Clark Rumrill.  American Heritage Magazine Sept 2000).

Mitt Romney Aug 2012

I gather from the acceptance speech that Romney delivered at the  GOP convention this past week that the following are points made during that review (at least in the mind of this newspaper).

1.  Romney would repeal ObamaCare (I don't think a president has that ability; maybe we will see).
2.  Romney picked on the memory of Jimmy Carter, in a negative way.
3.  Romney gave no details on how he will reduce the federal deficit and create 12 million new jobs.
4.  He would extend the Bush era tax cuts (and I assume that is for all) that are due to expire at the end of
.        the year.
5.  He would further cut "another 20 % in tax rates".
6.  He provided no details on which tax breaks he will end.
(Source:  The Record newspaper on 8/31/12)