Kansha Award (Gratitude, Appreciation)
Ongaeshi (Recognizing and Returning Thanks for Acts of Kindness)
Honoring Americans Who Befriended, Aided and Supported Japanese Americans During World War II
List of Honorees - Individuals
Following are individuals who aided Japanese Americans during World War II. The list is comprised of non-Japanese Americans who were active in aiding and supporting the Nikkei community during and after the war.
Mrs. Ruth Abernathy, first Executive Director of the St. Paul Council of Human Relations, assisted minority groups with their problems. (Twin Cities JACL)
Dr. Carl W. Ackerman (1890-1970), New York City, New York, educator, journalist, dean, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, administered Pulitzer Prize, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, civil rights advocate. (JACL Archives)
Ansel Adams, 1902-1984, San Francisco, California, photographer, author, naturalist. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Took sympathetic photographs of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at Manzanar WRA camp. Wrote and published book, Born Free and Equal. His photos and negatives were donated to the Library of Congress (LC). (Alinder, 2009, pp. 16, 20, 42-43, 46-49, 51-52, 55-60, 62-63, 66-71, 103, 116, 140, 144; Girdner, 1969, p. 369; Adams, Ansel. Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans. New York, U.S. Camera, 1944. Adams, Ansel, An Autobiography, New York, Little Brown and Company, 1996. American National Biography, 1999, pp. 67-70)
Henry B. Adams, Presbyterian Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943
J. R. Adams, chairman, Puget Sound Chapter, American Association of Social Workers. Opposed to forced removal of Japanese Americans. Called for individual hearings to determine loyalty. (Tolan Congressional Hearings, Seattle, Washington, PT 30, pp. 11541-11542)
Frederick Aebi, farmer, Richmond, California. (Kansha archives)
William Macdonough Agar (1884-1972), New York City, New York, geologist, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Awarded French Croix de Guerre, World War I. (JACL Archives)
Martha B. Akard served as director of the Twin Cities Lutheran Relocation Hostel. This hostel housed Japanese Americans while they looked for employment, waited for college enrollment, or more permanent housing. The hostel was a project of the Board of American Missions of the United Lutheran Church of America, cooperating with the Lutheran Welfare Society of Minnesota. (Twin Cities JACL)
Clem Albers, photographer, War Relocation Authority. Took highly sympathetic photographs of the Japanese American forced removal and imprisonment. His photographs and negatives are in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. (NARA, Record group 210; Alinder, 2009, pp. 12, 14, 15, 36-37, 122, 165-166n41)
Dr. Harold Alexander, ophthalmologist from Southern California. Volunteered his services at Poston, Arizona, WRA camp. (Girdner, 1969, p. 304)
R. P. Alexander, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 270n.)
Mrs. Wallace B. Alexander, Orinda, California, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Dr. Will W. Alexander (1884-1956), Chicago, Illinois, special assistant, War Manpower Commission, former director, Interracial Commission, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Administrator, Farm Security Administration (FSA). Vice President, Rosenwald Fund (1940-1948). (JACL Archives)
Maurice Alexandre, wrote “The Nisei – A Casualty of World War II,” Cornell Law Quarterly, June 1942, pp. 385-413. Critical of forced removal and imprisonment, and Supreme Court rulings against Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1948, p. 351)
Riley Harris Allen, long-time editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, editor during World War II. Riley Harris Allen was the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from 1912 to 1960. The integration of Hawaii's ethnically diverse people into a thoroughly American community was the constant goal of Allen. After Pearl Harbor, Allen fought racial prejudice against AJA's so strongly that he refused to allow the pejorative term "Jap" to appear in the Star-Bulletin's columns. He personally gave both guidance and financial help to numerous Japanese Americans. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin Archives)
Curtis Aller, senior in Economics and Business, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese American students at University of Washington in Seattle. Submitted testimony before Tolan Congressional Committee. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11590-11595)
Major General Edward Mallory Almond (1892-1979), Commander, 92nd “Buffalo” Division. The 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team were incorporated in the 92nd during the last campaign in Italy in Spring of 1945. The 92nd was a segregated all-African American unit, mostly commanded by Caucasian officers. General Almond praised the 100th/442nd in reports and commendations. (Crost, 1997; Tanaka, 1982; 442nd Archives, NARA; American National Biography, 1999, p. 375)
Helen Amerman (later Helen Manning), teacher, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho. (Kansha archives)
Clinton Anderson (1895-1975), U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, FDR administration. In July 1945, Anderson ordered the Northwest Produce Dealers Association to cease a boycott against Japanese American farmers in the Seattle, Washington, area. (Girdner, 1969, p. 398; American National Biography, 1999, pp. 448-449; Record Group 210, NARA)
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Anderson, officer, Friends of the American Way. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped detainees during and after the war. Helped Nisei leave camp to go to college. Worked with William Carr.
Leila Anderson, University YWCA, Berkeley, California. Member, West Coast Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Committee (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
M. Margaret Anderson, editor, Common Ground, The Quarterly Journal for Common Council for American Unity, New York. This group advocated for the rights of racial and ethnic minority groups. Wrote many highly favorable articles about Japanese Americans. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, p. 76; Shaffer, 1998, p. 107)
Pete Anderson, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Reverend Emery “Andy” Andrews (Andrus) (b. 1894), English-language minister, Japanese Baptist Church (JBC), Seattle, Washington. Ran church to Twin Falls to be of help to Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the Minidoka camp. Worked there with Florence Rummy, May Herd and Ester McCullough. (Kansha archives)
Mary Andrews, wife of Reverend Emery Andrews. (Kansha Archives)
J. Garner Anthony, 1899-1982, attorney, Territorial Attorney General. Opposed imposition of martial law in Hawaii during World War II. Appointed in 1942 to Territorial Attorney General. Opposed imprisonment of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. He stated, “Those suggestions…” (Garner, Anthony J., Hawaii Under Military Rule, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1955.)
Mrs. Arthur Armstrong, St. Paul Council of Human Relations, organized meetings for minority groups so they could express what they wanted others to know about them. (Twin Cities JACL)
Marguerite Askew, teacher, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho. (Kansha Archives)
Rodger Axford, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). (De Nevers, 2004, p. 22)
Frank Aydelotte (1880-1956), Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, New Jersey. President of Swarthmore College 1921-1939. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 27, 51, 184n64; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; Dictionary of National Biography, 1999, pp. 788-789)
Peter Bachino, Arroyo Grande, California. (Kansha Archives)
Miss Elizabeth Baker, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). (Tolan Committee, p. 11136)
Bishop James C. Baker, Methodist Church. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified to the loyalty and patriotism of Nikkei. Called for the protection of their Constitutional, civil and economic rights. Offered to help ameliorate situation be helping government agencies understand the Japanese American community. Testified at Tolan Congressional Hearings. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11764-11771)
John Baker, Reports Officer, War Relocation Authority (WRA). Protested anti-Japanese American article in Post. (Myer, 1971, p. 92)
Mary Baker, dean of women, Fresno State College, member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
Walter and Mary Dell Balderston, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), student resettlement worker. Established the Forsythe Hostel for evacuees from Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. Volunteered to set up activities for Japanese Americans at the Poston War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp in Arizona. (Austin, 2004, pp. 104-105)
De Witt C. Baldwin, Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church, member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
Roger N. Baldwin (1884-1981), New York City, New York, founding director, American Civil Liberties Union (1920), advisor, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Opposed Executive Order 9066. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 201, 202; Grodzins, 1949; Irons, 1983, pp. 106-112, 115-118, 123, 129-134, 178, 181-182, 168-175, 178, 181-182, 186-195, 254, 257, 309, 311, 354, 360-361; Myer, 1971, p. 414; Weglyn, 1976, p. 111; JACL Archives; Drinnon, Keeper of the Concentration Camps, 1987; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 2, pp. 61-63; Papers, Seeley Mudd Library, Princeton University)
U. S. Senator Joseph Ball, Minnesota, opposed Senate Bill 2293, which proposed to forcibly remove and imprison all Japanese Americans residing in the United States and Hawaii. (Girdner, 1969, p. 252)
Dr. Ed Bannick, Chief of Internal Medicine at the Rochester Mayo Clinic. He was instrumental in recruiting Japanese American nurses to come to Minnesota from Seattle, which helped them avoid being placed in prison camps. (Twin Cities JACL)
Roswell P. Barnes, Pacific Coast Committee on National Security and Fair Play, Federal Council of Churches. Protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 199n.; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 136)
Arthur G. Barnett, attorney for Gordon Hirabayashi, who challenged Executive Order 9066. Chair, Japanese American Emergency Committee of the Seattle Council of Churches. Chair of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). (Irons, 1983, pp. 88, 91-92, 116, 156, 187-188, 219; Commission Report, 1982, p. 425)
Eugene Epperson Barnett, general secretary, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) International Committee, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. YMCA housed Japanese Americans during resettlement and provided funds to send Nisei to colleges and universities during the period of their forced removal. (JACL Archives)
David P. Barrows, former University of California president, anthropologist. Chaired the Northern California Committee on Fair Play for Citizens and Aliens of Japanese Ancestry. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 114n27; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Roy F. Barsotti, took care of Japanese American family belongings during their imprisonment. (Kansha Archives)
Robbins W. Barstow (1890-1962), president Hartford Theological Seminary (1930-1944), executive secretary Eastern Subcommittee on Student Relocation. Director of the Commission for World Council Service of the American Committee for the World Council of Churches. Director of the Commission for world council service of the American Committee of the World Council of Churches. (Myer, 1971, pp. xx, 131; Austin, 2004, pp. 4, 29, 31, 33, 35, 39-41, 43, 51-52, 65, 82, 185n185; Archive, Hartford Seminary Library)
Alan Barth, journalist, Washington Post. Write 15 positive editorials supporting Japanese Americans. Barth wrote in an editorial in the Washington Post, March 28, 1946, “The most distasteful of all war jobs, the detention upon mere suspicion and without trial of approximately 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them citizens of the United States, has now been liquidated. It was a job made necessary through the decision early in 1942 of Gen. John L. DeWitt to exclude all Japanese-Americans from the Western Defense Command, of which he was at that time the commander. His exclusion order has since been validated by the Supreme Court on grounds of military necessity. For our part, however, we hold still to the opinion we have expressed on a number of occasions that the exclusion was altogether unnecessary, that it was prompted much more by blind racial prejudice than by military considerations and that the Supreme Court's validation of it amounted, as Mr. Justice Murphy charged in a dissenting opinion, to a "legalization of racism." The treatment accorded this helpless minority remains a smudge upon our national honor and a threat to elementary principles of freedom.” (Myer, 1971, pp. xx, 197, 340)
Charlotta Bass, African American activist, owner and editor, The California Eagle. Spoke out on behalf of Japanese Americans. (Kansha Archives)
Reverend William G. Batt, St. Patrick's Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943
Elizabeth Baumgarten, War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp director, Stockton Assembly Center, Amache WRA camp, Colorado. An able and highly sympathetic camp director who did much to ameliorate the conditions in camp. Encouraged Niseis to go to college. (War Relocation Authority Archives, Record group 210, National Archives and Records Authority, NARA, College Park, Maryland)
Howard K. Beale, helped Nisei college students leave the WRA detention camps to enroll in colleges and universities. Board of Directors, Post-War World Council. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 39, 53-54, 66-73, 77, 81, 89, 96, 143)
Louise Beasley, art teacher and mentor to Ruth Asawa.
William Beatty, wrote editorial in November issue of Frontiers of Democracy, a publication of the Progressive Education Association, opposing forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Beatty spent a summer at the Poston, Arizona, WRA camp. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 98; “What is your citizenship worth?” Frontiers of Democracy, 9 (15 November 1942), 34-35.)
Mrs. H. S. Bechtolt, United Lutheran Women’s Missionary Board. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Gladys Bell, volunteer, Social Services, Topaz WRA camp, Utah. (Kansha Archives)
Roscoe Bell, State Representative for California of Federal Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Chief of Agriculture, Assistant Project Director for Operations, Topaz WRA camp, Utah. (NARA, RG 208)
Professor Eric C. Bellquist, Political Scientist, University of California. Criticized local government officials and “mass” hysteria that encouraged forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Bellquist declared, “intolerance toward enemy aliens is as much a part of subversive activity as Japanese spying, Nazi intrigue, or Communist sabotage”; and that actions against Japanese Americans would “assist in destroying our unity and furnish the Japanese and Nazis with propaganda material which may make our winning of the war more difficult.” Strongly opposed Executive Order 9066. Testified before the Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings on behalf of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 101, 108; Grodzins, 1949, p. 183, 183n10; McWilliams, 1944, p. 263; Commission Report, 1982, p. 113; Nichi Bei, February 13, 1942; Tolan Hearings, Part 29, pp. 11240-11250)
Robert N. Benjamin (b. 1910), New York City, New York. Co-chair, Greater New York Committee for Japanese Americans.
Earl F. Bernard, Oregon. Attorney for Minoru Yasui, who challenged the Constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. (Irons, 1983, pp. 83-85, 114, 135-136, 140-143, 161, 171-173, 178-179, 189, 194-195, 222)
Lowell W. Berry. Testified at Tolan hearings in opposition to forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, Exhibit 23, The Japanese Farmer, Part 29, March 10, 1942, pp. 11282-11283)
Ernest Besig (1904-1998), New York, attorney, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), San Francisco office. Opposed Executive Order 9066. Supported Fred Korematsu legal case. Had Wayne Collins represent Korematsu, 1934-1971. (Bangarth, 2008; Girdner, 1969, pp. 190, 202, 325, 446, 448; Grodzins, 1949; Irons, 193, pp. 107-112-113, 115-118, 122-123, 130-132, 151-154, 226, 257-259, 261, 267, 309, 360-361; Katulas, 2006; Walker, 1990; Weglyn, 1967, pp. 111-112, 208-215, 254, 257, 258)
Raymond R. Best, original WRA project director at Tule Lake, helped Wayne Collins in legal case supporting detainees. Collins recalled, “Mr. Best personally contributed several hundred dollars to enable a number of persons there confined to contribute their bit to the Defense Fund and I do not believe any portion of his money was returned to him… Further, Mr. Best deliberately prolonged his stay at Tule Lake Center at my request so that I would be enabled to have him served with process in the Center and thereby obtain jurisdiction over him… He wrote many letters on behalf of individuals and families requesting their liberation from detention at Tule and elsewhere… He also along with Ivan Williams [officer in charge of Tule Lake for the Justice Department] did a great deal to convince the Justice Department that it should liberate the unfortunate renunciants and their alien parents and relatives from detention.” (Weglyn, 1976, p. 254)
Francis Beverly Biddle, 1886-1968, U.S. Attorney General, FDR administration, September 1941-June 1945, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials judge. Firmly opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Biddle told President Roosevelt that mass removal was not recommended and that there was no reason and “it was an army job not, on our opinion, not advisable.” On January 24, 1942, Biddle wrote to Congress that “Unless the writ of habeas corpus is suspended, I do not know any way in which Japanese born in this country, and therefore American citizens, could be interned.” Mob violence against Japanese Americans was one of the rationales for the decision to forcibly remove and “intern” Japanese Americans. However, Attorney General Biddle reported that there were few instances of crime and they certainly did not justify the need to protect Japanese Americans through forcible removal and imprisonment, referring to a “sorry story of violence, but not one that told any tale of vigilante action. Seven killings in four months were not an indication that the entire Japanese population was ‘going to be massacred,’ as someone wrote to his congressman.” Biddle wrote to Congressman Ford, “The decision of this Department is that the program I have outlined… together with the extensive investigations which have been carried on by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would adequately control the problem of the Japanese population of the Pacific Coast. For this reason, and also because of the legal difficulties presently involved in attempting to intern or evacuate the thousands of American-born persons of the Japanese race who are, of course, American citizens, this Department has not deemed it advisable at this time to attempt to remove all persons of the Japanese race into the interior of this country.” In a February 17, 1942, memo to President Roosevelt, Biddle wrote, “For several weeks there have been increasing demands for evacuation of all Japanese, aliens and citizens alike, from the West Coast states. A great many of the West Coast people distrust the Japanese, various special interests would welcome their removal from good farm land and the elimination of their competition, some of the local California radio and press have demanded evacuation, the West Coast Congressional Delegation are asking the same thing and finally, Walter Lippman [sic] and Westbrook Pegler recently have taken up the evacuation cry on the ground that attack on the West Coast and widespread sabotage is imminent. My last advice from the War Department is that there is no evidence of imminent attack and from the F.B.I. that there is no evidence of planned sabotage.” Biddle further wrote, “Rowe and Ennis argued strongly against [the Executive Order]. But the decision had been made by the President. It was, he said, a matter of military judgment. I did not think I should oppose it any further. The Department of Justice, as I had made it clear to him from the beginning, was opposed to and would have nothing to do with the evacuation.” Biddle later wrote, “If Stimson had stood firm, had insisted, as apparently he suspected, that this wholesale evacuation was needless, the President would have followed his advice. And if, instead of dealing almost exclusively with McCloy and Bendetsen, I had urged the Secretary to resist the pressure of his subordinates, the result might have been different. But I was new to the Cabinet, and disinclined to insist on my view to an elder statesman whose wisdom and integrity I greatly respected.” Biddle concluded on Roosevelt’s decision to sign Executive Order 9066, “I do not think he was much concerned with the gravity or implications of this step. He was never theoretical about things. What must be done to defend the country must be done. The decision was for his Secretary of War, not for the Attorney General, not even for J. Edgar Hoover, whose judgment as to the appropriateness of defense measures he greatly respected. The military might be wrong. But they were fighting the war. Public opinion was on their side, so that there was no question of any substantial opposition, which might tend toward the disunity that at all costs he must avoid. Nor do I think that the constitutional difficulty plagued him—the Constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime president… Once he emphasized to me, when I was expressing my belief that the evacuation was unnecessary, that this must be a military decision…” (Biddle, 1962; Daniels, 1971, pp. 43-68; de Nevers, 2004, pp. 98-100, 105, 109, 111-112, 120-123, 125l Girdner, 1969, pp. 7, 13, 14, 16, 28, 101, 105, 207, 323, 442; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 65, 254-262, 233-235; Irons, 1983, pp. 3, 5, 14, 15, 23, 24, 29-30, 34-36, 38-40, 44-45, 51-55, 61-63, 64, 69, 105, 119, 182, 197, 212, 214-215, 256, 262-265, 271-272, 276, 278-284, 288-289, 349, 351, 359-361, 363, 365; Kashima, 2003, pp. 27, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 65, 124, 130, 131-132, 138; Myer, 1971, pp. 20, 23, 24, 87, 88, 90, 284; Robinson, 2001; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 63, 67-71, 73-74, 163, 190, 200-201, 218, 229-230, 236, 237, 242-244; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 9, 18, 49, 54-56, 62, 64, 69, 73, 74, 78-79, 81, 83-86, 103, 104, 107, 110; Francis Biddle Papers, Georgetown University; Japanese American Internment Collection, FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 2, pp. 729-730)
Reverend Gurney and Elizabeth Binford, American Friends (Quakers), opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Worked with Reverend Herbert Nicholson to help Japanese families whose fathers had been arrested in December 1941. (Girdner, 1969, p. 135)
Naomi Binford, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Helped set up National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 5, 173; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
Alfred M. Bingham, Post War World Council. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Editor, Common Sense. Son of Senator Hiram Bingham, III. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 197; Shaffer, 1998)
Ramsen Bird, Occidental College, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
Dr. Benjamin W. Black (d. 1945), Oakland, California, physician. Medical administrator, Alameda County General Hospital. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Fair Play Committee. (JACL Archives; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Allen Blaisdell, chairman, International Institute Board, Berkeley, California. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, p. 11136)
Right Reverend Karl Morgan Block, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Thomas R. Bodine, 1915-2005, American Friends (Quakers) activist, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Worked with fellow Quakers Floyd Schmoe and Reverend Herbert Nicholson to help Issei who were arrested after December 7, 1941. Gave aid at the Missoula, Montana, Department of Justice camp. Later field director of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC), which helped 4,000 young Nisei leave camp and attend 680 colleges and universities in the Midwest and East. (Austin, 2004, pp. 13-14, 32, 41, 49, 67-74, 89, 91, 98, 100, 104, 113, 115, 118, 121, 124-125, 126-128, 130, 136-137, 149, 151, 159, 161-162, 165, 166, 176; Daniels, 1971, pp. 87-88; Girdner, 1969, pp. 116, 134, 154, 169, 177, 336; James, 1987; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; American Friends Service Archives, Philadelphia, PA; Hoover Institute, Stanford University)
Father Clement Boesflug, Maryknoll Fathers, Los Angeles. Set up Catholic Churches and provided services and counseling for Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the WRA camps. (Girdner, 1969, p. 304)
Patricia Bond (Maggiora), wife of Robert Maggiora, teacher Tule Lake and Topaz Relocation Camp, Topaz, Utah. (Kansha Archives)
Charles S. Bonesteel, 1885-1964, Major General, United States Army, Commander of the Western Defense Command (WDC). Supported the end of the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. (Muller, 2007; CWRIC, 1997)
Harry Lorin Bonssee, New York City, New York. Managing editor, The Commonweal. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Pastor G. Raymond and Gracia Booth, executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (AFCS), Pacific Coast Branch, Pasadena, California. War Relocation Authority (WRA) representative, Cincinnati, Ohio. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Submitted report and alternative plan to Tolan Committee, March 7, 1942. (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11744-11745)
Chauncy S. Boucher, chancellor, University of Nebraska, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Gilbert and Minnie Bowles, educator, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers). Opposed arrest and removal of Japanese Americans from Hawaii. Helped families who were arrested after December 7, 1941. Dr. Gilbert and Mrs. Minnie Bowles returned to Hawaii after 30 years as Quaker missionary educators in Japan. Their ability to speak Japanese and their familiarity with Japanese customs enabled them to be particularly helpful to Japanese Issei in Hawaii after the war broke out. They provided social and humanitarian services to the AJA community. They eased the stresses of separation, alienation and confusion for AJA families and organizations.
J. Burton Bowman, Olympia Oyster Growers Protective Association, Shelton, Washington. Wrote report submitted to Tolan Committee on behalf of Japanese American oystermen. (Tolan Committee, Exhibit 25, PT 29, pp. 11283-11284)
Ester Boyd, hardware store owner, Yakima Valley, Washington. Former PTA president. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and testified to their loyalty at the Tolan Committee Hearing. (Tolan Committee Hearings, PT 30, pp. 11582-11585)
Phil Boyle, civil rights advocate, member of the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council. Opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943. Also opposed the even stronger Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943, to amend the US Constitution to oppose the return of all Japanese Americans, to strip them of their citizenship, and exclude them from any residency. Protected Japanese American property rights and helped some families regain financial stability after the war.
Paul Braisted, program secretary, Hazen Foundation, member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949).
Colonel Rufus Bratton, U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Supported enlistment of Japanese Americans into the Armed Services. (Fujitani, 2011, p. 89)
J. J. Braun, General Secretary of the Board of National Missions of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. (Austin, 2004, pp. 38, 173)
Clara Breed, 1906-1994, children’s librarian, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, California. Supported Japanese American children in camps by encouraging them to write letters to her about their experiences. She sent much-needed supplies to her young friends. Her letters are in the Japanese American National Museum, in Los Angeles. (Breed, 1983; Oppenheim, 2006; Kansha Archives)
Ester Breimer, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), volunteered to set up YWCA programs in WRA camps. (Myer, 1971, p. xix)
Harry R. Bridges, president, International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU). Forced local dockworkers and the local union in Stockton, California, to allow Japanese Americans back to work after they returned from the camps. Harry Bridges married Nisei activist Noriko Sawada. They challenged the anti-miscegenation laws in California. (Daniels, 1971, p. 161)
Royce Brier, journalist, columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Criticized Hood River American Legion Post for the actions against Nisei. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 144)
Reverend Alfred Broccardo, St. Patrick's Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Joe E. Brown, comedian. Visited soldiers in hospitals in Europe and praised Japanese American soldiers. (Girdner, 1969, p. 370)
Leland S. Brubaker, director of relief and rehabilitation, Bretheren Service Committee (BSC)
Dr. William C. and Miriam Bruff, American Friends (Quakers) from Whittier, California. Helped Japanese Americans from Terminal Island during their forced removal to store their household property. Took in Japanese American family. Supplied Japanese Americans in Army temporary detention camps and WRA prison camps. Helped Japanese Americans resettle from camps. Worked with Ralph Smeltzer.
T. T. Brumbaugh. Helped Japanese Americans resettle in Detroit area. (Robinson, 2012, p. 50)
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973), Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Author, winner of Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature (1938). Wrote The Good Earth (1931), American Unity and Asia. Was among the first National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) sponsors. Criticized the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote letter to Eleanor Roosevelt protesting the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans as “more German than…American.” In 1943 speech in Los Angeles, she said: “I beg of you men and women of the most important part of our country, as I now believe California is, to keep your wits and common sense. For on your attitude toward Asia depends the attitude, I am convinced, of our whole country. In a curious fashion you are—or soon will be—the leader of the nation. The people in our Eastern states are already looking toward you as these great questions arise of how to deal with the people of Asia and South America. ‘What does the West Coast say?’—I hear that question asked every day and wherever a policy is about to be shaped. The Eastern states are far more sensitive to your opinions today than they have ever been before. Imperceptibly the center of gravity in our country is moving westward. I say confidently that the future foreign policies of our government will be primarily decided by you, looking out over the Pacific, and not by those who face the Atlantic. The reason is that the center of the world has moved from Europe to Asia…. Once in an aeon a single people is given the opportunity to shape the world’s direction. That opportunity is now ours. And because you in California face the Pacific and Asia, you among us have the crux in your hands. You can, by what you decide, be a barrier—or you can be a gateway to a new and better world, for us and for all peoples” (McWilliams, 1944, pp. 272-273). (Girdner, 1969, pp. 364, 464; McWilliams, 1944, p. 258, 272-273; Shaffer, 1998, p. 93; JACL Archives; Pearl Buck to Eleanor Roosevelt, 22 May 1942, with attachments, and ER to Buck, 29 May 1942, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY, Box 1633; American National Biography, Vol. 3, pp. 849-851)
Rev. Sherman Burgoyne (1902-1964). Minister of Asbury Methodist Church in Hood River, Oregon. Stood up for rights of Japanese Americans after local American Legion post removed names of Nisei (second generation) soldiers from county honor roll. After he challenged “un-American and race-prejudiced” acts in public letter to local newspaper, a subsequent full-page exclusion ad served as open letter to him, referring to him as pro-Japanese. Faced ostracism himself from local white community and his wife was fired by local bank. Named one of sixteen recipients of national Thomas Jefferson Award (1947) given by Council Against Intolerance in America, based on poll of 1,500 civic, religious, and education organizations and 500 newspaper editors throughout the country. (Inada et al, In This Great Land of Freedom, 1993, pp. 40-1; Tamura, Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 217, 236, 239-41, 314, 316; Tamura, Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 148-49, 151, 168-69, 174, 176, 191, 195, 201, 249)
J. Frank Burke, radio station owner. Broadcast favorable information about Japanese Americans.
Cecile Burke, operated a hostel in Brooklyn, New York, for Japanese Americans leaving camp.
Ralph Burnight, high school principal, Excelsior Union High School, Norwalk, California. Made a special trip to Manzanar camp to confer high school diplomas to Nisei evacuees. Gave encouraging talks to mentor the Niseis. (Ruth Asawa recommendation and Alice Imamoto Takemoto.)
Governor John Anthony Burns, 1909-1975, three-term Governor of Hawaii, 1962-1973, Congressman, police captain, Honolulu, Hawaii. From his days as a young police captain, through twelve years of service as the second elected Governor of Hawaii, Burns' entire career was marked by his strong support for the Japanese Americans in Hawaii. After Pearl Harbor, Burns headed a police intelligence unit seeking to curb any espionage or disloyalty in the Japanese community. Throughout this work, he came to be regarded by the Japanese community as a true friend in their most dire hour of need. He was able to calm fears in the Japanese community and stood firmly against hysteria-inspired demands for drastic action against the loyal Japanese community. After the war, he sought to correct the injustices against the AJA community. He invited, encouraged, and nurtured returning AJA war veterans into the Democratic Party. Many young Nisei soldiers, including Spark Matsunaga and Daniel K. Inouye, were encouraged to enter the realm of Democratic politics. Once in the Democratic Party, young AJA war veterans joined with organized labor to make their legislative activities a vehicle for positive social change. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 146; Boylan, Dan and T. Michael Holmes. John A. Burns: A Man and His Times, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 2000. American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 4; Papers, Hawaii State Archives, Honolulu; oral history, University of Hawaii)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), author. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 370; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 47-49)
Mrs. Butler and her son, David, took Mary Takao Yoshida in when she arrived in Minnesota from Tule Lake. (Twin Cities JACL)
Witter Bynner (1882-1968), Santa Fe, New Mexico, writer, playwright, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 131-132)
Harold D. Byram, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943
Mayor Harry P. Cain, Tacoma, Washington. Cain was the conservative Republican mayor of Tacoma. He vehemently opposed mass forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Cain observed, “America has always been interested in selection, and I feel it would be preferable to make careful selection of those to be evacuated, rather than just say ‘let’s get rid of our problem by the easiest, most obvious way, of moving everybody out.’” He also said, “A man’s background, regardless of who he is, very generally has much to do with what he is going to do. If born in this country; if a Christian; if employed side by side with others who fill the same classification, for years; if educated in our schools; if a producer now and in the past; if maintained in a position of production—I should think that person could be construed to be a loyal American citizen” (Daniels, 1971, p. 78). (Daniels, 1971, p. 78; Girdner, 1969, p. 24; Grodzins, 1949, p. 142; Tolan Committee Hearing, PT 30, pp. 11410-11415)
Guy C. Calden, lawyer, Elliot and Calden law firm. Represented Japanese Americans in pre- and post-war case of discrimination based on anti-Japanese legislation.
Eugene Calvo, protected houses and property of Japanese Americans during their imprisonment. Helped them resettle to San Francisco Bay Area. (Kansha Archives)
Edgar Camp, attorney with the local American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Worked with ACLU lawyers Fred Okrand and A. L. Wirin representing Japanese American civil rights cases. (Irons, 1983, p. 115; Robinson, 2012, pp. 178-179, 286n17)
E. Fay Campbell, director, Department of Colleges and Theological Seminaries, Presbyterian Church, member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 135, 152-153, 155-156, 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
J. Henry Carpenter, Brooklyn Council of Churches, Brooklyn, New York
Governor Ralph L. Carr, Colorado (during World War II). Chairman, Friends of the American Way. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Lobbied U.S. government to close WRA prison camps. Found jobs for Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the WRA camps and for students leaving camps. Carr said, “If Colorado’s part in the war is to take 100,000 of them [Japanese Americans], then Colorado will take care of them.” He was defeated in the next election. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 248; Myer, 1971, pp. 40, 128, 240; Girdner, 1969, p. 116; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 102-103, 155; De Nevers, 2004, p. 141)
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Carr, Chairman, Friends of the American Way. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Lobbied U.S. government to close WRA camps. Found jobs for Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the WRA camps and for students leaving camps. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 103, 365, 368)
Joseph Carson, head, Oregon American Legion, former Mayor of Portland, Oregon. Asked for equal rights for Japanese Americans. Testified at Toland Hearings. (Hayashi, 2004, p. 85; Shaffer, 1998, p. 88; Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings, p. 11327)
John Franklin Carter, journalist. Appointed by FDR to establish informal intelligence network. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans.
Ugo Carusi, chief of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Cooperated with the War Relocation Authority in helping Japanese Americans. (Myer, 1971, p. xxi)
Barbara Cary, International House, Chicago, Illinois. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
C. Reed Cary, assistant executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Pasadena, California. Member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped Nisei leave WRA detention camps to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 20, 27, 31, 51, 73, 124-126, 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Miles Elwood Cary, PhD (1894-1959), New York City, New York. Reformer, educator, principal, McKinley High School 1924-48, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Helped set up schools in Poston WRA camp in Arizona in 1942. Volunteered during World War II to establish a public school system and serve as principal of the high school in Poston WRA camp. (JACL Archives)
William Henry Chamberlin (1883-1955), New York City, New York. Educator, University of North Carolina (1910-1930). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans.
Reverend Gordon Kimball Chapman, Executive Secretary of Protestant Commission for Wartime Japanese Service, Japanese activities for Presbyterian Church. Opposed and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified before Tolan Committee in opposition to Executive Order 9066 and mass removal of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 192n; Shaffer, 1998, p. 90; Tolan Committee, PT 29, pp. 11205-11207, 11210-11213)
Eleanor K. Chase, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Cincinnati, Ohio. (JACL Archives)
Dr. Harry Woodburn Chase, educator, chancellor, New York University 1933-51, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Cheng Kun Cheng, teacher, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans from West Coast. Blamed “deep rooted racial prejudice,” and said, “this prejudice has manifested itself in newspaper editorials and over the radio in this part of the country…. I think the state of nervousness on the Pacific Coast, on the whole, is unwarranted.” Testified at Tolan Congressional Hearings, February 28, 1942. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11606-11607)
U. S. Congressman J. Edgar Chenowith, Colorado. (Myer, 1971, pp. 92, 327)
Hung Wai Ching, 1905-2002, Chinese American, businessman, wartime Hawaiian community leader. Committee for Inter-racial Unity, Morale Section of the Military Governor's Office, secretary, University YMCA, Hawaii, 1941-1945. Christian idealism and YMCA training made this local man of Chinese ancestry one of the greatest friends of the Japanese community in World War II. Before the war, he helped initiate a Committee for Inter-racial Unity, composed of prominent military and community leaders. It sought to preserve relations between various racial groups in Hawaii in the event of war with Japan. After Pearl Harbor, Hung Wai Ching was appointed to the Governor's Morale Committee. Completely trusted by everybody, Ching served as the ideal liaison between the military authorities and the local Japanese community. As University YMCA secretary, Ching encouraged dejected Nisei youth discharged from the Territorial Guard to fight for the right to serve their country. He helped form the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a labor battalion that worked to encourage military commanders to create the all-Nisei combat units. Ching worked tirelessly to help Japanese American soldiers gain acceptance at their training post in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He even went to speak to President Roosevelt to argue against the forced removal and imprisonment of mainland Japanese Americans and in regard to discrimination felt by Nisei soldiers while in training. He worked closely with Eleanor Roosevelt and reported directly to President Roosevelt on the loyalty and spirit of the Nisei soldiers. After the war, Ching helped many Nisei veterans find scholarships and jobs. After the war, co-founded Aloha Airlines. (Allen, 1950; Lind, 1943; Odo, 2003; Shivers, 1946; Oral history, Eric Saul, 1981; Honolulu Star Bulletin)
John Chittum, professor of chemistry, College of Wooster, president local Council of Churches. Offered student scholarship to Bob Ishida to attend school there in September, 1942. (Austin, 2004, p. 63)
General Mark Wayne Clark, 1896-1984, Commander, 5th US Army, Fifteenth Army Group, Italy, 1943-1945. General Clark was one of the few military commanders who would accept the 100th/442nd into combat. Throughout the war, General Clark supported the Niseis in their military campaigns. After the war, he spoke out on behalf of Niseis and their combat record. General Clark was against mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. As Lieutenant General and Commander of the Fifth Army, awarding the 100th/442nd a Presidential Unit Citation, Clark said: “You are always thinking of your country before yourselves. You have never complained through your long periods in the line. You have written a brilliant chapter in the history of the fighting men in America. You are always ready to close with the enemy, and you have always defeated him. The 34th Division is proud of you, the Fifth Army is proud of you, and the whole United States is proud of you.” General Clark vigorously opposed the idea of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on practical grounds. He wrote, “We will never have a perfect defense against sabotage except at the expense of other equally important efforts. We must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of such a wholesale solution to this problem. We must not permit our entire offensive effort to be sabotaged in an effort to protect all establishments from ground sabotage… It is estimated that to evacuate large numbers of this group will require one soldier to 4 or 5 aliens. This would require between 10,000 and 15,000 soldiers to guard the group during their internment, to say nothing of the continuing burden of protecting the [military and industrial] installations. I feel that this problem must be attacked in a sensible manner. We must admit that we are taking some chances just as we take other chances in war. We must determine what are our really critical installations, give them thorough protection and leave the others to incidental means in the hope that we will not lose too many of them—and above all keep our eyes on the ball—that is, the creating and training of an offensive Army.” (Ashina, 2006; Clark, 1950; Daniels, 1971, pp. 50-51, 63; Daniels, 1981; Daniels, 1993; De Nevers, 2004, pp. 102, 105, 110, 114-115, 121; Girdner, 1969, p. 330; Grodzins, 1949, p. 72; Irons, 1983, pp. 51-52, 56-57, 61; Shirey, 1946; Tanaka, 1982; Tsukano, 1985; Commission Report, 1982, p. 257; National Archives and Records Administration [NARA]; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 4, pp. 65-67, 152; Papers, Citadel Archives Museum, Charleston, SC, oral history Paul Hara)
Mrs. Agnes Morley Cleaveland, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan, pp. 11200-11203)
Travers Clements, journalist, Socialist Party newspaper. Condemned forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans as a land grab by Caucasian farmers. (Shaffer, 1998)
Robert Clopton, Professor, University of Hawaii, teacher, Hanpepe Plantation School. Mentored Nisei students, especially future U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga. (Oral history of Spark Matsunaga conducted by Eric Saul, 1982)
U. S. Congressman John Coffee, Washington, DC. Called for moderation and reason regarding forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. He criticized his fellow Congressmen for actively promoting forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Coffee said in the Congressional Record on December 10, 1941: “It is my fervent hope and prayer that residents of the United Sates of Japanese extraction will not be made the victim of pogroms directed by self-proclaimed patriots and by hysterical self-anointed heroes… As one who has lived as a neighbor to Japanese-Americans, I have found these people, on the whole, to be law-abiding, industrious and unobtrusive. Let us not make a mockery of our Bill or Rights by mistreating these folks. Let us rather regard them with understanding, remembering they are the victims of a Japanese war machine, with the making of the international policies of which they had nothing to do.” (Girdner, 1969, p. 24; Grodzins, 1948, pp. 63-64, 79-80; Myer, 1971, pp. 102-327)
W. C. Coffey, president, University of Minnesota, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 19, 26; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Cecil Henry Coggins, 1902-1987, Navy doctor, Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) agent. After Pearl Harbor, as Naval Intelligence Officer in Hawaii, testified to the loyalty of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. Testimony was later published in Harper’s Magazine in June 1943. (Coggins, Cecil Henry, “The Japanese Americans in Hawaii,” Harper’s magazine (June 1943), pp. 75-83.
Alfred E. Cohn, International Student Service. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Mrs. Ruth Gage Colby (b. 1923), St. Paul, Minnesota. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Head, St. Paul Resettlement Committee, Minnesota. She gave many hours of dedicated service to help the Japanese Americans solve problems of employment and housing. (JACL Archives; Twin Cities JACL)
Merwin L. Cole, Buildings Service Employees International Union, Local 6, American Federation of Labor. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans as it would aggravate labor shortages and impede war work. Said, “A great portion of the local alien and national problem is of our own making, because of race prejudice, occupational discrimination…” Submitted resolution to Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings. (Tolan, TP 30, pp. 11611-11612)
Wayne M. Collins (d. 1974), San Francisco, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Fred Korematsu's attorney. Supported detainees’ rights in the Tule Lake camp. Represented Iva Toguri D’Aquino (“Tokyo Rose”) pro bono for more than 25 years. Collins stated, “The history of these people [Japanese Americans] is a history of betrayal.” See also American Civil Liberties Union. (Christgau, 1985; Collins, 1985; Girdner, 1969, pp. 375, 446-449, 454, 481, 503; Irons, 1983, pp. 117-118, 131-132, 151-154, 161-162, 168-170, 177-178, 181, 194-195, 295-296, 300, 302-303, 311-315; Weglyn, 1967, pp. 64-66, 215-216, 267-268, 252-257, 260, 264-265; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 247, 250, 251, 313)
Harold W. Colvin, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Henry Conrad, Grinnell College, Iowa, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Joseph Conrad, Quaker, executive director, Student Relocation Committee, later named National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Headed organization that helped 3,600 Nisei leave camp for 680 colleges in the East and Midwest. (Myer, 1971, pp. xx, 131; Austin, 2004, pp. 19-27, 30-31, 34-36, 52-53, 37, 40, 42, 67, 70; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; Girdner, 1969, p. 336)
Robert Coombs, teacher, Sacramento, California, Hunt High School, Minidoka WRA camp
Miss Hildur Coon, senior, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Student at University of Washington. Opposed forced removal of Nisei students at school. Testified to the loyalty at Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings in Seattle. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11590-11595)
Ada Horton Cornell, teacher, Carlton High School, Watsonville, California
Margaret Cosgrave, registrar, Fresno State College, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Mr. and Mrs. Pat Cosner, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Robert B. Cozzens, public relations, assistant director War Relocation Authority (WRA). Very active in producing positive stories of Japanese Americans. These were especially effective in helping to change public opinion in favor of acceptance of Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast. (Girdner, 1971, pp. 285, 321, 324, 344, 361, 363, 395, 405; Myer, 1971, pp. 78, 79, 201, 271, 318, 219; Tamura, 2012, p. 147; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 100, 150, 215-216; National Archives and Records Administration, NARA, College Park, MD, Record group 210)
James A. Crain, Disciples of Christ. Helped Japanese Americans leave the WRA detention camps and attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Brigadier General Joseph A. Cranston, Assistant Division Commander, Fort Lewis, Washington. Spoke out on behalf of Nisei veterans. In 1946, he said: “The highest percentage of Nisei volunteers came from the Pacific Northwest… They were just as eager to fight the Japanese as they were to fight the Germans… There should be no distinction between the Nisei and any other Americans who serve in the army of the United States. They have every right to say: ‘I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the Faith!’” (Tamura, 2012, pp. 179-180)
Captain Thomas E. Crowley, commander E Company, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After the war, gave talks to West Coast communities about the loyalty and patriotism of Japanese Americans, especially the Nisei soldiers. (Myer, 1971; WRA: A Story of Human Conservation, 1946, p. 130; NARA, RG 208)
Robert Cullum, War Relocation Authority, New York City, member National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Japanese Americans return to the West Coast by speaking out to local officials and communities. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; Hosokawa, 1992, p. 439)
Mildred Cumle, Bainbridge Island. Supported Japanese Americans on Island. Wrote answer to an unfriendly accusation, saying: “Many more Japanese would be…”
Mildred Cummings, West Coast Baptist Mission Home. (Austin, 2004, p. 175)
J. S. Curran, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Irene Damme, student relocation counselor, Heart Mountain, Wyoming. (Austin, 2004)
Elmer Davis (1890-1958), director, Office of War Information (OWI), June 1942-September 1945. Opposed Executive Order 9066. Helped publicize the patriotism and loyalty of Japanese Americans during and after the war. Helped WRA pave the way for resettlement of Nikkei community and its acceptance by the public. According to Davis, “Loyal American citizens of Japanese descent should be permitted, after individual test, to enlist in the Army and Navy. It would hardly be fair to evacuate people and then impose normal draft procedures, but voluntary enlistment would help a lot. This matter is of great interest to OWI. Japanese propaganda to the Philippines, Burma, and elsewhere insists that this is a racial war. We can combat this effectively with counter propaganda only if our deeds permit us to tell the truth. Moreover, as citizens ourselves who believe deeply in the things for which we fight, we cannot help but be disturbed by the insistent public misunderstanding of the Nisei.” (Burlington, 1961; Daniels, 1971, pp. 112, 144, 146-147, 153; De Nevers, 2004, p. 197; Myer, 1971, pp. xx, 3; Winkler, 1978; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 188-189, 246; OWI Papers, National Archives)
R. B. Davis, Seattle glove Company, Seattle, Washington. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans at the Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings, March 2, 1942. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11602-11603)
Mark A. Dawber, executive secretary, American Baptist Home Missions Society (ABHMS). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
William F. DeLong, Board of National Missions, Evangelical and Reformed Church, member National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
C. L. Dellums, African American member, organizer and leader, Oakland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Dellums urged Walter White, national director of the NAACP, to protest forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. As a result, the NAACP Secretary inquired to the Justice Department about conditions of Japanese American imprisonment. White wrote letters to attorney general Francis Biddle and to the Justice Department to criticize treatment of Japanese Americans during removal and to establish loyalty tests to help Japanese Americans prove their loyalty and innocence. Dellums was uncle to Congressman Ron Dellums of Oakland, California. (Robinson, 2012, 0. 166; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 104, 118n77)
Nanette Dembitz, law student, Columbia University, New York City, New York. Wrote, “Racial discrimination and military judgment,” Columbia Law Review, March 1945, pp. 175-239. Article was highly critical of the military role in the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949)
Roy Dennis, Bainbridge Island High School Principal, Washington. Supported Japanese Americans on Bainbridge Island, calling for calm after Pearl Harbor. Arranged for lesson plans for students sent to Manzanar WRA camp. Sent diplomas to incarcerated students so they could have a “graduation” ceremony.
William C. Dennis, president of Earlham College. Willingly accepted Nisei college students to Earlham College. Dennis was criticized initially for this action, which was seen as wrong. (Austin, 2004, pp. 84-85)
Anne Denton, chairman, Subcommittee on Areas of Function, Puget Sound Chapter, American Association of Social Workers. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Called for individual review of loyalty to preclude mass imprisonment. (Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings, Seattle, Washington, PT 30, pp. 11541-11551)
Rabbi David De Sola Pool (1895-1970), New York City, New York, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives; Grodzins, 1949, p. 411n.)
Monroe Emanuel Deutsch, PhD (1879-1955), Berkeley, California. Provost and Professor of Latin, University of California Berkeley. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Founding member, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, which opposed Executive Order 9066. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. Criticized and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified against forced removal of Japanese Americans at Tolan Committee Hearings. (Austin, 2004, pp. 12-13, 32, 37, 72, 73, 105, 180n10, 182n33; Daniels, 1971, pp. 100, 114; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 199-200; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 337; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 108-109; Commission Report, 1982, p. 113; JACL Archives)
Agnes Deverell was a teacher at Edison High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She supported Japanese American students in their studies and encouraged them to pursue higher education. (Twin Cities JACL)
Lieutenant General Jacob Loucks Devers (1887-1979), Lieutenant General, Chief of the Army Field Forces, U. S. Army, Commander, Sixth Army Group, Southern France, July 1945-May 1945. Commanded Nisei in France. Extremely laudatory of 100th/442nd. Devers stated, “There is one supreme, final test of loyalty for one's native land—readiness and willingness to fight for, and if need be, to die for one's country. These Americans pass that test with colors flying. They proved their loyalty and devotion beyond all question. They volunteered for Army combat service and they made a record second to none. In Europe, theirs was the Combat Team most feared by the enemy. In the Pacific, they placed themselves in double jeopardy, chancing the bullets of friend as well as foe. Everywhere they were the soldiers most decorated for valor, most devoted to duty. Their only absences without leave were from hospitals which they quit before recovered from their wounds, in order to get back into the fight for what they knew to be right. These men… more than earned the right to be called just Americans, not Japanese Americans. Their Americanism may be described only by degree, and that the highest.” (Myer, 1971, p. 150; NARA; American National Biography, 1999, Vol. 6, pp. 499-500; US Army Center for Military History, Carlisle Barracks, PA; Seventh U.S. Army Report of Operations in France and Germany, 3 vols., 1946)
Mayor William Devin, Mayor of Seattle, Washington. Advocate for Japanese Americans. Criticized racism. (Girdner, 1969, p. 368; Pacific Citizen, October 1944)
John Dewey, educator, Post War World Council. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Asked President Roosevelt to rescind Executive Order 9066. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 197; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96)
Margaret Matthew D’Ille (Gleaso; 1879-1954), director of community welfare, Manzanar WRA camp, California
California State Senator Ralph C. Dills (1910-2002), Representative to the California State Assembly, representing Gardena, California. Along with colleague, State Senator Jack Shelly, Dills opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Both were heavily criticized for their stand. (Nominated by Harry Fukuhara)
Alice Sinclair Dodge, helped Roy Nakata family during the period of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Austin, 2004, p. 17)
Lou Fedessen Dondelet, Quaker social activist. Photographer in Los Angeles who documented the removal of the Nisei from the Los Angeles area. Sympathetic to Japanese Americans.
M. Eleanor Doney, Department of Colleges and Theological Seminaries, Presbyterian Church, alternate member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Sister Mary Donitella, Administrator at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, accepted Japanese American nursing students. (Twin Cities JACL)
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980), Supreme Court Justice appointed by FDR in April 1934. Of the imprisonment of Japanese Americans, Justice Douglas wrote: “As the President has said of these loyal citizens: ‘Americans of Japanese ancestry, like those of many other ancestries, have shown that they can, and want to, accept our institutions and work loyally with the rest of us, making their own valuable contribution to the national wealth and well-being. In vindication of the very ideals for which we are fighting this war it is important to us to maintain a high standard of fair, considerate, and equal treatment for the people of this minoirt5y as of all other minorities.’ [Sen. Doc. No. 96, supra, note 7, p. 2] Mitsuye Endo is entitled to an unconditional release by the War Relocation Authority.” (Daniels, 1971, pp. 134-135, 137, 141, 170; Girdner, 1969, pp. 374,482; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 353, 357n; Myer, 1971, pp. 260, 268; Wasby, 1990; American National Biography, vol. 6, pp. 810-814; Papers, Library of Congress)
Katherine Densford Dreves, Dean of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, enrolled many partially trained Japanese American nurses and was influential nationally in promoting the Student Cadet Nursing Program. (Twin Cities JACL)
Reverend Robert Drew, Methodist Minister, University of Nebraska. Member, Fellowship of Reconciliation. Helped Nisei students to relocate to the University of Nebraska from WRA camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 15)
W. E. B. DuBois, African American leader. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Signed letter prepared by the Post-War World Council protesting EO 9066. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
Mary Catherine Durkin, teacher, principal, Tule Lake WRA camp, 1942-1946.
Verne Dusenberry. President of Multnomah County Bar Association, who served as co-counsel (with Allan Hart) to challenge Oregon Alien Land Law of 1945, which made it an offense for first generation Japanese (Issei) to work on or lease farmland. After ban was upheld by Multnomah County Circuit Court in 1947, the Oregon State Supreme Court reversed the decision in 1949 as a violation of Fourteenth Amendment. An honorary pallbearer for Frank Hachiya (Hood River serviceman killed in the South Pacific) at his September 1948 service. (Inada et al, In This Great Land of Freedom, 1993, pp. 43-45; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 314, 318; Hegwood, “Erasing the Space,” p. 115)
Dr. R. Adams Dutcher, Professor of Agriculture and Biochemistry, Pennsylvania State University. Helped pressure college officials to open enrollment to Nisei at Penn State. Worked with local groups. (Austin, 2004, pp. 146-147)
Frank Duveneck (1887-1985), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). (Girdner, 1969, p. 138; Hoover Institution Stanford University; “Evacuation of aliens” New York Times, 12 April, 1942.)
Josephine Whitney Duveneck (1891-1978), Los Altos, California. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Founding member, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, which opposed Executive Order 9066. Worked with fellow Quaker Gerda Isenberg to help San Francisco Bay Area Japanese Americans during their forced removal in early 1942. Helped supply Japanese Americans with needed goods while they were incarcerated at the Tanforan assembly center in South San Francisco. Fair Play Council also helped Japanese Americans resettle in the Bay Area. (Duveneck, 1978, p. 236; Girdner, 1969, pp. 134, 140, 158, 326, 369, 413; Uchida, 1982, pp. 84-85; Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University; Tolan Committee, PT 29, p. 11136)
Clarence Dykstra, president, University of Wisconsin. Helped Nisei college students. (Austin, 2004, p. 19)
U. S. Congressman Herman P. Eberharter, Pennsylvania. Member of the Dies Committee hearings. Tried to be fair and sympathetic to Japanese Americans. Wrote minority report for the committee: “Groundless public fears and antagonisms have been stirred up at a time when national unity is more than ever needed, and widespread distrust has been engendered toward the operations of a hard-working and conscientious agency. Even more important, the investigation has encouraged the American public to confuse the people in relocation centers with our real enemies across the Pacific. Thus it [the investigation] has fostered a type of racial thinking which is already producing ugly manifestations and which seems to be growing in intensity. Unless this trend is checked, it may eventually lead to ill-advised actions which will constitute an everlastingly shameful blot on our national record” (McWilliams, 1944, p. 270). (Girdner, 1969, pp. 310, 314, 343; McWilliams, 1944, pp. 255, 256, 269-270; Myer, 1971, pp. 96, 100, 101, 327)
Mrs. Claud H. Eckardt, president, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Seattle, Washington. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, p. 11613)
Walter C. Eells, executive secretary, American Association of Junior Colleges, member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei leave the WRA detention camps and attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Milton Stover Eisenhower, 1899-1985, Abilene, Kansas, associate director, Office of War Information (OWI), First Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA) in March 1942, brother of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Directed WRA until mid-June 1942. Replaced by Dillon S. Myer on June 17, 1942. Found the job distasteful and repugnant. After resigning from the WRA in June 1942, Milton Eisenhower wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The future of the program (WRA) will doubtless be governed largely by the temper of American public opinion. Already public attitudes have exerted a strong influence in shaping the program and charting its direction. In a democracy this is unquestionably sound and proper. Yet in leaving the War Relocation Authority after a few extremely crowded weeks, I cannot help expressing the hope that the American people will grow toward a broader appreciation of the essential Americanism of a great majority of the evacuees and of the difficult sacrifice they are making. Only when the prevailing attitudes of unreasoning bitterness have been replaced by tolerance and understanding will it be possible to carry forward a genuinely satisfactory relocation program and to plan intelligently for the reassimilation of the evacuees into American life when the war is over. I wish to give you my considered judgment that fully 80 to 85 per cent of the Nisei are loyal to the United States, perhaps 50 per cent of the Issei are passively loyal; but a large portion of the Kibei (American citizens educated in Japan) feel a strong cultural attachment to Japan.” Eisenhower felt his actions helped mitigate the experience for Japanese Americans, yet he regretted the experience during the forced removal. He recalled, “I have brooded over this episode on and off for the past three decades and it need not have happened.” (Ambrose, 1983; Austin, 2004, pp. 1, 19, 21, 25-28, 32, 51, 65-66, 178n.3, 184n.63; Daniels, 1971, pp. 83, 91-95, 100, 102, 145-147; Daniels, 1981; De Nevers, 2004, pp. 131, 135, 138, 140-141, 161, 169, 191, 279, 305; Eisenhower, 1974; Hayashi, 2004, pp. 1, 103, 108, 159-160; Irons, 1983, pp. 70-72, 122, 125, 293-294; Myer, 1971, pp. 100, 101, 327; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 29, 84-86, 103, 106, 114-119; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 10, 18, 107, 152-155, 165-166, 181, 183, 186, 188-189; NARA record group 210; American National Biography, vol. 7, pp. 382-383)
Dr. Charles Eliot, president of Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. Defended rights of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 45)
Marjorie Elkus, executive director, Columbia Foundation. Helped Nisei leave WRA detention camps to attend colleges and universities. The Columbia Foundation donated substantial funds to the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Vern G. Ellen, employed Japanese Americans, befriended them, and helped the Tanigawa family find housing. (Twin Cities JACL)
Helen Weare Ely (Brill; d. 2003), Compton, California, Manzanar, California, Evergreen Hostel, Boyle Heights, California.
Dr. Edwin R. Embree (1883-1950), Chicago, Illinois, educator, anthropologist. Chicago Mayor's Commission on Race Relations, 1943-1948. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Dr. Emerson, Guayule Rubber Project in Manzanar Camp
Elizabeth B. Emlen, director, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped 3,600 Nisei leave WRA camps for 680 colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 63, 73, 116, 131, 135, 138-139, 141, 142, 147, 156, 157-158, 168, 171, 176, 188n12; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Woodruff J. Emlen, staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei leave the WRA detention camps for colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 72-74, 107, 110, 113, 117, 120, 157, 171; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons, 1888-1965, Huntington, WV, US Army Commander, Territory of Hawaii, Commander, Western Defense Command (WDC). From doubting the loyalty of Hawaii's Japanese residents in World War II, General Emmons moved to the point of putting his own career at risk by not acting on directives from Washington to discharge all military base workers of Japanese ancestry and proceed with mass forced removal. General Emmons postponed any adverse action against Japanese Americans until he could effect a change in military policy. Emmons tirelessly argued against any directive or plan to remove Japanese in Hawaii. In 1942, he permitted the forming of the Varsity Victory Volunteers. Emmons actively lobbied the Army to allow AJA’s from Hawai’i to serve in the U.S. Army. (Allen, 1971; Daniels, pp. 72-73, 147-148, 156; Garner, 1955; Girdner, 1969, pp. 20, 101, 249, 271, 279; Hayashi, 1974, pp. 78, 139, 152; Hazama, 1986; Irons, 1983, pp. 269-271, 273, 285; Kashima, 2003, pp. 75-77, 86, 139; Murphy, 1954; Murphy, 1955; Myer, 1971, pp. 175, 177, 180, 183, 243, 244; Niya, 2001; Tanaka, 1982; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 52, 88, 174, 293n; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 17, 56, 187, 224, 227, 230-231, 256, 262, 268-274; National Archives and Records Administration, NARA, College Park, Maryland)
Edward J. Ennis, attorney, director Alien Control Unit, United States Department of Justice, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Attorney General Francis Biddle wrote in his memoirs: “Rowe and Ennis argued strongly against [the Executive Order]. But the decision had been made by the President. It was, he said, a matter of military judgment. I did not think I should oppose it any further. The Department of Justice, as I had made it clear to him from the beginning, was opposed to and would have nothing to do with the evacuation.” (De Nevers, 2004, pp, 98, 111, 121, 142, 243, 248; Girdner, 1969, pp. 13, 29, 30, 443, 454, 482; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 254, 266-267, 270-271; Irons, 1983, pp. 3, 4, 5, 18-19, 23-24, 30, 32, 37, 39-40, 52, 55, 62-63, 199, 150, 163-165, 167-168, 179, 182-183, 212, 217, 254, 258-268, 278-282, 285-293, 297, 302-307, 347, 349-351, 353-354, 357-358, 360-361; Kashima, 2003, pp. 50-56, 61-65, 98, 101, 103, 130, 169; Myer, 1971, pp. xxi, 19, 88; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 210, 212, 236-237, 246-247, 263; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 73, 77, 84, 85, 104, 247, 250, 379, 426, 436; National Archives and Records Administration, NARA)
John Enos, Arroyo Grande, California.
Harold Evans, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Attorney for Gordon Hirabayashi, who challenged the legality of Executive Order 9066. (Irons, 1983, pp. 174, 188-191, 195, 220-222, 226)
John Everton, Dean of the Chapel, Grinnell College. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Charles Fairman, Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts. Wrote: “the law of martial rule and the national emergency,” Harvard law Review, June 1942, pp. 1253-1302.
Dr. E. C. Farnum, executive secretary, Church Federation of Los Angeles, California. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified to the loyalty and patriotism of Nikkei. Called for the protection of their Constitutional, civil and economic rights. Offered to help ameliorate situation be helping government agencies understand the Japanese American community. Testified at Tolan Congressional Hearings. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11764-11771)
Mary Farquharson, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Seattle chapter, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Tried to get national ACLU to support Gordon Hirabayashi legal case. She organized the Gordon Hirabayashi Defense Committee and raised funds. She worked with Seattle businessman Ray Roberts. (Irons, 1983, pp. 91-92, 130-131, 169, 173-174, 177-178, 187-188)
Allan P. Farrell, S. J., Jesuit Educational Association, alternate member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Senator Joseph Rider Farrington (1897-1954), Senate, Territory of Hawaii, and publisher, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii. After Pearl Harbor, helped convince the government and people of the loyalty and patriotism of the Japanese American community in Hawaii. Lobbied successfully for the creation of an all-Japanese American fighting unit. Advocated for the vote for first generation Japanese Americans (Issei) and removal of discriminatory laws based on race. (Papers, Hawaii State Archives; Files, Honolulu Star Bulletin; Congressional Records 78-83, Congress 1942-1954; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 7, pp. 747-748)
Judge James A. Fee, Federal District Court. Ruled General DeWitt’s curfew order illegal. (De Nevers, 2004, p. 186; Irons, 1983, pp. 135-136, 140-143, 160-161, 222, 227)
Reverend Fred Fertig, spoke out publicly in support of Japanese Americans during the war
Colonel Kendall J. Fielder, Assistant Chief of Staff for Military Intelligence, Territory of Hawaii, 1941. In his vital role as chief intelligence officer for the Military Governor after December 7, 1941, Fielder's most important contribution was his persuasive role in converting the newly appointed Military Governor, Gen. Delos C. Emmons, from a position of unfamiliarity with and distrust of the local Japanese to one of recognition, acceptance and defense. Fielder always said that Hawaii's Japanese "were just as American as you are, or I." In February 1942, Fielder won Emmons' support in forming a labor battalion of AJA's, later called the Varsity Victory Volunteers, to work in the war effort. Fielder argued persuasively to organize Nisei soldiers into infantry combat units to fight in Europe. Throughout the war, Fielder made numerous speeches and public appearances on behalf of the Japanese American community, and reassured them the mass forced removal would not happen in Hawaii. Fielder wrote: “I have been in charge of military intelligence activities here [Hawaii] since June, 1941, and am in a position to know what has happened. There have been no known acts of sabotage, espionage or fifth column activities committed by the Japanese in Hawaii, either on or subsequent to December 7, 1941… How differently a Himmler or a Heinrich would have handled this delicate situation! Does anyone believe for a moment that any of the Axis crowd would give one of the enemy race a fair chance to prove himself?... It would take much too long to tell you of the many concrete ways in which many of these people who were on the spot have proved their love for America… Americans of Japanese blood… are Americans—and until they prove (or show themselves dangerously capable of proving) traitorous, they should be treated as Americans. This must not be construed as sentimentality…but rather as a sane, reasonable, democratic and SAFE judgment… The Japanese element of the population, if accepted and united in purpose and action, is an asset t the community.” (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 131-132, 299; Weglyn, 1976, p. 88; Myer, 1971, p. 146)
Earl Finch, businessman, organized and supported Nisei USO, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and various relocation camps. Mississippi rancher Earl Finch became a one-man USO for the soldiers of the 442nd while they were in basic training at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He spent thousands of dollars putting on elaborate barbecues and even managed to recreate Hawaiian style luaus. This did much to encourage the Niseis to regain their morale despite the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. Earl Finch remained a lifelong friend of the Nisei veterans of the 100th/442nd. (Tanaka, 1982; Girdner, 1969, p. 330; Myer, 1971, p. xxi; Tsukiyama; Hawaii Herald; Honolulu Star Bulletin)
Nell Finely, YMCA Secretary from Honolulu, Hawaii. She was head of social service work at the Poston, Arizona, WRA camp. (NARA, Record group 210)
John Finerty, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) board member. Supported having the ACLU challenge in the courts the legality of Executive Order 9066. Finerty presented two resolutions to the Board of Directors of the ACLU to have ACLU go on record as opposing, “in the absence of immediate military necessity, any order by the government of the United States investing either military or civilian authorities with power to remove any citizen or group of citizens” (Irons, 1983, p. 128). (Irons, 1983, pp. 108, 128-129)
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fioretti, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Louis Fischer, writer for The Nation. Criticized the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. He wrote in an article on March 7, 1942, that “the reactionary press and the politicians are out for blood and wholesale internment. Jingoes are endeavoring under the cover of war-time flag-waving patriotism, to do what they always wanted to do in peace-time: get rid of the Japanese, harness labor, and frighten the liberals… Cheap demagogues are having a field day.” (Grodzins, 1949, p. 194; Shaffer, 1998)
Anne Fisher, Seattle, Washington. Supported Japanese Americans. Advocated that Japanese Americans be reimbursed for losses incurred during and after their forced removal.
Dorothy Canfield Francis Fisher (1879-1958), Arlington, Virginia, novelist, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Reverend Galen Merriam Fisher, 1873-1955, secretary, organizer and co-founder, National Security and Fair Play Committee. Vice chair, Western Area Protestant Church Commission for Wartime Japanese Service. Opposed and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote letters to the editor advocating end of exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Helped Japanese Americans resettle on the West Coast. Provided housing, jobs, to needy families. Testified at Tolan Committee Hearings. Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Pacific School of Religion. Advisor to the Institute of Pacific Relations. Research Associate, University of California Berkeley. (Austin, 2004, p. 29; Fisher, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945; Girdner, 1969, pp. 25, 101, 108, 346; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 146, 199n., 282n.; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 138; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 106, 119n83; Galen Fisher Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Galen Fisher Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Fisher to William Lockwood, 12 December 1941, IPR Papers, Box 168, and Minutes, Intercouncil Committee on Japanese Christian Work in America, 15 December 1941, NCC Papers, R. G. 26, Box 8; Pacific Coast Committee on Fair Play Archives, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; Tolan Committee Hearings, pp. 11197-11203, 11096-11100; Boes, Cynthia, “Other-Directed Protest: A Study of Galen Fisher’s Anti-Internment Rhetoric,” Master’s Thesis, Oregon State University, 2003)
Ralph T. Fisher, Fail Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Alfred Fisk, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California. Member of the Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped thousands of Japanese American students leave the WRA camps to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
James K. Fiske, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Harold Fistere, Seattle, Washington. After Teamsters decided to boycott local Japanese American farms, he organized truck drivers to deliver produce. (Hosokawa, 1969, p. 439)
Dr. Dena Frank Fleming, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Nashville, Tennessee. (JACL Archives)
Bob Emmett Fletcher, Jr., 1911-2013, San Francisco, California, farmer, fireman. Safeguarded Japanese American farms in Florin, California, during incarceration. He successfully managed and operated farms owned by the Okomoto, Nitta, and Tsukamoto families. When the Japanese American families returned, these properties were intact and returned. He was single and in his early 30s at the time. Fletcher had known many of these Japanese American families through inspecting fruit for the California Department of Agriculture. He managed three farms of a total of 90 acres. He worked 18-hour days to maintain the farms and orchards in good condition. He successfully was able to harvest the crops, and deposited money in the bank accounts of the three Japanese American families. White residents of Florin resented Mr. Fletcher’s willingness to help Japanese Americans in the Florin area. Mr. Fletcher felt that the internment was unfair and that Japanese Issei farmers were mistreated. In 2010, he was interviewed by the Sacramento Bee and was quoted as saying: “I did know a few of them pretty well, and never did agree with the evacuation.” (Daniels, 2013; Tsukamoto, 1987; New York Times, June 6, 2013)
Jamison Fogel, Rowher, Arkansas. Art teacher and mentor to Nisei students.
Caleb Foot, West Coast Youth Secretary, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans, started letter-writing campaign against Executive Order 9066. Wrote article for May 1942 issue of Fellowship stating that forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans was “a flagrant violation of the 4th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution and so a perversion of democracy itself.” (Foot, “Have We Forgotten Justice?” Fellowship, 8, May 1942, pp. 79-81; Foot, Fellowship, 8, September 1942, p. 154; Foot, “New Opportunity to Resettle Evacuees,” Fellowship, 8, 1942, pp. 46, 66, 102, 111-113, 134-135, 170, 205-207; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
Ford family, Ford's Department Store, Watsonville – Pajaro Valley, California
J. R. Forden, Hood River, Oregon. Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Clifford Forster, New York City, New York, lawyer, ACLU staff. (Irons, 1983, pp. 115, 150, 172-174, 177-179, 189-190, 253-255, 2570258, 260, 361)
Robert M. Fort, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Chicago, Illinois. Helped Japanese Americans resettle after leaving WRA detention camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Reverend Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), author, clergyman, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York, member of the Postwar World Council. Asked President Roosevelt to rescind Executive Order 9066. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 197; Girdner, 1969, p. 201; JACL Archives; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96)
Osmond K. Fraenkel, attorney, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), opposed to Executive Order 9066. (Girdner, 1969, p. 201; Irons, 1983, pp. 109, 128-129, 131, 133-134, 172, 190-192, 220, 226, 259, 267-268, 309)
Robert Frase, employee of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), hired by director Dillon Myer. Opposed the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and called for early resettlement of detainees. (Robinson, 2012, p. 96; NARA, Record group 210)
Pat Frayne, public relations chief, West Coast, War Relocation Authority (WRA). Pat Frayne was a sports writer before working for the WRA. He had an office in San Francisco. He made speeches to anti-Japanese American groups up and down the Coast. This helped counter hostility to the Nikkei community and paved the way for their resettlement to their former homes. His work was highly praised. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 405; NARA, Record group 210)
E. Franklin Frazier, African American leader, activist. Signed petition opposing Executive Order 9066. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162)
Harrop A. Freeman. Wrote “Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus—Genealogy, evacuation and law,” Cornell Law Quarterly, June 1943, pp. 414-458. Important analysis of Supreme Court cases of Japanese Americans.
Win Freitas, Hollister, San Juan Bautista, California, pear farmer. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 131, 369, 400)
Eleanor French, executive secretary, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC), YMCA. (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Mrs. Fanny Friedman, district office, War Relocation Authority (WRA) office.
Sam Fusco, Boy Scout leader. Volunteered to save Japanese American property during the imprisonment period. (Kansha Archives)
Emma Gadbury, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). (Tolan Committee, PT 29, p. 11136)
Arthur Gaeth, vice president, Intermountain Radio Network, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Salt Lake City, Utah. Arthur Gaeth was an outspoken radio station newscaster who was remembered for his favorable treatment of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in his broadcasts. (JACL Archives)
Mayor Frank S. Gaines, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Robert W. Gammon, Congregational Education Society. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Reverend Allan D. Geddes, All Saints Episcopal Church, member of the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council. Opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943. Also opposed the even stronger Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943, to amend the US Constitution to oppose the return of all Japanese Americas, to strip them of their citizenship, and exclude them from any residency.
Eleanor Gerard, teacher, Topaz Relocation Camp High School. (Kansha Archives)
Robert Gibson, War Relocation Authority (WRA) staff, Community Service Division. Helped WRA director, Dillon Myer, make contact with supportive Congressman Chet Holifeld. Holifeld was very helpful to WRA and to Japanese Americans. (Myer, 1971, pp. 101-102)
Reverend Thomas Gill, chairman, Subcommittee on Basic Principles, Puget Sound Chapter, American Association of Social Workers. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Called publicly for careful screening of Japanese America s to determine loyalty, thereby precluding mass detention. Called for protection of their Constitutional and civil rights. (Tolan Congressional Hearings, Seattle, Washington, PT 30, pp. 11541-11551)
Clarence Gillette, Congregational Church’s Committee for War Victims and Services.
Mildred Goertzel, helped her husband Victor Goertzel in Topaz camp.
Victor Goertzel, guidance director, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Topaz WRA camp, Utah. Liaison with the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei settle in Philadelphia. (Austin, 2004; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999)
Ed Goetz, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Harriet Goldberg, wife of Milton Goldberg. With her husband, brought supplies to the Manzanar WRA camp, California. (Kansha Archives)
Milton Goldberg, Boy Scout leader, 1937-1945, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California. Made regular visits to the Santa Anita assembly center and Manzanar WRA camp to visit his Nisei Boy Scouts.
Louis Goldblatt, secretary general, West Coast International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), secretary of the California State Industrial Union Council of San Francisco, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, San Francisco, California. Opposed and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Goldblatt testified at the Toland Hearings against forced removal, saying: “This entire episode of hysteria and mob chant against the native-born Japanese will form a dark page of American history. It many well appear as one of the great victories won b the Axis Powers.” (Girdner, 1969, pp. 101, 108; Grodzins, 1949, p. 192; Larrowe, 1972, pp. 267-270, 379-381; Myer, 1971, p. 24; Shaffer, 1998, p. 90; Wartime Exile: The Exclusion of the Japanese From the West Coast, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, pp. 140-143; Tolan Hearings, pp. 11611-11612, 11178-11190; JACL Archives)
Rabbi Norman Goldburg, leader of the Sacramento Council for Civic Unity, Sacramento, California. Helped create and lead the Sacramento Council for Civic Unity. Advocated for Japanese Americans’ civil rights and Sacramento area. Worked with Wayne Phelps, of the WRA, Henry Tyler, of Sacramento Junior College, and Dr. Rufus Richardson, of Auburn. (Girdner, 1969, p. 394)
Reverend Julius A. Goldwater (1908-2001), Los Angeles, California, Buddhist priest. Helped Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. Housed evictees, protected property. Visited WRA camps. Helped resettle Japanese Americans after closing of the camps. (Kansha Archives)
Betty Baker Goodman, wife of Dr. Joseph Goodman, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quaker), National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) worker in Topaz with husband. (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Dr. Joseph Goodman, high school teacher, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quaker), Topaz WRA camp, Utah. Staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) liaison and finances. Helped Nisei leave the camps and attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 67)
Bess Goodykoontz, assistant commissioner of education. Supported Nisei student college students and National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 35, 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Lieutenant Colonel Karl Gould. Praised MISLS Nisei as playing an indispensable role in the war. (McWilliams, 1944, p. 287)
Dr. Henry Francis Grady, founding member, chairman, Northern California Committee on Fair Play, which opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 190n; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Dr. Frank P. Graham (1886-1972), president, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill 1930-49, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Signed letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt protesting Executive Order 9066. (JACL Archives; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
Martha Graham, noted modern dance artist, performer. Mentored Japanese American Yuriko Amamiya (Kikuchi) during World War II. Helped her leave Gila River WRA camp in Arizona to study modern dance at Graham’s studio in New York. (Kansha Archives)
Lester Granger, African American, Director of the National Urban League. Wrote in Far East Survey: “The disgraceful record which we established in the evacuation of Japanese Americans from the West Coast has made a lasting impression upon thoughtful Negro leaders. They realize that racial prejudice, almost alone, dictated the unconstitutional dispossession of more than 100,000 persons from their dwellings, and, in many cases, robbed them of their household and personal property… That decision is grim warning that, when public hysteria is strong enough, not even the American Constitution can protect a minority in its right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’” (Granger, cited in Robinson, 2012, p. 165)
Captain Granstaff, 100th Infantry Battalion, War Relocation Authority (WRA). Highly respected officer of the 100th Inf. Bn. After the war, he toured communities on the West Coast and praised the Japanese American Nisei soldiers. This helped pave the way for successful resettlement. Dillon S. Myer wrote of Captain Granstaff in his book, Uprooted Americans, that their “case concerned the final drive in WRA’s campaign against West Coast discrimination, which was built around a group of American army officers who had served with the Nisei in combat. The impetus for this program came from Capt. George H. Grandstaff, a Californian and a staff officer with the 100th Infantry Battalion. He wrote to the War Department on June 15th, 1945, from his home in Arcadia, California, where he was on furlough, and asked for a speaking assignment in California. His letter read in part as follows: ‘As one of the few white officers who have served with the Japanese American 100th Battalion for some two and a half years, my main interest is to see that the splendid work they have done in combat is called to the attention of the people of the Pacific Coast in order that Japanese Americans who desire to return here may receive fair treatment.’” In this letter, Granstaff further explained: “The thought in…[my] mind…was that a white officer who had lived in California most of his life could emphasize their splendid combat record as no Japanese American could. Racial prejudice would not enter the minds of the audience where I am concerned.” Myer also wrote of Granstaff: “Captain Grandstaff was assigned to WRA for 30 days; three of his fellow officers from the 442nd Combat Team served at our request for 30 to 60 days as speakers in areas of most pronounced anti-evacuee sentiment where they brought the first-hand story of Nisei heroism directly to the people. They delivered public speeches before civic organizations and other local groups and talked individually with key people such as local editors, mayors, chiefs of police, sheriffs and district attorneys.” In one of his speeches, Granstaff said: “I came home to what I thought would be a land of the free; to a people I thought had learned from this war to respect the rights of fellow citizens; to a people who had, I thought, learned that racial discrimination and democracy don’t jibe. And yet one of the first shocks that stabbed me in the stomach like a cold bayonet was to find racial prejudice and discrimination against the fathers, mothers, sisters, and hid brothers of the men in my outfit. And I find this same discrimination against even the returned veterans themselves. I asked for and received orders from the war department to speak out on this subject. I don’t know of anyone who has a better right to do so.” (Murphy, 1954, pp. 276-277; Myer, 1971, p. 155; Tanaka, 1982; WRA: A story of human conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, pp. 129-130)
Edmonia Grant, National Student Council, YWCA, alternate member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Ann Graybill, director of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Last director of the NJASRC. (Austin, 2004, p. 131; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Thomas L. Griffith, African American, attorney, chairman of the Southern California chapter of the NAACP. Volunteered to aid Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in its legal cases. Supported JACL’s legal case in “Reagan v. King,” in which the Native Sons and Daughters of the Gold West sought to overturn Nisei voting rights and citizenship. Griffith worked with African American attorney Hugh E. MacBeth. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 166, 284n38, 180)
George Grimm, former columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, wrote many columns favorable to the Japanese Americans in the Twin Cities. (Twin Cities JACL)
Morton Grodzins, professor. Wrote major study of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Has chapter on individuals and groups that opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949)
June Purcell Guild, chairman, Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights and Minority Group Relations, Puget Sound Chapter, American Association of Social Workers. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Called for individual test to determine loyalty and protection of the ir civil rights. (Tolan Committee Hearings, Seattle, Washington, PT 30, pp. 11541-11551)
Sidney Lewis Gulick, promoted understanding between cultures, East and West. Published thirty books on Eastern philosophy. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 45, 46, 68)
Margaret Gunderson, teacher, Tule Lake WRA camp. Mentored Japanese American students. (Kansha Archives)
Martin Gunderson, principal, Tule Lake WRA camp. Opposed imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Worked with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to support Japanese American court cases.
Arno Haack, Executive Director of the campus YMCA of Washington University in St. Louis, which was one of the few universities that accepted the 402 Japanese American students permitted to leave all WRA camps in the fall of 1942. He helped the 31 Nisei students on campus to adjust successfully to their new “outside” environment and often invited them to his home for dinner and socializing. (Twin Cities JACL)
Madeline Haas (Russell), Columbia Foundation. Donated considerable money to send Nisei to college through Columbia Foundation, of which she was President. Haas did this despite the objections of members of her family. See also Columbia Foundation, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 64-65, 74, 99, 165, 196n12; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949; Columbia Foundation Archives)
Helen Hackett, representing Los Angeles social workers in the Council of Social Agencies. Testified at Toland Hearings. Opposed mass forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans as “unjust and un-American.” (Shaffer, 1998, p. 89; Toland Hearings, pp. 11870-11871)
Gerald H. Hagar, vice chairman, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Otto Hagel, photojournalist, married to Hansel Mieth
Lieutenant Robert Haines, 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). Former officer of the 442nd RCT who was wounded. Spoke out on behalf of returning Japanese American families in the Marysville, California, area. (Grodzins, 1969, p. 395; Myer, 1971; Pacific Citizen, June 23, 1945, July 21, 1945; WRA: A Story of Human Conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, War Relocation Authority (WRA), 1946, pp. 129-131)
Edward A. Hall, Pajaro Valley National Bank, Watsonville – Pajaro Valley, California
Robert King Hall, staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei leave WRA camps for college during the period of imprisonment. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Pansy Ham (d. 1989), prewar volunteer school teacher. Japanese Church of San Bernardino, 1932-1942. Helped Japanese Americans during their forced removal.
Bishop Wilbur E. Hammaker (1876-1968), Methodist bishop in Denver, Colorado, Iliff School of Theology. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Lawrence J. Hannan. Helped Japanese Americans in Tule Lake WRA camp. Supported Japanese American rights.
Nell Hannan, wife of Lawrence J. Hannan. Worked in Amache (Granada) Colorado WRA camp.
Lieutenant Colonel James M. Hanley. Commander of 3,000 Nisei in 422nd Regimental Combat Team’s Second Battalion throughout basic training and in Europe, 1943-1945. Challenged editor Charles F. Pierce for jocular comment in North Dakota’s Mandan Daily Pioneer when he questioned where “some good Jap-Americans in this country” were buried. Berated racial prejudice, recounted Nisei acts of courage, and countered, “I’ll show you where some good Jap-Americans are buried.” Highly praised Nisei soldiers of the 100/442. (Hanley, A Matter of Honor: A Memoir; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, p. 219; Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 170; Tanaka, 1982; oral history with Eric Saul, 1980; Shirey, 1946)
Kenneth Hansen, former vice president of Syntex Corporation, Assistant Director of the Budget under President Kennedy. As a student at UC Berkeley in 1942, visited friends at Tanforan Assembly Center, in south San Francisco. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 157-159)
Asael and Marion Hanson befriended Ruth Yahanda while she was in Heart Mountain. They often invited Ruth on little out of town excursions to Powell or Cody, Wyoming. Ruth remembers how enjoyable those times away from camp were. (Twin Cities JACL)
Dr. S. Ralph Harlow (1885-1972), educator, Smith College, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, North Hampton, Massachusetts, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (JACL Archives)
Claire Brown Harris, administrative assistant for the Southern California National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 47-48; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Erna P. Harris, African American journalist, Los Angeles Tribune. Wrote in newspaper in support of the Japanese American community. On November 22, 1943, she wrote: “Eighteen months ago the evacuation of the Issei and Nisei was being called a matter of military necessity on threat of imminent invasion. In a few months it was called protective custody for their own safety—such cannibals are we, their erstwhile neighbors, alleged to be. But now, as the interests which have long wanted them eliminated from California in the hysteria of war-bred hatred dare to come out into the open, there comes the call for their permanent exclusion from California, for treating them as war prisoners, for depriving them of citizenship, and from a man pledged to enforce the law, [Los Angeles County] Sheriff [Eugene] Biscailuz, comes a plea for sending many of them to Japan in exchange for prisoners of war. Such a move would involve some American citizens. If citizenship is to become a matter of racial or national predeterminism or of periodic authoritarian changes, who will be safe from the whims of the powerful?” (Robinson, 2012, p. 168). (Robinson, 2012, pp. 168, 285n45)
Maurice E. Harrison, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Carolus P. Harry, secretary, Board of Education, United Lutheran Church in America. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Joseph C. Harsch, staff correspondent, Christian Science Monitor, contradicted reports of sabotage by Japanese Americans during Pearl Harbor attack. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 129-130)
Allan Hart (1909 - 2002). Civil rights advocate and attorney. Co-counsel with attorney Verne Dusenberry to successfully challenge Oregon’s Alien Land Law, which prohibited alien Japanese from owning land. Law declared invalid by Oregon Supreme Court in 1949. Recipient of ACLU of Oregon’s E. B. MacNaughton Award for preserving civil liberties and advancing human rights. (Inada et al, In This Great Land of Freedom, 1993, pp. 43-45; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 314, 318; http://archive.acluor.org/news/newsAllanHart.htm)
Professor Lynn Hattersley, Psychology Department, Pasadena Junior College. Opposed and protested Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Organized welcome home campaign in Los Angeles area. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 106)
Joe and June Haviland. Offered friendship, food, and lodging to Japanese American soldiers home on furlough in Hood River via a January 12, 1945 classified ad in the Hood River News. June Haviland had written letter to local American Legion post, urging them to admit mistake of removing names of Japanese American soldiers from community honor roll. Member of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 242, 316; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 167)
U. S. Senator Carl Hayden, 1877-1972, Arizona. Senator from Arizona from 1927-1968. Supported Dillon Myer and the WRA in the Senate. Supported and promoted civil rights. (Myer, 1971, p. 327; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 10, pp. 373-374)
Alice Newman Hayes, wrote to family in Heart Mountain WRA camp in Colorado. (Alice Hayes Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)
Martha Hayes, WRA student relocation counselor, Poston camp III, Arizona. Helped place Nisei students in colleges and universities with the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 134)
Mary W. S. Hayes, alternate member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
George Haynes, African American leader, Federal Council of Churches (FCC), Department of Race Relations. Wrote bi-monthly newsletter for the Federal Council of Churches. Criticized treatment of Nikkei in the camps. (Robinson, 2012, p. 170; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 104-105)
Arthur Garfield Hays, attorney, General Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Opposed and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Sought to have ACLU national organization support challenging the legality of Executive Order 9066. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 197n; Irons, 1983, pp. 108, 128-130, 133, 171, 219-220)
Rene Hazeltine. Ex-sergeant, native New Yorker, proprietor of Hood River’s bowling alley. Invited Nisei to bowl after hours and eventually form their own leagues, despite American Bowling Congress’ “whites only” policy in league bowling until 1951. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 196-97)
May Heard (Katayama), First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington
Virginia Heck (1915-2004), Quaker, Berkeley, California. Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Member of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped Nisei leave the WRA detention camps and attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004; Tolan Committee, p. 11136)
Dr. F. W. Heckleman, Protestant clergyman. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified to the loyalty and patriotism of Japanese Americans. Testified at Tolan Congressional Hearings. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11764-11771)
E. R. Hedrick, vice president, University of California (UC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Charles R. Hemenway, 1875-1947, Manchester, Vermont, President, Hawaiian Trust Company. Teacher-lawyer-businessman from Vermont, Hemenway had a firm faith in the loyalty of AJA's in Hawaii. After Pearl Harbor, he helped persuade the FBI and the World War II military government to stand against the mass forced removal of Hawaii's Japanese. Hemenway further assisted authorities in developing a reasoned wartime policy toward the AJA's. He also helped persuade the military government to reinstate, as a volunteer labor battalion, the young AJA's it had ousted from the Territorial Guard in early 1942. His warm personal interest inspired many of the Niseis who were serving in the 100th, 442nd and MIS. (Allen, 1950; Lind, 1943; Odo, 2004; Shivers, 1946; Tsukiyama, 1995)
Wilifred Hemingway (Thomforde) and family, Quaker. School teacher in Poston WRA camp in Arizona. Helped sponsor detainee Martha Ito (Yamasaki) to leave Poston and go to Chicago.
Lieutenant General Charles D. Herron, Army Commander, Hawaii, 1937-1941. As early as 1939, General Herron declared his faith in the loyalty of young Americans of Japanese ancestry. He repeated his faith in 1942, saying "they are loyal to the soil and not to the blood." He strongly advised against mass forced removal of Japanese Americans. Herron also supported enlisting Japanese Americans into military services. He later spoke up for statehood for Hawaii. (Murphy, 1954; NARA)
Margaret Hester, teacher, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho.
Laurence I. Hewes, Jr., Regional Director, Region IV, Farm Security Administration (FSA), San Francisco, California. Assistant to WRA head Milton Eisenhower. Hewes opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. He remembered that “someone proposed barring all persons of Japanese ancestry from Federal agricultural programs; this would mean that they would receive no gasoline, baling wire, fertilizer, or other farm necessities; it would also mean that Japanese farmers would receive no benefit from meeting crop quotas. Although I spoke vigorously against it, the idea persisted among my colleagues and it was plain that my position was detested. A friend drew me aside: ‘You’d better pull in your horns and go slow; this thing can’t be stopped and you’ll soon be so unpopular you can’t hold a job. Look at the politicians—they’re falling into line everywhere!’” Hewes further stated, “I don’t like the evacuation. I think it’s absolutely wrong to tear 100,000 innocent people from their homes because of their color and the shape of their eyes.” (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 131-132, 154, 169)
C. V. Hibbard, staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei leave WRA camps for colleges and universities during the period of imprisonment. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Leslie J. Hicks, president of the Hawaiian Electric Company and Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu. Leslie Hicks was a strong supporter of the AJA community in Hawaii. Hicks termed "fantastic" the proposal to forcibly remove 160,000 people, a third of the population, who "have woven themselves into our community fabric…in such an intimate fashion as to be an integral part of us." He predicted that AJA's would fight as loyally for America as any other citizen. He stressed the need for local Japanese in the defense effort in Hawaii and said: "We must make an effort to save this great human resource or it will be irreparably damaged. We have brought these people too far along the road to full partnership with us to drop them now. A little more faith, a lot more help and encouragement, will build a strong and united citizenry."
Mr. and Mrs. Harris Higgins, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Jerome High, school principal, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho
D. Wayne Hilde, Methodist Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Mary W. Hillyer, executive director, Post War World Council. Protested and opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 197-198; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
James Hiner, Minneapolis war relocation officer who coordinated Japanese American relocation to Minnesota and supported them in finding jobs and housing. He encouraged the public to be tolerant. (Twin Cities JACL)
Estelle Hinson, WRA resettlement counselor, Poston I camp, Arizona. Highly praised counselor. Worked with Ben Sanematsu.
Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby, commander, Women’s Army Corps (WAC), World War II. Accepted Nisei women into the Women’s Army Corps. (Myer, 1971, p. xx)
Willis G. Hoekje, Committee for Resettlement of Japanese Americans. Helped Nisei leave WRA camps for college during the period of imprisonment. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
U. S. Congressman Chet Holifield, California. Very supportive of War Relocation Authority director Dillon S. Myer. Holifield helped Myer in communicating positively with other members of Congress. (Myer, 1971, pp. 102, 327)
Thomas Willard Holland, War Relocation Authority (WRA), Resettlement Director, top aide to Dillon Myer. Helped in numerous resettlement projects. Also helped and mentored young Nisei artist Hack Hirose. Highly sympathetic to the Japanese American detainees. After inspecting WRA camp, he recommended they be closed as soon as possible. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 50, 96; NARA, Record group 210)
Reverend John Haynes Holmes, national board chairman, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. He wrote: “I am one of the minority on our Board of Directors who are absolutely opposed to the present policy of the Union in the matter of the President’s evacuation order. Had I had my way, the Union would have fought that order on every point, beginning most emphatically with the question of its constitutionality” (Irons, 1983, p. 169). (Irons, 1983, pp. 108, 128-131, 133, 168-169, 171)
Dr. Hamilton Holt (1872-1951), Winter Park, Florida, educator. Rollins College president 1925-49. Owner-editor, New York Independent, 1897-1921. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
J. Edgar Hoover, 1895-1972, director, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1924-1972. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Hoover wrote to the Justice Department regarding searches of citizens’ homes: “At present all American citizens including dual citizens are citizens and cannot be apprehended unless under charge of specific crime. Suggest Army submit any specific facts of disloyalty of citizens and report disloyalty to FBI.” The Army did not submit anything. Hoover and the FBI thoroughly investigated the Japanese American community before the war and declared them not to be a threat. An April 20, 1942, Department of Justice document stated, “…relative to the question as to whether there has been any sabotage in Hawaii…Mr. John Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has advised me there was no sabotage committed there prior to December 7, on December 7, or subsequent to that time.” See also U. S. Justice Department. (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 87, 98, 110, 123, 233; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 133-138, 291; Kashima, 2003, p. 129; Myer, 1971, pp. 24, 237; Memorandum 2 February 1942, FBI CWRIC Papers, R. G. 220, numbers 5794-5803, NARA; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 11, pp. 157-160)
Bob Hope, comedian, radio, movie actor. Spoke out on behalf of Japanese Americans during the war. (Girdner, 1969, p. 370)
Harry Hopkins, 1890-1946, special advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Argued to FDR strongly for Nisei students to relocate from camps to attend universities and colleges. (Austin, 2004, p. 32; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 11, pp. 172-174; Harry Hopkins Papers, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY)
Chun Horgitt, Norwalk, California. Made special trips to Manzanar on behalf of the Asawa family. (Testimony of Ruth Asawa; interview with author.)
Joe Horn, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Charles A. Horsky, Washington, attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Argued case against forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans before the Supreme Court. Worked on the Mitsuye Endo case. Worked with attorney A. L. Wirin. (Irons, 1983, pp. 260-261, 267-268, 302-304, 311-315, 321, 329)
Harry Paxton Howard, journalist. Wrote articles criticizing Executive Order 9066 and U.S. government policy of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans for the NAACP Crisis and Asia Magazine. Accused government officials of not questioning rumors of disloyalty of Nikkei community. Article in September 1942 issue of Crisis stated: “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps. Anyway, there are no Italian-American, or German-American citizens in such camps.” (Shaffer, 1998, pp. 104-105)
Alice Hoyt, University of California (UC), member of the Central Committee of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Catherine Humbargar, high school teacher, Stockton High School, California. Helped set up school classes for Nisei at the Stockton assembly center. This helped Nisei get school credit during this period. Helped detainees in Rohwer, Arkansas, and other Japanese Americans return home to California.
Elizabeth Humbargar, high school teacher, Stockton High School, California. Helped set up school classes for Nisei at the Stockton assembly center. This helped Nisei get school credit during this period. Helped detainees in Rohwer, Arkansas, and other Japanese Americans return home to California.
Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911-1978, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mayor of Minneapolis, 1945-1948. U. S. Senator 1948-1964. Vice President under Lyndon Johnson. Supported Japanese Americans resettling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Grodzins, 1949; Twin Cities JACL; American National Biography, 1999, pp. 471-473)
Dr. and Mrs. Arthur B. Hunt took Rei Sumada into their home and served as proxy parents, even though they were criticized for housing a Japanese American. (Twin Cities JACL)
Ecco Hunt, teacher, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho
Father Hunt, Maryknoll priest, Amache WRA camp, Granada, Arizona. Helped detainees.
Reverend Ernest Shinkaku Hunt (1876-1967), Hawaii, Buddhist priest. Supported Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor attack and through the war. Reverend Ernest Hunt was one of Hawaii's few Caucasian Buddhist priests. He was a very important intermediary between the military wartime government and the AJA community.
Dr. Allan Hunter, pastor, Mount Hollywood Church. Leader, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote articles for The Christian Century appealing for aid to detained Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 112, 135, 215; Shaffer, 1998, p. 101)
Armstrong Hunter, New Milford, New Hampshire. Volunteered one summer at church in Delta, Utah, with Japanese Americans in Topaz WRA camp. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 242-243)
Don Hunter, War Relocation Authority (WRA), Northern California. Helped Japanese Americans relocate back to their homes in Northern California. Helped find housing. Worked with Progressive Farmers Association to purchase and move houses into Santa Clara Valley. (Girdner, 1969, p. 409)
Harold LeClair Ickes, 1874-1952, Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Interior, 1933-1946. The War Relocation Authority came under the Department of the Interior in February 1944. After Pearl Harbor, Ickes recommended strongly against the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. After the decision was made, he did much to improve the conditions in the relocation centers. He supported and approved the early work release programs and allowing young Nisei to leave the camps and attend college. He supported Japanese American veterans during and after the war. Dillon Myer, director of the WRA, wrote of Ickes: “In tackling the problem of terrorism within the evacuated area, WRA worked in close collaboration with the State and local law enforcement agencies. A detailed system of reporting incidents was established so that the necessary information would be made available by the appropriate WRA field office both to the county law enforcement officials and to the office of the Attorney General of the State within a few hours after the incident occurred. Civic-minded groups interested in the welfare of the evacuees were encouraged to talk with the local law enforcement officials and insist upon prompt and vigorous action. Meanwhile the WRA national office in Washington, through its Current Information Section, made a special effort to keep the spotlight of publicity focused on the terrorism in California. As rapidly as incidents occurred they were brought to the attention of the leading wire services and of major newspapers in the East and Middle West which had displayed an active and sympathetic interest in evacuee problems. In this way the Authority kept the issue of anti-evacuee terrorism in California alive and brought the pressure of an aroused nationwide public indignation to bear on the situation. The climax in this particular campaign came on May 24 when Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, acting on the suggestion of WRA, issued a public statement denouncing the terrorists by a large number of editorials in papers throughout the country, including several in California, demanding that the terrorist elements on the West Coast be brought under effective control. By midsummer the terrorism had dwindled off to comparative insignificance.” (Austin, 2004, pp. 132, 137; Daniels, 1971, pp. 88, 103, 149, 151, 153; Girdner, 1969, pp. 290, 325, 352, 372, 405, 406, 433; Grodzins, 1949; Myer, 1971, pp. xxi, 88, 114, 117, 119, 178, 179, 196, 200, 203, 243, 276, 344; Robinson, 2012, p. 82; Watkins, 1990, pp. 790-796; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 65, 114, 117-118, 125, 213, 217-223, 251, 256-257, 289n, 302n, 316n; White, 1985; NARA; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 223, 236, 240, 268, 277, 320, 325-327, 332-334; Pacific Citizen, 16 February 1946; Papers, Library of Congress; FDR Library, Hyde Park, New York; WRA: A story of human conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946)
Margarita (Ruth) Irle, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), member of the National Conference of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. Testified in favor of Nisei Perry who was then able to get out of camp. (De Never, 2004, p. 189)
Gerda Isenberg (1901-1997), Palo Alto, California, Quaker. Founding member and Chair, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, which opposed Executive Order 9066. Worked with fellow Quaker Josephine Duveneck to help San Francisco Bay Area Japanese Americans during the period of their forced removal in early 1942. Helped supply Japanese Americans with needed goods while they were incarcerated at the Tanforan assembly center in South San Francisco. Fair Play Council also helped Japanese Americans resettle in the Bay Area. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 121, 140, 159, 320, 369, 407, 408, 413; Gerda Isenberg correspondence and papers, 1942-1945, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley)
Estelle Peck Ishigo (1899-1998). Caucasian wife of Nisei author Shigeharu Ishigo. Accompanied her husband to Heart Mountain WRA camp in Colorado. Painted and wrote about her experiences in camp.
Dean J. Hugh Jackson, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), United States Supreme Court, 1941-1954. Wrote opposing opinion for the Court in Korematsu v. United States (1944). In his dissenting opinion, he wrote: “A military order, however unconstitutional, is not apt to last longer than the military emergency. Even during that period a succeeding commander may revoke it all. But once a judicial opinion rationalizes such an order to show that it conforms to the Constitution, or rather rationalizes the Constitution to show that the Constitution sanctions such an order, the court for all time has validated the principle of racial discrimination in criminal procedure and of transplanting American citizens. The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need. Every repetition imbeds that principle more deeply in our law and thinking and expands it to new purposes.” (Daniels, 1971, p. 139; Girdner, 1969, pp. 376-377, 423, 478, 482; Grodzins, 1949, p. 355-356, 357n., 358; Myer, 1971, pp. xx, 190, 261, 265, 299; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 11, pp. 764-768; Papers, Library of Congress)
Harold Jacoby, College of the Pacific, member of the Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Alice James, University YWCA at the University of California (UC), member of the Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Joseph James, African American, head of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. Organized and passed a resolution in 1944 demanding “fair treatment of loyal Japanese-Americans and condemning efforts of reactionary interests to incite suspicion among Americans of African ancestry for Americans of Japanese ancestry” (Robinson, 2012, p. 166). In 1945, met with California State Attorney General Robert Kenny to suggest ways to support Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 166, 284n38, 284n39)
William C. James, clerk of the Society of Friends, Berkley, California. Testified at the Tolan Congressional hearings opposing forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Attested to loyalty of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11208-11209)
Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), poet, Monterey, California. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 400)
Dr. Harold V. Jensen, pastor, First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington. Member, Seattle Council of Churches. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Surveyed 200 Japanese American families in Seattle area regarding the forced removal of Japanese Americans. They sent the husbands to stay in Seattle despite risks of violence against them. (Girdner, 1969, p. 114; Shaffer, 1999, p. 91; Tolan Committee Hearings, Seattle, Washington, PT 30, 11564-11572)
Charles S. Johnson, African American. Signed petition opposing Executive Order 9066. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162)
Elizabeth Johnson, assistant to the director of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 146-147; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
James Wood Johnson, Post War World Council. Opposed and protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 179; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96)
E. Stanley Jones, Methodist clergyman. Helped Japanese Americans in Topaz WRA camp. He encouraged Japanese Americans, saying “You Japanese are not the problem; you are the possibilities.” Worked with Reverend Herbert Nicholson. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 125, 305; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 101, 117n65; Jones, “Barbed-Wire Christians,” CC 60 (24 November 1943), 1364-66; interview with Jones at 1377-78)
Margaret Jones, staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped young Nisei students leave the WRA detention camps to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 68, 71; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Rufus Jones, Haverford College. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Mrs. Sylvester Jones, Friends Women’s Missionary Union. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
David Star Jordan, president, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Defended Japanese Americans’ civil rights and opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 45)
Mrs. David Star Jordan (Girdner, 1969, p. 157)
Dr. Clarence Josephson, president, Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Openly welcomed and accepted Nisei students to his college. (Austin, 2004, pp. 38, 81; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
U. S. Congressman Dr. Walter Judd, Minnesota. Sponsored a naturalization bill that would allow the Japanese immigrants to finally become United States citizens. He worked on its passage for nine years until it was finally passed in 1952. This bill is called the Walter McCarren Act. (Myer, 1971, p. 327)
Howard Kahn, journalist with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, offered Johnnie Ogura a job as a domestic when he was no longer allowed to do his job with the railroad. Mr. Kahn wrote a column called, “Paul’s Light,” in which he wrote many favorable things about and cited the loyalty of the Japanese Americans. (Twin Cities JACL)
Right Reverend Stephan Keeler, Minnesota Council of Churches, Minneapolis and St. Paul Council of Churches. He donated the property that housed the Japanese Community Center at 2200 Blaisdell Avenue South in Minneapolis and provided the first director, Rev. Daisuke Kitagawa. (Twin Cities JACL)
Alden D. Kelly, University Commission of the Church Boards of Education, Episcopal Church. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Dr. Fred Kelly, chief of the Division of Higher Education of the Office of Education, U. S. government. Supported idea of releasing Nisei from WRA camps to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 26)
Willard Kelly, Immigration and Naturalization Service, cooperative with WRA. (Myer, 1971, p. xxi)
Cottie Keltner, distributer, Hancock Oil Company. Helped Japanese Americans return to the Salinas, California, area after the war. Described as “the best friend the Japanese ever had.” (Girdner, 1969, pp. 400-401)
George G. Kidwell, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Colonel Young O. Kim, Captain 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). Grew up in Los Angeles with Nisei before the war. Assigned to 100th Infantry Battalion at camp even though he was a Korean American. Highly supportive and inspirational officer. Received Distinguished Service Cross in combat with 100th in Southern France. (See oral history of Kim by Eric Saul; Clark, 1950; Murphy, 1955; Tanaka, 1982)
Mrs. Mary Kimber, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). (Tolan Committrobee, p. 11136)
Bertha and John Kimmel, Chicago, Illinois. Volunteered to operate a hostel for Japanese Americans who left the camps.
Admiral Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), U.S. Navy. Wrote a joint recommendation with Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshal not to forcibly remove or imprison Japanese Americans in Hawaii. (Daniels, 1971, p. 73; King-Marshal memo, July 15, 1942, President’s Secretary File, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY)
Samuel Wilder King, 1886-1959, Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii's wartime Congressional delegate to the US Congress, later governor of Hawaii. Samuel Wilder King was elected delegate to Congress from Hawaii in 1934. During the pre-World War II years, King flooded the Congressional Record with speeches and letters assuring the nation that Hawaii's Japanese "are without a shadow of a doubt, as loyal as any other Americans." After Pearl Harbor, he made numerous appearances in major American cities denying false reports and rumors of disloyalty by Hawaii's Japanese. During the war, opposed imposition of martial law in Hawaii. Before World War II, King fought in Congress to repeal laws forbidding alien ownership of fishing boats. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 129-130; Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress)
Trudy King (1916-1969), Berkeley, California, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei leave WRA camps to attend college during the period of imprisonment. (Austin, 2004, pp. 39-41, 67, 70, 89, 95, 97, 114, 116, 120-121, 130, 140, 168, 188n13; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Henry Kingman, University of California, Berkeley, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Along with wife, Ruth W. Kingman, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped Nisei students leave the WRA detention camps and attend colleges and universities. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans at the Tolan hearings. (Austin, 2004, p. 183n33; Myer, 1971, p. xix; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; Tolan Committee, PT 29, p. 11240)
Ruth W. Kingman, Berkeley Community Chest. Founding member and executive secretary, Committee on American Principles and Fair Play (in January 1943), which was originally Northern California Committee for Fair Play for Citizens and Aliens of Japanese Ancestry, which was founded in October 1941. These groups opposed the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and vigorously lobbied against Executive Order 9066. Kingman and the Committee helped the Japanese Americans who had been imprisoned to return to their homes on the West Coast. She coordinated effort with the WRA and three hundred organizations and agencies. Her work was highly praised. (Girdner, 1969, p. 407; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 138; Tolan Committee, PT 29, p. 11136)
Reverend Charles Kingsley, operated Pilgrim House, in Los Angeles, which aided Japanese Americans in their resettlement. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 65, 170)
Mrs. Edwin Kinney, Women’s American Baptist Home Mission. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Reverend Ray Kinney, assistant minister, Mount Hollywood Church. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Took care of Japanese American churches and property during the war.
Robert Kinney, Attorney General, State of California, favored fair treatment for Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 251, 389, 399, 404, 416, 422, 429, 430)
Willmer J. Kitchen, Young Men’s Christian Association (WMCA), New England Branch. Helped Japanese Americans resettle from WRA detention camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Benjamin H. Kizer, advisor to the formation of the Spokane Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in 1940, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Spokane, Washington. (JACL Archives)
Philip Klutznick, director, Federal Public Housing Authority. Helped Japanese Americans during resettlement, 1945-1946. (Myer, 1971, p. xxi)
Arthur Knudsen, Board of American Missions, United Lutheran Church. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Milton R. Konvitz, activist and civil rights lawyer. Worked with national chapter of the NAACP. Asked NAACP head Roy Wilkins to oppose New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s policy against the resettlement of Japanese Americans in New York City. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 167, 284n42)
Daniel Koshland, executive, Levi Strauss Company, San Francisco, California. Member, Pacific Coast Committee on National Security and Fair Play, which opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. (http://www.densho.org/.)
Fredrick J. Koster, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
J. A. Krug, Secretary of United States Department of the Interior. Successor to Harold Ickes as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1946. Worked with Dillon S. Myer, head of the WRA, to prepare bill for Congress to compensate Japanese Americans for their economic losses due to forced removal and imprisonment by the government. Lobbied and urged Congress to pass the bill. (Girdner, 1969, p. 433; Myer, 1971, p. 254; WRA: A Story of Human Conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946)
David and Magdalena Lackman, hired Japanese Americans on farm, Billings, Montana, to harvest sugar beets. Among them was Mote Nakasato. (Testimony, Betty Lackman Fiske, Mote Nakasato)
Reverend Mert M. Lampson, Methodist Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Layle Lane, New York, African American, educator, activist, union organizer, columnist. Called imprisonment of Japanese Americans “a disgraceful blot.” (Robinson, 2012, p. 163)
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), Hoboken, New Jersey, preeminent photojournalist, writer. Hired by the War Relocation Authority to document the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Took highly sympathetic photographs of the forced removal of Japanese Americans on West Coast. Many of her photographs were censored until after the war. (Alinder, 2009, pp. 16, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 29-30, 30-32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 138, 158; Conrat, 1972; Creef, 2004; Goggans, 2010; Gordon, 2006; Gordon, 2009; Ohrn, 1980; Dorothea Lange Archive, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California; original photographs and negatives, National Archives and Records Administration [NARA] II, College Park, MD, Record Group 210, still pictures branch, also Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley; Dorothea Lange Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; oral history, Bancroft Library; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 13, pp. 145-147)
Mayor Roger Lapham, San Francisco, California. Welcomed Japanese Americans back to San Francisco during resettlement. Helped Nisei San Francisco area civil servants. (Girdner, 1696, pp. 382, 414)
Ronald Lane Latimer, Buddhist priest. Testified on behalf of Japanese American Buddhists at Tolan Congressional Hearing. Volunteered to go to WRA camp with Japanese American congregants. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11807-11811)
Capt. Sheldon Laurance (1910-1968). Hood River, Oregon orchardist; Secretary of the Diamond Fruit Growers board. U.S. Army Air Corps captain who trudged two miles up the snow-covered hillside to George Akiyama’s home so that he could apologize after downtown barbershop denied Akiyama a haircut. Wrote letter to editor of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, denouncing such unjustified prejudice to “some of the nation’s best fighting men.” Member of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River, Oregon. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 235, 316; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 165)
Ralph Lazo (1924-1992), Mexican American from Los Angeles. Student, volunteer in Manzanar WRA camp in California. Was elected high school class president. (See oral history by Eric Saul.)
Dr. Chauncey D. Leake, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Russell Lee, 1903-1986, Ottawa, Illinois. Photojournalist for Farm Security Administration (FSA) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. Lee took approximately 600 photographs of Japanese Americans preparing to be removed from their homes, businesses and farms in California, Oregon, and Idaho. His wartime photographs of Japanese Americans are in the Library of Congress. (Library of Congress, Print and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration)
Captain Matteo Lettunich, US Army Air Corps, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Grace Lewis, WRA student relocation counselor, Granada WRA camp. Praised for her work in helping Nisei students. (Austin, 2004, p. 133)
Read Lewis, executive director, American Council for Nationalities Service since 1928, founded Common Council for American Unity, comprised of over 30 member agencies from Boston to Honolulu working with problems faced by newcomers to the United States as well as struggles of immigrant groups to maintain their identity and attempt to be assimilated, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. (Myer, 1971, p. xx; JACL Archives)
Right Reverend Monsignor Luigi G. Ligutti. Protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 197-198)
Andrew W. Lind, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii.
D. Ned Linegar, Penn State Christian Association. Helped successfully convince Penn State officials to open enrollment to Japanese American students. Worked with biology professor Dr. R. Adams Dutcher. (Austin, 2004, pp. 146-147)
Art Linkletter. Supported Japanese Americans during the war. (Girdner, 1969, p. 370)
Clyde Linville. Portland War Relocation Authority representative who became an ally to Issei and Nisei returning to Hood River, Oregon after the war. Drove 60 miles daily from Portland. Published pamphlets to aid Japanese Americans. Challenged Issei to overturn land ownership laws. Member of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River, Oregon. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 226-29, 234, 235, 316; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 163-66, 191; Hegwood, “Erasing the Space,” pp. 76, 87-88)
Lucius W. Lomax, African American, editor, Los Angeles Tribune. Hired Nisei reporter Hasaye Yamamoto in 1945. (Girdner, 1969, p. 413)
Charles F. Loomis, 1887-1957, Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Honolulu, Hawaii, he was a member of the Committee for Interracial Unity in Hawai’i. Other members were Hung Wai Ching and Shigeo Yoshida. Later, it became the Moral Section of the Office of the Military Governor. (Lind, 1943; Odo, 2004; Shivers, 1946)
Joseph Vard Loomis, Ivan Loomis, Linton “Buster” Loomis, Arroyo Grande, California
Louis Lopez, Pajaro Valley National Bank, Watsonville – Pajaro Valley, California
Hans L'Orange, plantation manager, Waipahu, Hawaii. Helped Japanese American plantation families.
Mae Lord, teacher, Watsonville, California
Edith E. Loury, alternate member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Major James W. Lovell, executive officer, 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). (Murphy, 1955; Shirey, 1946; oral history with Colonel Young O. Kim collected by Eric Saul, 1982)
Paul Low, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, stockbroker. During the forced removal of Japanese Americans, Low helped Japanese American fishermen sell their fishing boats for a fair price.
Alfred J. Lundberg, Fair Play Committee.
Virginia Lynn, WRA student relocation counselor, Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Helped students to leave camp and attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 123)
Hugh Ellwood MacBeth (1884-1956), Charleston, South Carolina, African American, attorney, civil rights leader and activist, Los Angeles. Founder and Executive Secretary, California Race Relations Commission. Leading advocate for Japanese Americans during World War II. Strongly opposed Executive Order 9066. Worked with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Brought legal cases against forced removal of Japanese Americans. Worked closely with socialist activist Norman Thomas. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 8, 158, 162, 171-182, 285n1, 285n14, 286n20, 291n36; Shaffer, 1998, p. 105)
John L. McCarthy, member of the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council. Opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943. Also opposed the even stronger Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943, to amend the US Constitution to oppose the return of all Japanese Americas, to strip them of their citizenship, and exclude them from any residency.
Helen G. McClelland, Director of Nursing, Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing (Austin, 2004, p. 111)
Dan McDonald, Wapato, Washington. Testified to loyalty of Japanese Americans. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11582-11587)
Charles E. Mace, 1889-1973, England, photographer. Worked as a photographic darkroom technician for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). In 1944, became full time photographer for the WRA. He felt a deep compassion for Japanese Americans in camp. He took very sympathetic photos of Japanese Americans during the resettlement period, and Nisei soldiers of the 442nd RCT training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. (Hirabayashi, 2009; Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive)
Reverend Father James McCormick, Detroit Resettlement Committee. Helped Japanese Americans resettle to the Detroit area. (Robinson, 2012, p. 50)
Frank McCray, Salvation Army, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943
Reverend Mack McCray, Jr., First Baptist Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943, that opposed the return of Japanese Americans to the Pacific coast and the Army's plan to include Japanese Americans in the military, and also opposed allowing Japanese Americans to be released from camp to attend college in the US interior.
Ester McCullough, First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington
Margaret C. McCulloch, African American, educator. Wrote in Journal of Negro Education: “In the military forces it has been stronger than the will to victory, sacrificing needed military manpower to a determination to hold down and segregate the Negro, and now the Japanese-American likewise. These are ominous signs” (Robinson, 1983, p. 164).
Mrs. Grace McDonald, Member, California State Board of Agriculture. (McWilliams, 1944, p. 263)
Mayor John J. McDonough, St. Paul, Minnesota. Supported Japanese Americans resettling in Minnesota. (Twin Cities JACL)
Jack McFarland, former sports editor, Stockton Independent. Established sports and recreational projects in the Stockton assembly center.
Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
R.J. McIsaac (1874-1953). Farmer and community leader who developed much of Hood River, Oregon’s upper valley Parkdale community near Mt. Hood. First postmaster (1910-1927); organizer of Parkdale Water Company, Parkdale Potato Coop, Little Brown Community Church, and McIsaac Hall community center. Fifteen-year member of Apple Growers Association board of directors and president for six years. Stocked Japanese goods for local Japanese residents at McIsaac Store, despite “Jap Lovers” signs on store windows. Member of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 227, 242, 316; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 164, 168, 175; Hood River County Historical Society, History of Hood River, 1852-1982, 1982, pp. 270-71)
Martha Ferguson McKeown (1903-1974). Author and teacher. Co-signed Odell Methodist Church resolution to restore Japanese American names to Hood River county honor roll of GIs. Corresponded with former student Frank Hachiya, killed in the South Pacific during heroic mission as linguist in Military Intelligence Service. Member of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River, Oregon. Wrote Oregonian article publicizing Hachiya’s life and heroism. Spoke at Hachiya’s memorial service on September 11, 1948 at Asbury Methodist Church, Hood River. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, p. 316; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 195-96, 301; Robbins, William G. “the kind of person who makes this America strong,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2012, pp. 213-16)
Dr. Helen Mackler. Helped Takahashi family during the period of imprisonment.
Carrie E. McKnight, Registrar, Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio. Despite local criticism, Carrie McKnight accepted Nisei students at Muskingum College because “it is the Christian thing to do.” (Austin, 2004, pp. 106-107)
Mrs. Alfred McLaughlin, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Victor McLaughlin, Minidoka, Idaho, War Relocation Authority (WRA) official. Helped Nisei resettle during and after the war. (NARA, Record group 210)
Archibald MacLeish. Opposed to Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Daniels, 1971, pp. 67-68, 72, 103, 144)
Bishop Emeritus Philip McNairy, St. Mark’s Cathedral, Minneapolis, Minnesota, served as chair of the St. Paul Council of Human Relations. During the war, he was the minister of Christ Episcopal Church in downtown ST. Paul. When he was told that many Nisei could not find barbers who were willing to cut their hair, he found barbers in his congregation who offered their services and offered employment to Japanese American beauticians. (Twin Cities JACL)
E.B. MacNaughton (1880-1960). Portland banker (president, First National Bank), newspaper publisher, Reed College president, and first chair of national ACLU Advisory Council. Worked with former Gov. Charles Sprague and others to deflect post-World War II sentiment against Japanese Americans’ return and ownership of land. Spoke to Gresham, Oregon crowd of 500-600 to counteract Japanese Exclusion League’s growing power. Named first president of the Nippon Society of Oregon, now Japan-America Society of Oregon. Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Portland, Oregon. (JACL Archives; Tamura L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 195; Dodds, Oregon: A History, http://www.aclu-or.org/content/history-aclu-oregon; http://www.reed.edu/president/reed_presidents/macnaughton.html); Robbins, William G., “the kind of person who makes this America strong,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2012, p. 208; Hegwood, 9, 68, 78, 81-82)
T. S. MacQuiddy, principal of Watsonville High School, Watsonville, California
Carey McWilliams (1905-1980), Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Chief of the Division of Immigration and Housing, California Department of Industrial Relations, California State Commissioner of Immigration and Housing, US Department of Agriculture, author, member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Wrote sympathetically about the Niseis in the relocation camps. Earlier had written about the dust bowl, as well as racial and religious discrimination. Published Prejudice: Japanese Americans, Symbol of Racial Intolerance, in 1944. Opposed to Executive Order 9066. Later, editor of The Nation magazine from 1955-1975. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 163, 183-184, 187, 202n., 297n, 328; McWilliams, 1944; McWilliams, 1979, p. 103; Myer, 1971, p. 10; Richardson, 2005; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 88, 113n10; Stewart, 2001; Cary McWilliams Papers, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Tolan Committee, PT 31, pp. 11788-11797; McWilliams, Carey, “Changing Aspects of the Evacuee Problem on the West Coast,” A Monthly Summary of Events and Trends in Race Relations, 2, August-September 1944, pp. 19-21; San Francisco Chronicle, December 18, 1941, February 2, 1942)
Mrs. Robert McWilliams, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Robert (Bob) Maggiora (b. 1918), teacher, Topaz Relocation Camp High School, Utah.
Rabbi Edgar Magnin, Jewish religious leader. Los Angeles Congregation B’nai Brith (the Wilshire Temple). Member of the Pacific Coast Committee on National Security and Fair Play, which actively opposed the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast.
Bill Mahlin, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Helped Japanese Americans during their forced removal on Terminal Island. Worked with Nicholsons and Smeltzers.
C. S. Marsh, vice president, American Council on Education. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
David G. Marshall, Chairman, Catholic International Council
General George C. Marshal, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. Wrote a joint recommendation with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King not to forcibly remove or imprison Japanese Americans in Hawaii. (Daniels, 1971, p. 73; King-Marshal memo, July 15, 1942, President’s Secretary File, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY)
Reverend Dr. J. W. “Bill” Marshall, Southern Baptist Convention, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Richmond, Virginia. (JACL Archives)
Oscar Marshall, MD, obtained permission to take expectant mothers from the Salinas Assembly Center to the Monterey County Hospital in Salinas to deliver their babies; delivered medicine and made house-calls to the Assembly Center.
Ruth Marshall, director of the Minneapolis YWCA, which organized a social friendship club that welcomed Japanese Americans. She helped in the “Girls Club.” (Twin Cities JACL)
Thurgood Marshall, African American leader, attorney, future Supreme Court Justice. Opposed forced forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162)
Colonel M. W. Marston, Chief of Intelligence, Territory of Hawaii. Colonel Marston was the US Army Chief of Intelligence in Hawaii who preceded Colonel Fielder. Like Fielder, he was convinced of the loyalty of Hawaii's Japanese American residents.
Mrs. G. M. Martin, Baptist Home Mission. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Louis Martin, president, Monterey Fish Cannery Worker Union. Welcomed back Nisei workers to the union. Helped find housing for returnees. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 414-415)
Colonel Sidney F. Mashbir, commanded Military Intelligence (MI), Asiatic theater. Praised service of Military Intelligence and Language Service (MISLS) Nisei who served in the Pacific. Colonel Mashbir wrote in his autobiography, I was an American Spy: “Had it not been for the loyalty, fidelity, patriotism, and ability of these American Nisei, that part of the war in the Pacific which was dependent upon intelligence gleaned from captured documents and prisoners of war would have been a far more hazardous, long drawn out affair. At a highly conservative estimate, thousands of American lives were preserved and millions of dollars in material were saved as a result of their contribution to the war effort. The Untied States of America owes a debt to these men and to their families which it can never fully repay.” (McNaughton, 2007; Myer, 1971, p. 152; MISLS Files, NARA)
Ida Mason, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Dr. Rufus Matthew (1863-1948), educator, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Haverford, Pennsylvania. (JACL Archives)
Muriel Matzkin (Sharp), teacher, Topaz Relocation Camp High School, Utah.
Bill Mauldin, author, journalist, cartoonist, Stars and Stripes magazine, Pulitzer Price winner, veteran of 45th Division, World War II. Wrote favorably about the Nisei soldier in World War II. Recognized injustice of the forced removal of Japanese Americans. In his book, Back Home, published in 1947, he wrote: “But if my prejudices had just sort of disappeared, I became positively lyrical about the Japanese-Americans. I saw a great deal of them in Italy where they had been formed into a battalion that fought with the 34th Division, and into two full regiments [sic] that sort of free-lanced around doing heavy fighting for everybody. Some of the boys in those outfits were from the West Coast, and some from Hawaii. A great deal has been written about their prowess, and I won’t go into details, except to say that, to my knowledge and the knowledge of numerous others who had the opportunity of watching a lot of different outfits overseas, no combat unit in the army could exceed them in loyalty, hard work, courage, and sacrifice. Hardly a man of them hadn’t been decorated at least twice, and their casualty lists were appalling. And if a skeptic wonders whether these aren’t just ‘Japanese characteristics,’ he would do well to stifle the thought if he is around an infantry veteran who had experience with the Nisei units. Except for facial characteristics, there was nothing to identify them with the soldiers who fought for the land of Hirohito.” (Mauldin, 1945, 1947, 2000)
Dr. Ralph L. Mayberry, executive secretary, Los Angeles Baptist City Mission Society. Led six Japanese American Baptist Missions in Los Angeles. Helped Japanese Americans during the period of their forced removal and imprisonment, and their resettlement after the war. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 112, 138)
Reverend Benjamin Mays, African American, President of Morehouse College. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. In June 1945, he delivered a commencement address at Howard University in Washington, DC, declaring: “We are tied together with an inescapable destiny. What affects one, affects all… The injustice against loyal Japanese Americans is injustice against America” (Robinson, 1983, p. 170).
Consuelo Young-Megahy, publicity director, national office, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In June 1945, sent out press releases extolling the heroic actions of Nisei soldiers in World War II. (Robinson, 2012, p. 167, 284n44; Consuelo Young Files, NAACP Papers)
Mr. Stewart Meigs, Member, California State Board of Agriculture. (McWilliams, 1944, p. 263)
Alexander Meiklejohn, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Major supporter of Japanese American civil rights. (Myers, 1971, p. xix)
W. O. Mendenhall, president, Whittier College, Whittier, California. Member, West Coast Committee of the Student Relocation Council. Actively helped place Nisei college students from WRA relocation camps to universities in Midwest and East. (Austin, 2004, pp. 31, 59)
Major General Frank Merrill (1903-1955), commander, Merrill’s Marauders, Burma, which had a Nisei Military Intelligence Service (MIS) detachment as part of Merrill’s Marauders. Praised Nisei for their invaluable work. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 333, 335; McNaughton, 2007; Myer, 1971, p. 151; Ogburn, 1959)
Ralph Palmer Merritt (b. 1883), Project Director, Manzanar War Relocation Camp, 1942-1945. Highly supportive of Japanese American detainees. Invited Ansel Adams to photodocument Manzanar with Toyo Miyatake. (Alinder, 2009, pp. 46-47, 53, 64-65, 80, 84-86, 94, 111, 171n23; Girdner, 1969, pp. 264, 299; Hayashi, 2004, pp. 18, 129, 134-135 146, 150, 154, 160, 164-165; NARA, Record group 210)
Mrs. I. E. Metcalf, Disciples of Christ, Department of Home Missions. (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
John Midkiff, plantation manager, Waialua, Hawaii
Hansel Mieth, photojournalist, married to Otto Hagel
Al Miguel, Pajaro Valley National Bank, Watsonville – Pajaro Valley, California
Mr. and Mrs. Glen Miller, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Loren Miller, African American, lawyer, counsel for the NAACP. Served on the defense team of Ernest and Toki Wakayama, Nisei who challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. The cases were filed by ACLU lawyers Fred Okrand, Hugh MacBeth, Edgar Camp, and A. L. Wirin. (Robinson, 2012, p. 179)
Virgil Miller, Colonel, Second Commander, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Commanded Regiment from November 1944 until end of war in 1945. Highly popular and supportive commanding officer. Very sympathetic to Nisei soldiers’ needs. Praised Japanese American soldiers for their courage and duty. (Tanaka, 1982; NARA; Pacific Citizen; see clipping file “Miller” at National Japanese American Historical Society, San Francisco, California)
Dr. Robert Millikan (1868-1953), Nobel laureate in physics, president of California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 1921-1945. Founded and organized the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, which opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 25, 234, 365; McWilliams, 1944, p. 258; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Dick Mills, field secretary, regional office, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). Helped coordinate activities to help Nisei leave WRA camps to attend colleges and universities. Did studies and wrote reports to facilitate coordinated efforts with YMCA, YWCA and other agencies. (Austin, 2004, pp. 17-18)
Paul Minerich. Santa Ana, California attorney who continued appeals of Charles Edmund Zane on behalf of Discipline Barrack Boys, Nisei imprisoned for 25 months at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for willful insubordination. Son-in-law of DB boy Tim Nomiyama. Thirty years after the Army Board for Correction of Military Records dismissed the case in 1949, and after Executive Order 9066 had been rescinded (1976) and the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians had been created (1980), Minerich submitted a brief maintaining the men’s right to “demand an explanation” for their unjust military treatment. In 1981 the men gained honorable discharges and in 1983, after they testified at Pentagon, the Army Board reinstated their military benefits and voided their dishonorable discharges. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 219-25, 226, 227; Castelnuovo, Soldiers of Conscience, 2008, pp. 51, 90-91, 98-99)
Earl and Marjorie Minton, owners of the Minton Lumber Company, Mountain View, California. Helped prewar Japanese American community in San Francisco Bay Area. Established Japanese American churches and Sunday schools. Helped Japanese Americans in WRA camp safely store family household property. Shipped supplies to families in camps.
Robert Mitchell, charter member of the Rainbow Club, an interfaith, interracial group that provided many programs and social events and was a place where the Japanese Americans were welcomed. (Twin Cities JACL)
Right Reverend Walter Mitchell (d. 1977), Episcopal bishop, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Phoenix, Arizona. (JACL Archives)
Brigadier General R. E. Mittelstaedt, Praised Nisei soldiers. (McWilliams, 1944, p. 287)
Mr. Elmer and Mrs. Francis Moller, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 163, 168-70)
Arline Moore (1887-1969). Member of Central Committee for the League for Liberty & Justice in Hood River, Oregon. Worked with husband Max at their Moore Electric store on downtown Oak Street, a haven where Japanese Americans (especially first generation Issei) could congregate without fear after World War II. Regularly made purchases for them, despite use of cane. Wrote several articles about the Hood River Japanese American situation in national publications and responded to media requests. (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 152, 223, 236, 241-43; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 160, 162, 166-8, 175-77, 188-9, 194, 203, 206)
Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Moore, Military Intelligence Service officer, New Guinea. Commanded Nisei in Pacific. Highly praised Nisei MISLS soldiers. Supported Nisei returning home to West Coast. Dillon Myer wrote how Caucasian officers who had served with Nisei soldiers testified to communities on the West Coast: “the outstanding record of the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Combat Team in the European Theater and the magnificent service provided by the Nisei soldiers assigned to combat intelligence work in the Pacific Theater proved to be of tremendous importance to the evacuees and to WRA during the final days of relocation in 1945. With the help of the War Department we were able to give wide publicity to the group exploits of the 442nd Combat Team, and from time to time an opportunity was provided for the dramatization of the heroic acts of individual Nisei. […] Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Moore had the additional advantage of having commanded a group of Nisei soldiers in combat intelligence work in the Pacific theater. Thus Colonel Moore was able to break down completely the myth—almost a last-ditch salvo of the racists—that the Nisei soldiers had not seen service against the Japanese enemy.” (Girdner, 1969, p. 392; Myer, 1971, pp. 156, 281; Tamura, 2012, pp. 153, 167; WRA: A story of human conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, p. 130)
Edwin C. Morganroth, executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Chicago, Illinois. Helped Japanese Americans to resettle from WRA detention camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 176)
Mr. Morley, representative, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Coordinated efforts to help Nisei students to leave WRA camps to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004)
Dr. Felix Morley (b. 1894), Haverford, Pennsylvania, educator, journalist, Baltimore Sun (1922-1929). National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945 (JACL Archives)
Homer Morris, Secretary, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Helped Nisei students. Submitted highly sympathetic report to the Tolan Committee calling for care and sensitivity in the removal of Japanese Americans. (Austin, 2004, p. 47; Irons, 1983, pp. 187-188; Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11746-11749)
J. Elmer Morrish, branch manager, First National Bank, Redwood City, California
Charles Clayton Morrison, editor, Christian Century, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Chicago, Illinois. (JACL Archives)
Dwight Morrow, Monterey, California. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans returning home to the Monterey area. (Girdner, 1969, p. 400)
Clyde and Florence Mount, school principal, educators, Glendale, California. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Helped Kibei Harry Fukuhara during his time in camp. Provided encouragement and support.
Anetta Mow, director, Clothing Department, Bretheren Service Committee (BSC).
Captain Arthur W. Munch, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Gave speech on West Coast regarding loyalty and patriotism of Japanese Americans, especially Nisei soldiers, with whom he fought. (WRA: A Story of Human Conservation, 1946, p. 130)
Curtis B. Munson, special representative of the State Department, aide to John Franklin Carter. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Developed Munson-Ringle Plan. In October 1941, Munson investigated loyalty of the Japanese American community. He wrote a 25-page report. He found Japanese Americans to have an “extraordinary degree of loyalty.” He stated categorically, “there is no Japanese problem.” The report was kept secret until after the war. (Weglyn, 1976, pp. 33-35, 39-52, 54, 70, 75, 194-195, 225; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 52-53, 56-57, 60; De Nevers, 2004, pp. 95-96)
Marian Munson, a school teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota, provided Sadao Akaki with a place to live while he was a student. (Twin Cities JACL)
U. S. Senator Abe Murdock, Utah, opposed Senate Bill 2293, which proposed to forcibly remove and imprison all Japanese Americans residing in the United States and Hawaii. (Myer, 1971, p. 327; Girdner, 1969, p. 252)
U. S. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy (1890-1949), served as a Supreme Court Justice from 1940 to 1949. He dissented on Supreme Court case, Korematsu v. United States. Murphy stated that the forced removal of Japanese Americans fell “into the ugly abyss of racism” and “individuals must not be left impoverished of their Constitutional rights on a plea of military necessity that has neither support nor substance.” He stated that the forced removal must be “reasonably related to a public danger that is ‘so immediate, imminent and impending’ as not to admit of delay and not to permit intervention of ordinary constitutional processes to alleviate the danger.” He concluded that the Court’s opinion on Korematsu was a “legalization of racism.” (Daniels, 1971, pp. 136, 139-143, 170; Fine, 1984; Girdner, 1969, p. 376; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 137n, 357n, 355; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 74-75, 227, 324; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 16, pp. 128-130)
Reverend V. G. Murphy, Superintendent, Methodist Church Northwest Evangelization Society, Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified at Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings in Seattle, Washington. (Toland Committee, PT 30, pp. 11597-11598)
Pauli Murray, African American, activist, political organizer, attorney. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote a letter of protest to President Franklin Roosevelt. She became an advocate for Japanese Americans after the war and wrote legal briefs on civil rights for the Nisei. Later, she co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW). (Robinson, 2012, pp. 169-170, 285n48, 285n49, 285n50)
Mrs. Burton W. Musser, social worker, politician, Salt Lake Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)'s first advisor in 1930's, National JACL Sponsor, 1944-1945, Salt Lake City, Utah. (JACL Archives)
A. J. Muste, leader of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Opposed and protested Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. FOR’s monthly journal, Fellowship, published articles and op-ed pieces opposing discrimination against Japanese Americans. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
Carl Mydans, eminent photojournalist. Wrote sympathetically about Japanese Americans in Tule Lake camp. (Girdner, 1969, p. 239)
Dillon S. Myer (1891-1982), Hebron, Ohio, Director, War Relocation Authority (WRA), 1942-1946. Myer took over the WRA from his predecessor, Milton Eisenhower, in 1942. He advocated letting Japanese Americans leave the camp for work release programs in agriculture and for Nisei to leave the camps to attend college on the East Coast. Myer felt that there would be long-term psychological consequences to the Japanese American community if they were left in camp for the duration of the war. He compared the War Relocation Authority camps to Native American reservations. He called the camps, “an institutionalized environment, which in turn produces frustration, demoralization, and a feeling of dependency among the residents.” Myer also supported the idea that young Nisei should be allowed to serve in the U.S. Army. He encouraged the War Department to create the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After the war, Myer wrote that the felt that the reasons for mass incarceration of Japanese Americans were unjust and unfounded. In 1971, he wrote Uprooted Americans: The Japanese Americans and the War Relocation Authority During World War II. (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 169, 208, 220, 232, 270; Drinnon, 1987; Girdner, 1969; Grodzins, 1949; Irons, 1983, pp. 73, 170,. 199-201, 256, 263-264, 269-270; Myer, 1971; Weglyn, 1976; Commission Report, 1982; Austin, 2004; National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, MD, Record group 210; WRA: A story of human conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946; Pacific Citizen newspapers 1942-1946; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 16, pp. 198-199)
N. D. Myers, superintendent, Malaga Cove School. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Sent proposal to Tolan Congressional Committee on March 4, 1942. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, p. 11664)
Dr. John W. Nason (1905-2001), Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Quaker activist, educator, assistant to president Swarthmore, chaired the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Helped more than 4,000 Nisei students leave camps. They were placed in 680 schools. (Austin, 2004, pp. 27, 36, 43, 51, 64, 73, 76, 78, 99-100, 104, 105, 130-131, 135-136, 139, 175; James, 1987; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 131; Okihiro, 1999; JACL Archives)
William Allen Neilson, Ph.D. (1869-1946), Falls Village, Connecticut, educator. President, Smith College, 1917-1939. Editor-in-chief, Merriam’s International Dictionary, 1934. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
John Oliver Nelson, Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian Church. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Richard Neuberger, writer, Saturday Review, supported Japanese Americans, writing “Jingoism pays no heed to sacrifice.” (Tamura, 2012, p. 161)
Richard Neustadt, Regional Director of the Social Security Board, and Office of Defense, Health and Welfare Services, San Francisco, California. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 89; Wartime Exile: The Exclusion of the Japanese From the West Coast, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, pp. 139-140; Tolan Committee, PT 29, pp. 11024, 11293-11297)
Grace Nichols (Pearson), elementary school teacher, Poston, Arizona, WRA camp. (Grace Nichols Pearson Collection of Letters, Hoover Institution, Stanford University)
Reverend Herbert Nicholson (1892-1983), Rochester, New York, Mrs. Madeline Nicholson, and son, Samuel Nicholson, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Los Angeles, California. Leader, Friends of the American Way, Pasadena, California. Herbert Nicholson was Reverend at Los Angeles Methodist Church. Active and outspoken opponents of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. The Nicholsons went to the Department of Justice detention camps to aid recently arrested Issei. Helped Japanese Americans on Terminal Island, California, during their forced removal. Brought goods to Manzanar. Strong advocate for releasing Japanese Americans from the camps. Urged government to allow Nisei to serve in the Army. Organized letter-writing campaign, which resulted in 150,000 letters being sent to Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy calling for the closing of the WRA camps. Their slogan was “Justice delayed is justice denied.” Especially helpful to Japanese Americans in Los Angeles area during resettlement period. Worked with Tom Bodine and Floyd Schmoe. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 14, 112, 144, 304, 305, 349, 379; Nicholson, 1982; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 106, 118n82; Siegel, 2006; Weglyn, 1978)
Reverend Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), noted Protestant theologian (Union Theological Seminary since 1929), political observer/activist, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. Publisher of Christianity in Crisis. Published articles opposing Executive Order 9066. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 201; Grodzins, 1949, p. 198; Who’s Who in America; JACL Archives; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96, 100, 101; American National Biography, 1999, pp. 420-424; Papers, Library of Congress)
Reverend and Mrs. Carl Nugent, First Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R Church), San Francisco, California.
Drayton B. Nuttal, principal of Topaz School. Encouraged Nisei to go to college to “establish without question your place in American life.” (Austin, 2004, p. 115)
Robert W. O’Brien (1907-1991), Quaker, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, taught sociology, and advisor for the Japanese Student Club, University of Washington. Second executive secretary to the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Volunteered with no pay. The Council arranged for more than 4,000 Nisei to leave the camps and attend more than 600 colleges and universities in the East. Testified at Tolan Committee Hearings opposing forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Austin, 2004, pp. 2, 11, 13, 18, 23, 24, 33, 35, 63, 64, 68, 167-168, 175; Grodzins, 1949, p. 193n30; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; Shaffer, 1998, 1999; Weglyn, 1976, p. 106; Tolan Committee Hearings, pp. 11557-11563, 11590-11595)
Dr. Howard Washington Odum (1881-1954), educator, sociologist, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (JACL Archives)
Most Reverend Edwin V. O'Hara, theologian, Roman Catholic archbishop, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Kansas City, Missouri. (JACL Archives)
Fred Okrand, attorney, member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Worked on Japanese American civil rights cases during and after the war. Worked with attorneys Edgar Camp and A. L. Wirin. (Irons, 1983; Robinson, 2012, pp. 137, 146, 178, 200, 206)
Floyd Oles, manager, Washington Produce Shippers Association, Seattle, Washington. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11422-11432)
Mrs. Olson, Director of the Kahler School of Nursing, in Minnesota, accepted Japanese American nursing students. (Twin Cities JACL)
Gustav W. Olson, Vice Consul for Sweden in Hawaii. At the outbreak of World War II, Gustav W. Olson was administrator of Queens Hospital and Vice Consul for Sweden in Hawaii. In February 1942, Olson was put in charge of all matters regarding Japanese nationals in Hawaii. He undertook duties of enormous proportion--ministering to the needs of a highly demoralized and traumatized Japanese population in Hawaii. Olson voluntarily served as legal counsel, employment advisor, and social service agency to the Japanese population in Hawaii. Compassion and competence characterized Olson's activities.
U. S. Senator Joe O’Mahoney, Wyoming. (Myer, 1971, pp. 95, 327)
Karl Onthank, University of Oregon, West Coast Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Marvin Opler, 1914-1981, Buffalo, New York. Anthropologist, social psychologist, worked at Tule Lake War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp. Opler was hired by the WRA to study effect of incarceration and segregation on Japanese Americans. He opposed the imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Kiyota, 1997; Spicer, 1946; Weglyn, 1976)
Morris Opler, 1907-1996, Buffalo, New York, anthropologist, War Relocation Authority (WRA). Cultural anthropologist at the Manzanar WRA camp. (Hayashi, 2004, pp. 122, 123, 145-146, 213, 156; Irons, 1983, pp. 192-194, 222-223, 305-306, 315, 336; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 142-143)
J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientist, nuclear physicist. Director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb for the U.S. in World War II. (Robinson, 2012, p. 146)
Frank Orr, postwar editor of the Watsonville Register Pajaronian
Dr. Joaquin Ortega (Tamura, 2012)
U. S. Congressman George Outland, California. Very supportive of War Relocation Authority director Dillon S. Myer. This helped Myer create positive public support for the Japanese American community. (Myer, 1971, pp. 102, 327)
Kirby Page (1890-1951), author, social evangelist, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers), National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, La Habra, California. Quaker activist. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped Japanese Americans in WRA camps. Worked with Reverend Herbert and Madeline Nicholson. (JACL Archives)
Reverend Dr. Albert W. Palmer (1879-1954), theologian. Author, Orientals in America (1934). President, Chicago Theological Seminary 1930-1946. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (JACL Archives)
Alberta Parker (1910-1995). President of Hood River American Legion auxiliary and sponsor of first Nisei member, Koke Iwatsuki (whose husband, Military Intelligence Service veteran Harry Iwatsuki, was member of Hood River American Legion). Under her leadership, fifty auxiliary members voted Iwatsuki in as member, despite heated opposition. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 199)
Right Reverend Edward L. Parsons (1868-1960), Episcopal Bishop of California-San Francisco 1919-1940, chairman, ACLU California 1941-1956, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, San Francisco, California. Reverend Parsons was a champion of civil rights and civic concerns during his Episcopate, and an early West Coast voice opposing forced removal of Japanese Americans. He retired in 1947. (Irons, 1983, pp. 168-169, 194; JACL Archives)
James George Patton (1902-1966), agricultural leader, National Farmer's Union, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, cited in 1957 by JACL for his wartime efforts, Denver, Colorado. (JACL Archives)
James L. Paxton, Jr., wartime community leader, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Omaha, Nebraska. (JACL Archives)
Anne Peabody. Helped found the Council for Civic Unity of San Jose. Worked with Marjorie Pittman and Evelyn B. Settles. Council created hostel for returning evacuees in the San Jose area. It housed more than 1,423 resettling evacuees.
James Benjamin Peckham, lawyer, San Jose, California
Lucille T. Peddy, WRA student resettlement counselor, Gila River WRA camp, Arizona. Helped Nisei attend colleges outside of camp. (Austin, 2004, p. 123)
Colonel (General) William R. Peers, commander OSS Detachment 101, Burma. Colonel Peers commanded a highly successful commando unit in Burma. It operated under the auspices of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This was the first clandestine special force created by William Donovan, head of the OSS. It operated behind enemy Japanese lines for three years. This unit had a detachment of Nisei linguists. Peers was Commander of First Field Forces in Vietnam as a Lieutenant General. General Peers was instrumental in placing the “Go For Broke” exhibit from the Presidio Army Museum to the Smithsonian Institution through his friendship with Dillon Ripley, who was Secretary of the Smithsonian and served in Detachment 101 during World War II. (Dunlop, 1979; Moon, 1975)
Azalia Emma Peet, Methodist Missionary, Gresham, Oregon. Church leader opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified at the Tolan Congressional Hearings on behalf of Japanese Americans. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 90; Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11386-11387)
Colonel Charles W. Pence, First Commanding Officer, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, February 1943 - October 1944. Colonel Pence, a World War I veteran, was appointed the first commanding officer of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in February 1943. He immediately understood the wartime stresses of the Niseis, many of whom had volunteered or were drafted from WRA camps. He was particularly sympathetic to the Nisei need to prove their loyalty to a suspicious American public. He encouraged his Nisei soldiers, to the fullest extent of his power, to hold their heads up high with dignity. He removed any Caucasian officer who showed the slightest racial prejudice. He also did much to ease the tension between the Hawaiian and mainland Niseis during their basic training in Mississippi. Colonel Pence tried to protect his all-Nisei regiment from mistreatment by higher headquarters. He resigned in protest after the heavy casualties after the liberation of Bruyères and the rescue of the Lost Battalion in late October 1944. (Tanaka, 1982; Crost, 1997)
Evelyn Stevenson Perkins. Befriended Tsuyako “Sox” Kitashima family of Centerville (now Fremont), California. Aided them during their stay at the Tanforan assembly center in South San Francisco.
Richard Perkins, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Dr. Ralph Barton Perry (1876-1957), educator, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (JACL Archives)
Jennings Perry, editor, The Tennessean, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Nashville, Tennessee. (JACL Archives)
Colonel Moses W. Pettigrew, Chief of the Far Eastern Group, Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Supported use of Japanese Americans in the Armed Services. (Fujitani, 2011, pp. 89, 98)
Cyril Phelan, Arroyo Grande, California
Wayne Phelps, War Relocation Authority (WRA). Helped Japanese Americans in the Auburn area, north of Sacramento, California. Worked with Rabbi Norman Goldberg, president of the Council for Civic Unity. (Girdner, 1969, p. 394)
Major Bert E. Phillips, Salvation Army, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Clarence Evan Pickett (1884-1965), executive secretary, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers), 1929-50, National Student Relocation Council, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1947, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Clarence Evan Pickett was especially known for organizing the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) to assist Nisei in camps, be they Christian or Buddhist, to pursue higher education in the Midwest and East USA. This enabled 3,700 Nisei to leave the camps and attend 680 colleges and universities. His wartime and postwar refugee relief work worldwide led to the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 and was shared jointly by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the British Friends Service Council. While not connected with the AFSC, he was the president of the American Council of Race Relations (1944) and worked on problems affecting African American, Mexican, Japanese and other minorities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 27-29, 32, 51, 71, 164, 184n63; Girdner, 1969, pp. 201, 336; Grodzins, 1949, p. 198; Kahoe, 1966; Myer, 1971, pp. 4, 103, 131; O’Brien, 1939; Okihiro, 1999; Robinson, 2012, pp. 167, 284n43; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 46, 104-105, 228; Commission Report, 1982, p. 181; JACL Archives; Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11745-11746; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 17, pp. 481-483; Papers, Archives of AFSC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
B. H. Pillard, Dean of Students, Antioch College, Yellow Spring, Ohio. Offered full scholarships to Nisei. (Austin, 2004, p. 52)
Marjorie Pittman. Helped found the Council for Civic Unity of San Jose. Worked with Anne Peabody and Evelyn B. Settles and Dan Hunter of the WRA. Council created hostel for returning evacuees in the San Jose area. It housed more than 1,423 resettling evacuees. (Girdner, 1969, p. 409)
R. Plank, International Institute. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, p. 11136)
Mrs. Lenore E. Porter, secretary of student work, Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Reverend Dr. Edwin McNeill Poteat (1892-1955), president, Colgate University Theological Seminary, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Rochester, New York. (JACL Archives)
Mildred B. Potts, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). (De Nevers, 2004, p. 226)
Thomas and Florence Potts, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers), hired Japanese American as nanny, Japanese Americans lived in house, Philadelphia, PA.
Lowell Clark Pratt, editor, Selma Enterprise (Fresno County). Actively supported civil rights for Japanese American evacuees. Pratt stated, “We oppose the movement to move them out of Selma [California].” (Girdner, 1969, p. 403; Pacific Citizen, December 9, 1944)
Reverend Sunya Pratt (1898-1986), Tacoma, Washington, Buddhist priest. Supplied Issei and Nisei during the period of their forced removal and imprisonment, and the resettlement period. Protected Japanese American property and helped Japanese Americans return to Tacoma area.
John Province, chief, Community Management Division. War Relocation Authority (WRA). Helped work to resettle Nisei to colleges and universities from WRA relocation camps. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004, pp. 27, 32-36, 49, 51-52, 76, 103-105, 136, 175)
Colonel Charles Purcell, commanded 3rd Battalion, 442 RCT, 1943-1946. Lieutenant Colonel Purcell commanded the 3rd Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team from the time of basic training through deactivation in 1946. Known by the Nisei men as a front-line soldier's soldier, he personally led most of the combat actions of the 3rd Battalion. He would not ask any man to do what he himself would not do. On several occasions, Colonel Purcell shielded the soldiers from incompetent orders from higher headquarters. In 1946, Colonel Purcell led the 3rd Battalion down Pennsylvania Avenue on parade in a ceremony to receive its 7th Presidential Unit Citation, which was presented by President Harry Truman. (See Chet Tanaka oral history testimony; Tanaka, 1982; Crost, 1997; Shirey, 1946)
James C. Purcell, Mitsuye Endo's attorney. Hired by Saburo Kido, president of the Japanese American Citizen’s League, to help Nisei who were being discharged from California civil service positions. In July 1942, he filed writ of habeas corpus to show legal cause for holding Japanese Americans in camps. The petition was denied and he pursued the legal case all the way to the Supreme Court. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 415, 431; Grodzins, 1949, p. 128n; Irons, 1983, pp. 100-103, 115, 122, 144-151, 170, 182, 254-255 257-258, 260-261, 265-267, 311, 317-318)
Ernie Pyle (1900-1945), noted journalist, war correspondent. Supported Japanese Americans in newspaper column in the San Francisco News on December 25, 1941. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 184n, 388; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 18, pp. 18-19)
Dr. Homer P. Rainey (1896-1985), university president, ordained Baptist minister, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Austin, Texas. (JACL Archives)
Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979), African American union and civil rights leader. Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. One of the most powerful African American political leaders in the United States. Protested forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Signed letter of protest prepared by Post-War World Council. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 162, 225; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 18, pp. 117-120; Papers, Library of Congress)
Colonel Kai Rasmussen, founder, Military Intelligence and Language Service (MISLS) Training School, Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. Founded language school in the Presidio of San Francisco, California, in November 1941. (McNaughton, 2007; Girdner, 1969, p. 269; Commission Report, 1982, p. 254; Myer, 1971, pp. 145, 239; Swift, 2008, pp. 58, 59, 62, 65, 83-84, 88, 138, 144, 162, 179, 189, 190, 222-224, 229-230, 252, 265, 273-274, 279, 281, 289)
Ann Ray, socialist, political activist, assistant to Hugh E. MacBeth, executive secretary of the California Race Relations Commission. She was a liaison to socialist leader and major opponent of Executive Order 9066, Norman Thomas. (Robinson, 2012, p. 176)
Dr. Joseph Reagan, WRA student resettlement counselor, Gila River camp. Helped place seventy-seven Nisei students in fall of 1944. Most received financial support. Worked with Mabel Sheldon. (Austin, 2004, p. 133)
Captain Ronald Reagan, U.S. Army. Organized, with General Joseph Stilwell, ceremony on December 8, 1945, to honor Kazuo Masuda, a 442nd soldier killed in Italy. Masuda was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) at the family home in Santa Anna, California. Captain Reagan wrote and gave a heartfelt speech during the ceremony. Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th President of the United States in 1981. As a result of his presenting the Masuda family with the World War II decoration, he supported the bill, HR 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which he signed into law on August 10, 1988, in a White House ceremony. (Mary Matsuda Archives, Pacific Citizen news clippings; Irons, 1989; Maki, 1999; Myer, 1971; Shoho, 2009)
Dr. W. P. Reagor, president, California Council of Churches. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified before Tolan Committee opposing Executive Order 9066. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 192n)
Rabbi Dr. Irving F. Reichert, Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, California. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, San Francisco, California. Reichert was a founding member of the Pacific Coast Committee on National Security and Fair Play. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified at the Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings. (JACL Archives; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Right Reverend Charles S. Reifsnider (1875-1958), presided as bishop of Japanese Episcopal congregations in WRA camps, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Pasadena, California. (JACL Archives; Girdner, 1969, p. 304)
John E. Reinecke, union organizer and teacher.
Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, president, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Edwin O. Reischauer, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Marian B. Reith, National West Coast Secretary, Young Women’s Christian Association, Los Angeles, California. West Coast Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 30-31, 35, 99, 176, 182n33)
Mills Reith, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Los Angeles, West Coast Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33)
Delbert Earl Replogle, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers).
Walter Reuther, leader, United Auto Workers, Detroit, Michigan. Asked Detroit Housing Commission to admit Japanese Americans for public housing. (Robinson,2013, p. 53)
Ester Rhoades, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Quaker activist. Helped Japanese Americans during the period of forced removal and imprisonment. Established hostels for Japanese Americans. (Myer, 1971, p. xviii; Austin, 2004, p. 104)
Otis D. Richardson, chair, English Department, Los Angeles City College. Faculty sponsor, Nisei Club. Published article, “Nisei evacuees: Their challenge to education,” in September 1942. Made special trip to Manzanar WRA camp to visit his former students.
Dr. Rufus Richardson, teacher, Junior College and high school, Auburn, California. Member, Sacramento Council for Civic Unity. Helped reduce racial tensions toward returning Japanese American families in the Auburn area, north of Sacramento. Worked with Rabbi Norman Goldburg, Wayne Phelps of the WRA, and Henry Tyler of Sacramento City College.
Commander Kenneth D. Ringle, Naval Intelligence Office, Eleventh Naval District, California. Opposed U.S. Army recommendation to forcibly remove and imprison Japanese Americans. Disputed Army “military necessity” doctrine. Ringle wrote a report in January 1942 that stated the majority of American-born Japanese American citizens were loyal. Ringle stated, in his report to the office of Naval Intelligence: “Within the last eight or ten years the entire ‘Japanese question’ in the United States [had] reversed itself. The alien menace [was] no longer paramount… the ‘Japanese Problem’ [had] been magnified out of its true proportion, largely because of the physical characteristics of the people; that it [was] no more serious than the problem of the German, Italian, and Communistic portions of the United States population, and finally that it should be handled on the basis of the individual, regardless of citizenship, and not on a racial basis.” (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 96, 97, 103, 183, 219, 289; Girdner, 1969, pp. 16, 17, 261, 292; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 145, 188-189; Irons, 1983, pp. 79, 202-206; Myer, 1971, pp. 6, 68-71, 145, 168; Ten Broek et al., Prejudice, War, and the Constitution, pp. 298-300; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 284n., 298n., 305n.; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 53-54, 60, 65)
Captain Dillon S. Ripley, officer, OSS Detachment 101, Burma. Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Dillon S. Ripley served as an officer in Detachment 101 in Burma during World War II. During this period, he commanded a detachment of Nisei Military Intelligence linguists. Prompted by General W. R. Peers of the Fort Point and Presidio Army Museum Association, in 1982, Ripley agreed to have an exhibit on Japanese Americans as a centerpiece of the Constitutional bicentennial celebration. The exhibit opened at the National Museum of American History in 1987 and was entitled, “A More Perfect Union.” The exhibit ran through 2007. (See correspondence with W. R. Peers and Eric Saul, 1982)
Dorothy Staud Roark, teacher, Watsonville, California.
Thomas Robel, Seattle State, County Municipal Workers of American, Local 109. Advocated for Japanese Americans at Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11597)
Eva Roberts, president of the YMCA, University of Washington. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Shaffer, 1998, p. 93)
U. S. Supreme Court Justice Owen Josephus Roberts (1875-1955). Supreme Court Justice, 1930-1945. Dissented from the majority opinion that ruled against Fred Korematsu v. United States. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Roberts wrote, “[This] is the case of convicting a citizen as a punishment for not submitting to imprisonment in a concentration camp, based on his ancestry…without evidence or inquiry concerning his loyalty…towards the United States.” (Daniels, 1971, pp. 49-50, 52-53, 138-139, 141-142; Girdner, 1969, p. 376; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 356n, 357n; Irons, 1983, pp. 228-230, 232-233, 243, 314, 318-319, 321-322, 330-333, 335-336, 342-344; Myer, 1971, pp. 190, 261-263, 270-271; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 57, 59, 264, 265; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 18, pp. 612-614)
Ray Roberts, Seattle businessman, treasurer of a committee in Seattle that supported Gordon Hirabayashi in his constitutional challenge to Executive Order 9066. He put up bail for Hirabayashi after his arrest. Worked with Mary Farquharson. Together, they organized the Gordon Hirabayashi Defense Fund. (Irons, 1983, pp. 92, 131)
Georgia Day Robertson (b. 1886). Taught mathematics and social studies in the Poston, Arizona, WRA camp, 1942-1945. Sympathetic to young Nisei in camp. She was involved as a counselor. She wrote of her experiences in the camp during the war and it was published as The Harvest of Hate on her 100th birthday in 1986.
Orville E. Robertson, executive secretary, Family Society of Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. Called for individual hearings to determine a person’s loyalty. Testified at Tolan Congressional Committee Hearings in Seattle, Washington. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11484-11491)
Paul Robeson, African American singer, actor, political activist. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162)
Mrs. Duncan Robinson, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Morris C. Robinson, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church and chairman of the placement committee of the Minneapolis Relocation Center. He placed hundreds of Japanese Americans into a wide range of jobs, including nurses, chemists, beauty operators, mechanics, and gardeners. (Twin Cities JACL)
Lieutenant Commander Roberts Robinson, U.S. Navy. World War II veteran from Placer County, California. Spoke out on behalf of returning Japanese American families. He spoke at local schools and colleges. He emphasized the heroism of local Nisei veterans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 394; Pacific Citizen, February 1945)
Dr. Charles E. Rochelle, African American, World War I veteran, Evansville, Indiana. Opposed action of American Legion Post in Hood River in taking names of Nisei from town memorial. (Robinson, 2012, p. 163)
Mr. Rodamer, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Mrs. J. N. Rodeheaver, Women’s Division of Christina Service, Methodist Church. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Margaret Rodman, Quaker, teacher, Lincoln High School, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council.
U. S. Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., California. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Leading civil rights and refugee advocate in the U. S. Congress during the war. Son of noted comedian Will Rogers. (Myer, 1971, p. 327)
Edward B. Rooney, executive director, Jesuit Educational Association. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 175)
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (18841962), First Lady of the United States, supported Japanese Americans during World War II, opposed forced removal and imprisonment. Not knowing that their forced removal was imminent, Eleanor Roosevelt reassured very nervous Japanese Americans, “I see absolutely no reason why anyone who has had a good record—that is, who has no criminal nor anti-American record—should have any anxiety about his position. This is equally applicable to the Japanese who cannot become citizens but have lived here for thirty or forty years and to those newcomers [refugees from Hitler’s Germany] who have not yet had time to become citizens.” (See Hung Wai Ching oral history by Eric Saul, 1980; Austin, 2004, pp. 19, 27, 32; Black, 1996, pp. 140-147; De Nevers, 2004, pp. 123-124; Girdner, 1969, pp. 6, 7, 112, 302; Grodzins, 1949, p. 67n; Hayashi, 1995, p. 43f; Myer, 1971, p. 95; Shaffer, 1998, p. 93; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 18, pp. 812-814; Papers, FDR Library, Hyde Park, New York; “Mrs. Roosevelt Says Pacific Coast Japs Wise in Realizing They Must Move Inland,” Los Angeles Times, 8 March 1942, p. 9; Eleanor Roosevelt, “For Colliers—Japanese Relocation Camps” [draft, c. May 1943], in ER Papers, Box 881)
George Rosenlof, registrar, University of Nebraska, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. Helped send Nisei to college from WRA camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 15)
A. J. Rosenthal, photographer, photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner. Supportive of Japanese Americans.
Professor Eugene V. Rostow, Yale Law School. Wrote against constitutionality of the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans in article for Yale Law Review. Also wrote article for Harper’s magazine critical of the Supreme Court. Eugene Rostow wrote, in 1945, that “there was no evidence whatever by which a court might test the responsibility of General DeWitt’s action, either under the statue of March 21, 1942, or on more general considerations. General DeWitt’s Final Report and his testimony before committees of the Congress clearly indicated that his motivation was ignorant race prejudice, not facts to support the hypothesis that there was a greater risk of sabotage among the Japanese than among residents of German, Italian, or any other ethnic affiliation.” (Girdner, 1969, pp. 432, 442, 480, 482; Grodzins, 1949; Rostow, 1945, pp. 489-533; Shaffer, 1998, p. 99; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 237-238)
George Knox Roth (1907-1999), journalist, radio commentator, Los Angeles, California. Vocal opponent of the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans at the Toland Congressional hearings. Broadcast criticism of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 194; Girdner, 1969, p. 363; Robinson, 2012, pp. 146, 175, 279n43)
James H. Rowe, Jr., attorney, Alien Control Unit, United States Department of Justice, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on practical, moral and constitutional grounds. Attorney General Francis Biddle wrote in his memoirs: “Rowe and Ennis argued strongly against [the Executive Order]. But the decision had been made by the President. It was, he said, a matter of military judgment. I did not think I should oppose it any further. The Department of Justice, as I had made it clear to him from the beginning, was opposed to and would have nothing to do with the evacuation.” (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 83, 85-88, 92-93, 98, 107, 111, 121-123, 134-135, 141, 143; Girdner, 1969, pp. 17, 18, 29, 30; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 236-240, 253-254, 259, 266-267, 269-270; Irons, 1983, pp. 17, 30-37, 40, 42-47, 52, 61-63, 107-108, 124, 283, 360-361, 365; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 46-48, 67, 290n; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 65, 73, 74, 77, 78, 84, 85, 377-378, 381)
Chester H. Rowell, chief political commentator, San Francisco Chronicle. Founding member and advisor, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play. Wrote highly sympathetic columns opposing Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and supporting the protection of their civil rights. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 184, 190, 388; Girdner, 1969, pp. 24, 25, 31, 100, 101; McWilliams, 1944, pp. 112, 235, 273; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 87-88; Chester Rowell, “Reason Needed in This Japanese Alien Matter,” San Francisco Chronicle, 19 February 1942, p. 12; See also Rowell columns on 2 February 1942, 23 January 1943, and 14 June 1943, and “Clash of Two Worlds,” Survey Graphic, 31, January 1942, pp. 9-13; ACLU Papers, 2463/17; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Wilimina Rowland, administrative secretary of the World Student Service Fund (WSSF). Provided vitally needed funds to support the Japanese American Student Relocation Council to provide scholarships to Nisei to attend colleges and universities from the WRA detention camps. (Austin, 2004, pp. 45, 63, 173)
Harold Rugg, Post War World Council. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 198; Girdner, 1969, p. 201; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96)
Phil Ruidi, Bainbridge Island High School Superintendent, Washington. Supported Japanese Americans on Bainbridge Island, calling for calm after Pearl Harbor. Arranged for lesson plans for students sent to Manzanar WRA camp. Sent diplomas to incarcerated students so they could have a “graduation” ceremony.
Florence Rumsey, First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington.
George E. Rundquist, Field Secretary American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. Chair, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America (FCC). Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Led and coordinated WRA efforts to successfully resettle Japanese Americans from the camps. Established resettlement committees and field offices in 26 cities. Worked with local civic and religious groups. Promoted good will on behalf of Japanese Americans to facilitate good community relations. Helped Japanese American college students attend school outside the camps. Worked with War Resettlement Director Thomas Holland. Organized Detroit Resettlement Committee. Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) national honoree in 1956. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Myer, 1971, pp. xix, 136, 138; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; Robinson, 2012, p. 50; Shaffer, 1998, p. 101; WRA: A story of human conservation. U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, pp. 139-140)
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Rusch, MISLS personnel procurement office, Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. (McNaughton, 2007; NARA)
Joanne Russell, secretary, Portland Oregon Office of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped get Niseis out of WRA detention camps to colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, pp. 59-60; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Madeleine Haas Russell (1915-1999), chairperson, Columbia Foundation, San Francisco, California, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. Helped thousands of Japanese American students leave the WRA camps to attend college. Raised large sums of money through the Columbia Foundation for the support of Niseis. (See Student Relocation Council, Columbia Foundation; Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Clarence Rust, attorney, member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), San Francisco branch. Worked with attorney Wayne M. Collins in the Fred Korematsu legal challenge. Testified at the Tolan hearings in opposition to Executive Order 9066. (Irons, 1983, pp. 117, 150; Tolan Committee, PT 29, February 20, 1942, p. 11254)
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), African American activist and major civil rights leader. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Race Relations Director. Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). In 1941, he became the field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1942, helped protect property of Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed. Aided Japanese Americans in camps. (Anderson, 1997, p. 82; de Nevers, 2004; Robinson, 2012, p. 163; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 19, pp. 120-121)
Major General Charles Ryder, Commander 45th Division (“Red Bull”) in Italy, 1943-1945. The 100th Inf. Bn. And 442nd Regimental Combat Team were incorporated into the 45th Division in the Italian campaign in the summer of 1944. Ryder highly praised the Nisei soldiers, saying “they were the finest fighting unit I ever saw.” (Tanaka, 1982; Crost, 1997; Shirey, 1946)
Winifred Ryder, Head Administrator, Social Security Board, Los Angeles, California. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans from Terminal Island in Los Angeles. Gave Tolan Committee a resolution from teachers of Palos Verdes Estates opposing forced removal and imprisonment. (Shaffer, 1998; Toland Hearings)
Right Reverend Bishop Henry Saint George
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Sanstrum (1913-2005). Lieutenant Colonel in U.S. Army Air Corps, served with B29 Bombers in India, China, and Okinawa during World War II. Manager of Safeway Store in Hood River, Oregon after war. Withstood pressure groups who discouraged him from selling goods to those of Japanese ancestry. “If you turn out the Japanese, you have to turn out the Germans and Italians,” he told them. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 172, 175; Hood River County Historical Society, History of Hood River County, 1852-1982, 1982, p. 343)
Allan F. Saunders, Professor, University of Hawaii.
Reverend John Nevin Sayre, minister, leader, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Opposed and protested Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. FOR monthly journal, Fellowship, published articles and op-ed pieces in favor of Japanese Americans. See also A. J. Muste. (Irons, 1983, pp. 90, 130; Shaffer, 1998, p. 96)
Virginia Scardigli, staff, Placement Department, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Helped Nisei students to leave WRA detention camp to attend colleges and universities. (Austin, 2004, p. 67; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Right Reverend William Scarlett (1881-1973), theologian, Episcopal Bishop of Missouri 1935-53, ACLU, American Council Race Relations 1930-55, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, St. Louis, Missouri. (JACL Archives)
Marjorie Schauffler, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Marnie Schauffler, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Helped set up National Student Relocation Committee. (Austin, 2004, p. 35, 40, 51, 67, 68, 99-100, 175, 176)
Frederick A. Schiotz, American Lutheran Conference University Commission. Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Alfred Schmalz, clergyman, Congregational Christian Church, Darien, Connecticut. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Floyd Schmoe, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Seattle, Washington. Quaker activist, opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Criticized FBI for arresting Issei leaders after Pearl Harbor. Said actions cast doubt on the Japanese American community. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans in Tolan Committee Hearings. Worked with fellow Quakers Tom Bodine and Reverend Herbert Nicholson to help Issei who were arrested after December 7, 1941. Gave aid at the Missoula, Montana, Department of Justice camp. Helped Japanese Americans to resettle to their homes on the West Coast. During the war, he helped ensure the security of Japanese American property. (Girdner, 1969, p. 14, 121, 154, 327; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 91, 101; Schmoe, “Japanese Americans and the Present Crisis,” in The Churches and the Japanese in America. New York: FCC, March 1942, pp. 3010, in NCC Papers, R.G. 26, Box 8; Tolan Committee, pp. 11526-11535; “Seattle’s Peace Churches,” in Relocation in Japanese Americans: From Relocation to Redress, pp. 117-122)
August Scholle (1887-1979), president, Michigan State CIO, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Detroit, Michigan. (JACL Archives)
D. T. Schoonover, President, Marietta College, Ohio. Enthusiastically enrolled Nisei students. Mary Ono attended college here. (Austin, 2004, p. 113)
George Samuel Schuyler (1895-1977), prominent African American essayist, journalist. Chief editorialist Pittsburgh Courier 1926-1965. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. Wrote articles protesting and criticizing Executive Order 9066 and forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote, “To tear thousands of citizens away from their homes, work and businesses on so flimsy a charge that they MIGHT commit a crime is as high-handed a procedure as Hitler’s deportation of Jews and liberals or Stalin’s deportation of kulaks or America’s previous deportation of Indians… If this is to be the New Order here, then the war is already lost, as far as democracy is concerned. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 91, 162, 165, 168, 218, 220, 282n6; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 103-104; JACL Archives; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 19, pp. 457-458; Schuyler Papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library)
Colonel William P. Scobey, U.S. Army, Administrative Assistant to Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy; supported allowing Nisei to volunteer for U.S. Army and to create 442nd Regimental Combat Team. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 275, 278, 288, 332; Commission Report, 1982, p. 188)
Geraldine Scott, civilian employee Judge Advocate Office, Western Defense Command (WDC). Helped Gyo Obata get out of camp and placed at Washington University. (Austin, 2004, p. 14)
Emil Sekurac, co-op consultant, Topaz WRA camp; Topaz High School. Encouraged Niseis to go to college. Teacher, mentor, lobbied for return of Nisei to the Bay Area.
Alwyn C. Sessions, California Spray Chemical Company, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943
Professor Claude Settles, sociologist, San Jose State College, Red Cross, Sacramento, California. Pro-Japanese American educator. Reported to the California State Attorney General Kenny about anti-Japanese American groups during the resettlement period. Wrote an article refuting racist charges against Japanese Americans in the American Legion Magazine in October 1943. Resigned in protest from Legion in 1942 for their anti-Japanese American policies. Wrote and published poem, “The Restless Dead in Auburn,” about the memories of soldiers asking for fair treatment of Japanese Americans returning home. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 126, 193, 336, 370, 393, 395; Pacific Citizen, 23 June 1945, 21 July 1945)
Evelyn B. Settles. Chair of the Council for Civic Unity of San Jose. Worked with Anne Peabody and Marjorie Pittman. Council created hostel for returning evacuees in the San Jose area. It housed more than 1,423 resettling evacuees. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 408-409; Claude Settles Collection)
Harold Shake, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Bruno Shaw, commentator, Blue Network Radio Station. Sent telegram to American Legion Post 22 in Hood River criticizing their treatment of Nisei soldiers. He wrote, “Are you doing the same with Americans of German and Italian and other European ancestry?” (Tamura, 2012)
Mabel N. Sheldon, WRA student resettlement counselor, Gila River camp. Helped place seventy-seven Nisei students in fall of 1944. Most received financial support. Worked with Dr. Joseph Reagan. (Austin, 2004, pp. 123, 133)
California State Senator John Shelly. Later president of the California Federation of Labor. Civil rights advocate. Opposed to Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Spoke out on behalf of Japanese American families returning to the West Coast. Praised Nisei soldiers. After the war, opposed Karl Bendetsen appointment to post of assistant secretary of the Army because of Bendetsen’s role in the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (De Nevers, 2004, p. 251; Girdner, 1969, pp. 358, 395, 396, 414; Grodzins, 1949)
Charles Sheppard, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Les Sherwood, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Robert L. Shivers, FBI Chief, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1939-1943. Shivers was agent in charge of the FBI office in Honolulu. He was sent there on August 3, 1939, to study the handling of Hawaii's large Japanese population in case of war. Shivers realized that the AJA population was extremely loyal and not at all a threat to the United States or the war effort in Hawaii. The record shows a spectacular contrast between the handling of resident Japanese in Hawaii and on the West Coast after December 7, 1941. All 112,000 West Coast Japanese were forcibly removed to WRA camps inland early in 1942. In Hawaii, even closer to the war, only 1,441 Japanese out of 160,000 were arrested and forcibly removed, and 461 of these were later released. It was Shivers' enduring belief in the continuing loyalty of Japanese Americans that prevented the disastrous mass incarceration that occurred on the West Coast. Shivers’ feelings toward Japanese Americans were thought to be influenced by his young housekeeper and “adopted daughter,” Shizue “Sue” Isonaga. Shivers got to know Japanese Americans through his connection with Isonaga, her family, and community contacts. Shivers was later quoted as saying to Isonaga, “I couldn’t have let you and thousands of people like you be arrested.” Shivers was also highly influenced by the Morale Committee, established in Hawaii by community leaders Hung Wai Ching, of the Honolulu YMCA, Shigeo Yoshida, and University of Hawaii Board of Regents Chair Charles Hemenway. Shivers’ positive attitude toward Americans of Japanese ancestry was also influenced by Honolulu police officer John A. Burns. Shivers died in Hawaii in 1950 at the age of 56. He is buried at the Diamond Head Memorial Park in Hawaii. (Allen, 1950; Kimura, 1988; Lind, 1943; Odo, 2004; Shivers, 1946; see oral history collected by Ben Tamashiro; National Archives and Records Administration; The Hawaii Herald, Vol. 35, No. 5, Friday, March 7, 2014, pp. 1, 6; The First Battle: The Battle for Equality in War-Time Hawaii, 2007, documentary film; Ted Tsukiyama article, Honolulu Star Bulletin; The Hawaii Nisei Story, http://nisei.hawaii.edu/object/io_1162879181109.html)
Fred Shorter, African American, head of Seattle chapter of the NAACP. Supported Gordon Hirabayashi Supreme Court case against Executive Order 9066. Aided Japanese American draft resistance challenge to the government. (Robinson, 2012, p. 166)
Georgiana Farr Sibley (1887-1985), New York, wife of Harper Sibley. YMCA national board. Episcopal Church leader. Civil rights activist. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
Harper Sibley (1885-1959), agriculturist, national president, US Chamber of Commerce, one of the few businessmen who openly stood for Japanese Americans in early 1942, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. (JACL Archives)
Alice L. Sickels, Executive Director, International Institute of Minnesota, had the foresight and courage to welcome the Japanese Americans. (Twin Cities JACL)
Reverend Doctor Arthur R. Siebens, executive secretary, Toledo Council of Churches. Persuaded University of Toledo to willingly accept Nisei students from the WRA detention camps. Worked with Toledo’s Young People’s Federation. (Austin, 2004, p. 82)
Dr. Lee Paul Sieg, President of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, from 1932-1950s. Helped place Nisei in colleges and universities from the War Relocation Authority (WRA) detention camps. Major promoter of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 13, 58; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Robert Sievert, headed a youth group for Japanese Americans at the Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Twin Cities JACL)
Ester and John Sills, artist. Volunteered to work with and teach evacuees at the Gila River WRA camp in Arizona. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 214, 245, 308, 309)
Frank Sinatra, eminent singer, actor. Supported Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 370)
Colonel Gordon Singles, 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). Commander of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). (Murphy, 1955; oral history of Young O. Kim collected by Eric Saul)
Donnie Skogmo helped Issei Ben Ezaki to get his first business, the Shell gas station on 50th and Washburn in Minneapolis.
Ralph and Mary Smeltzer, Brethren Church. Helped conscientious objectors and teachers in the camps. Aided in setting up Chicago hostel for Japanese Americans leaving camp. Organized Student Relocation Program to help college students to leave camps. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Volunteered to go to Manzanar camp to teach school. (Girdner, 1969, p. 265; Commission Report, 1982, p. 415)
Mrs. Carl Smith, Secretary-Treasurer for the League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
E. C. Smith, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Mayor Elmo Everett Smith, publisher, Oregon Observer, Mayor of Ontario, Oregon. Encouraged Japanese Americans to settle in town of Ontario, Oregon, a small town on the Idaho border. More than 800 Japanese Americans worked in the area during the War.
Reverend Frank Herron Smith, head, Methodist Japanese Missions of the West Coast. District superintendent, Methodist Japanese Provisional Conference. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Organized testimony of ministers on behalf of Japanese Americans. (Austin, 2004, p. 173; Shaffer, 1998, p. 90; Tamura, 2012, p. 149)
Lieutenant Roger W. Smith, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Testified to bravery and loyalty of Japanese American community, especially the Nisei soldiers. (WRA: A Story of Human Conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, p. 130)
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Smullen, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Guy E. Snavely, President, Association of American Colleges. Member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Roy Sorenson, National Council Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). Supported the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Governor Charles A. Sprague (1887-1969), Salem, Oregon. Editor-in-chief, Oregon Statesman, 1929-68. Governor of Oregon, 1939-1943. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. As governor, after bombing of Pearl Harbor, urged civility toward Japanese Americans. Later reversed position and supported federal action “to remove this menace” and recommended detention of Japanese Americans “with decent treatment.” The only West Coast governor to boycott Congress’ Tolan Committee hearings for investigating the forced removal of Japanese Americans. Later regretted his “silent inactivity.” After gubernatorial defeat, became leading state editorial advocate for Japanese American civil rights through his Oregon Statesman newspaper, including support for regaining their homes and property after the war. An honorary pallbearer for Hood River Nisei veteran Frank Hachiya’s 1948 memorial service. (McKay, 347-57; Hegwood, 58-61; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 159; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 44-45, 195, 308-309; Girdner, 1969, p. 397; JACL Archives)
Dr. Robert Gordon Sproul (1891-1975), president, University of California, chancellor, University of California Berkeley. National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). Advocated on behalf of Japanese Americans during and after the period of imprisonment. Organized and founded the Committee on National Security and Fair Play. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Helped thousands of Japanese Americans leave the WRA camps and attend colleges and universities. (Grodzins, 1949; Girdner, 1969, pp. 25, 371; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 105-106, 108; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 181, 226; Austin, 2004, pp. 12-13, 18, 20, 25, 26, 27, 32, 33, 48, 54; McWilliams, 1944, pp. 258, 273; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 20,pp. 510-512; Sproul Papers, UC Berkeley Archives)
George Squires, African American, Seattle Urban League. Opposed Executive Order 9066. In a 1943 speech, stated: “If Japanese Americans could be evacuated, so could Negroes” (Robinson, 2012, p. 162).
Katherine Stanford, teacher, Bainbridge Island, Washington. Former teacher prepared lesson plans for former Island detainees at Manzanar WRA camp.
Mrs. Lawrence Steefel, Minneapolis Resettlement Committee.
Wallace Stegner, writer. Promoted positive images of Japanese Americans. Wrote One Nation. (Girdner, 1969, p. 369; Shaffer, 1998)
Dr. Jesse F. Steiner, educator, chair of the Sociology Department, University of Washington, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified at Tolan Committee Hearings on behalf of the Japanese American community. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 192-193; Shaffer, 1998, p. 89; Steiner, 1917, pp. vi, 111, 177; Steiner, 1943; JACL Archives; Tolan Commission Hearings, pp. 11557-11563, 11590-11595, 11598-11599)
Henry O. Stenzel, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (JACL Archives)
Lynn Crost Stern, author, War Correspondent, covered 100/442/522 for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, WWII. Visited Nisei soldiers in Europe, 1944-1945. Wrote highly favorable articles on Nisei soldiers in Europe. Strong and highly effective advocate for Nisei soldiers. Wrote book after the war. (Crost, Honor by Fire, 1997)
Ken Stevens, Finance Department, staff, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 67)
Right Reverend W. Bertrand Stevens, theologian, Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Los Angeles, California. (JACL Archives)
Adlai Ewing Stevenson, II (1900-1965), Special Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Helped the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) facilitate its programs and resolve administrative restrictions to help send Nisi to college during the war. Stevenson was later Democratic candidate for President in 1952, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Two-time candidate for President, in 1942 and 1956. U.S. Representative to the United Nations, 1960-1965. Governor of Illinois, 1948-1952. (Austin, 2004, pp. 76, 101, 165; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 20, pp. 723-725)
William G. Stevenson, staff, Student Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004, pp. 120, 157, 177)
General Joseph Warren Stilwell (1883-1946), Commander, China-Burma-India Theater, Deputy Supreme Commander Southeast Asia Command (SEAC), Commander of the 6th U.S. Army, 1946. In 1942, Stilwell opposed the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. He recorded in his diary that the Western Defense Command believe unfounded wartime rumors. He wrote: “Common sense is thrown to the winds and any absurdity is believed.” He further wrote: “The [Fourth] Army G-2 is just another amateur, like all the rest of the staff. RULE: the higher the headquarters, the more important is calm. Nothing should go out unconfirmed. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems at first.” General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell was the commander of the China-Burma-India theater until 1944. He was highly supportive of incorporating Nisei into all areas of operation. After the war, he supported Japanese American veteran causes. As commander of the 6th Army at the Presidio San Francisco, he protested the mistreatment of Japanese Americans returning home from war. Stilwell and his aide, Captain Ronald Reagan, presented a Distinguished Service Cross posthumously to the Masuda family. Their farm had recently been vandalized. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 7, 335; Maki, 1999; Myer, 1971, pp. 156, 281; Shoho, 2009; Tuckman, 1970; White, 1958; See Stilwell, Pacific Citizen, Ronald Reagan; Stilwell Papers and Diary, Hoover Institute Library, Stanford, California; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 64, 260; WRA: A story of human conservation, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1946, pp. 130-131; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 20, pp. 783-785)
A. L. Stone, student, University of California, member Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Mrs. Hattie M. Strong, Hattie M. Strong Foundation. Donated thousands of dollars to the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) to aid Nisei students to leave the camps and attend colleges and universities in the Midwest and East Coast. (Austin, 2004, p. 155)
The William Stowes family took in Ben Ezaki to live with them for a short while. (Twin Cities JACL)
Ed Sullivan, journalist, columnist for the New York Daily News. In “Little Old New York” column, he supported Nisei in Hood River, Oregon. (Tamura, 2013, p. 144)
Avon Sutton (1893-1963). President of League for Liberty and Justice in Hood River, Oregon. Wrote letters to local chain stores, including J.C. Penney and Safeway, encouraging them to sell goods to Japanese Americans. At his own expense, printed letter in local newspaper entitled “Witch Burning,” criticizing witch-burning spirit of prejudice that was also reducing the county to bankruptcy. Challenged, “Shall we write into the Bill of Rights, ‘For Citizens Only’…?” (Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, p. 238; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, p. 170)
Virginia Swanson (d. 1999), Japanese Baptist Church, Terminal Island, California. Virginia Swanson was a missionary with the Women’s Baptist Home Missions. Helped Japanese American detainees from Terminal Island. Visited the camps helping the Japanese Americans imprisoned there and others who resettled at the end of the war. (Kansha Archives)
Virginia Swanson found out that a crew of young men from Gila were terminated from their jobs at the camouflage netting operation in Shakopee, Minnesota, and had no place to work and no housing. She found them all temporary jobs cleaning up the Mission Farm summer camps. (Twin Cities JACL)
Monroe Sweetland (1910-2006). Civil rights activist, newspaper publisher (president-editor Milwaukee Review), Democratic Party National Committee member, Oregon state legislator, National Education Association political coordinator. Protested anti-Japanese hysteria in mid-30s as well as incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Invited by Japanese American Citizens League to serve as a national sponsor in 1944. World War II Red Cross field director who befriended Nisei Frank Hachiya in Marshall Islands before he was killed in action. Initiated hometown reburial of Hachiya’s remains three years later due to concern of father about intemperate local climate. Member of Oregon House (1952-4) and Oregon Senate (1954-60). (Robbins, William G., “the kind of person who makes this America strong,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2012, pp. 198-229; 2006_/; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 194-95, 268; Robbins, Oregonencyclopedia.org (http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/sweetland_monroe_1910_; JACL Archives)
Henry H. Sweets, secretary of Committee on Christian Education, Presbyterian Church. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Father John Swift, Maryknoll priest. Volunteer in church at the Amache WRA camp in Granada, Colorado. Helped Japanese Americans resettle on West Coast after the camps closed.
Raymond Gram Swing, journalist, radio commentator, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Washington, DC. (JACL Archives)
Charles Phelps Taft (1897-1983), lawyer, son of President William Howard Taft, director, War Relief Control Board, Office of Wartime Economic Affairs, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Cincinnati, Ohio. (JACL Archives)
Eleanor K. Chase Taft, wife of Charles Phelps Taft. Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (JACL Archives)
William P. Talley, chancellor, Syracuse University, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Agnes J. Taylor, Methodist Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Actively recruited Nisei for student nursing program during war. (Austin, 2004, p. 111)
Fred Taylor, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Dr. Paul S. Taylor, sociologist. Member, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play. Member of the Board, California State Board of Agriculture. (Girdner, 1969, p. 126; Austin, 2004, pp. 18-19, 26, 27, 181n27; McWilliams, 1944, pp. 106, 263, 273)
Thomas Temple, Chief of Community Services, Manzanar WRA camp. Helped Japanese Americans resettle from Manzanar to the Midwest. Escorted Japanese Americans to their jobs and schools. (Girdner, 1969, p. 352)
Elma Tharp, teacher, Hunt Junior and Senior High School, Minidoka WRA camp, Idaho. Former missionary in Japan.
Mrs. Maynard Thayer, Pasadena, California. Member, Committee on American Principles and Fair Play. She testified before a California State Senate Committee (Gannon Committee) on behalf of Japanese Americans. (McWilliams, 1944, p. 259)
Brother Theodore, Maryknoll father. Along with his friend Milton Goldberg and wife Harriet Goldberg, visited Manzanar WRA camp to comfort Japanese Americans imprisoned there.
U.S. Senator Elbert D. Thomas, Utah. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 333-334, 336; Myer, 1971, p. 327)
Dr. Dorothy Swain Thomas, Professor of Rural Sociology, University of California, member West Coast Committee of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Dr. John William Thomas (1902-1994), theologian, psychologist, Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. Secretary, Department of Cities of the American Baptist Home Missions Society (ABHMS). Dr. Thomas supervised the National Baptist Ministry and, with its Japanese American members, opposed the forced removal and imprisonment. Worked with Japanese Americans in the camps. Worked with other protestant denominations including Mennonites, Quakers (American Friends) and the Church of the Brethren to help Japanese Americans to leave the camps and resettle. After Pearl Harbor, Dr. John W. Thomas led efforts with focus on Japanese Baptists and in coalition with other Christians. He helped organize the Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. He continually opened his home to Nisei resettlers en route to college or a new home. Chairman, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, pp. 41, 43, 139, 140; Myer, 1971, p. xix; JACL Archives)
Reverend and Mrs. Lloyd Thomas, Members, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968), elder statesman, Presbyterian minister, attorney. Co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Six-time Socialist Party candidate for President 1928-48. Protested 1942 forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and was first national leader to do so. Worked closely with Hugh E. MacBeth, executive secretary of the California Race Relations Commission. Thomas wrote against forced removal in the socialist newspaper, the Weekly Call. Thomas also wrote and distributed a pamphlet, “Democracy and the Japanese Americans,” which called for an end to the imprisonment and for reparations. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. Leader of the Post War World Council. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 101, 200, 201, 314, 370, 477; Grodzins, 1949, p. 198; Robinson, 2012, pp. 76, 161-162, 176-178; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96; Swanberg, 1976, pp. 266-270; Weglyn, 1976, pp. 111-112, 114, 275, 298n; Commission Report, 1982, p. 376; JACL Archives)
E. W. Thompson, pastor, Japanese Methodist Church, Seattle, Washington. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified and submitted report to Tolan Congressional Committee in Seattle, Washington, February 1942. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11607-11609)
Dr. R. Franklin Thompson, the dean of freshmen at Willamette University. He took a clear stand for tolerance and understanding toward Japanese Americans. Maye Uemura said that his action made a difference for her. (Twin Cities JACL)
Joseph S. Thompson (1878-1970), San Francisco, California, businessman. Fair Play Committee. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Founder, executive, Pacific Electric Manufacturing Company. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (JACL Archives; Tolan Committee, p. 11200)
Samuel Thompson, African American, Los Angeles. Called for equal treatment for Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, p. 163)
Dr. Howard Thurman, African American church leader in San Francisco. Helped Japanese Americans during their resettlement from the camps.
Father Leopold Tibesar, Methodist Minister, Minidoka WRA camp, Hunt, Idaho.
Channing Tobias, African American leader, activist. Opposed Executive Order 9066. Signed petition against the order. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162)
U. S. Congressman John H. Tolan, California. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 141, 402; Myer, 1971, pp. 14, 23, 327; Commission Report, 1982, pp. 95, 110, 257)
Angeline L. Townsend, missionary, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Willard S. Townsend, Jr. (1895-1957), Chicago, Illinois, African American labor leader and civil rights activist. Founded Labor Auxiliary of Red Caps, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AF of L), later the International Brotherhood of Red Caps in 1938. He was an officer in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Signed petition opposing Executive Order 9066. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. (Robinson, 2012, p. 162; JACL Archives)
George R. Troop, president of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Admitted Nisei from War Relocation Authority (WRA) detention camps. (Austin, 2004, p. 14)
Elton Trueblood, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Vice President for 4th Term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as President of the United States. After FDR died, Truman was sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States. He served as President from 1945 to 1952. Honored Japanese American soldiers of the 100/442 in a special ceremony at the White House in July 1946. In it, he said: “You fought for the free nations of the world…you fought not only the enemy, you fought prejudice—and you won. Keep up that fight…continue to win—make this great Republic stand for what the Constitution says it stands for: the welfare of all the people, all the time.” Ordered the desegregation of the U. S. Armed Forces by Executive Order in 1948. (De Nevers, 2004, pp. 62, 224, 243, 249-252, 254, 269, 278-279; Girdner, 1969, pp. 419-421, 433, 434, 439-446, 479; Myer, 1971, pp. 115, 120, 148; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 21, pp. 857-862; Truman Papers, Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri)
George T. Trumble, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Cleveland, Ohio. (JACL Archives)
Right Reverend Bishop Henry St. George Tucker (1874-1959), theologian. Presiding bishop of the Episcopal church of the United States 1937-46, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, New York. (JACL Archives)
Norman Tucker, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Dr. Charles Turck, President of Macalester College. Served as chair of the St. Paul Council of Human Relations, which was organized to help people as they resettled in Minnesota. (Twin Cities JACL)
Lieutenant Colonel Farrant Turner. First commanding officer 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). (McWilliams, 1944, p. 287; Murphy, 1954; see oral history of Young O. Kim collected by Eric Saul)
William Tuttle, teacher, University of California Berkeley. Director of Welfare, Gila River, Arizona, WRA camp. After January 1945, Tuttle helped Japanese Americans return to and resettle in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Henry Tyler, educator, Sacramento Junior College, Sacramento Council for Civic Unity. Worked with Rabbi Norman Goldburg and Wayne Phelps (WRA) of the Sacramento Council for Civic Unity. Helped protect Japanese Americans’ civil rights. (Girdner, 1969, p. 394)
Richard Tynes, African American. Wrote article for the JACL’s Pacific Citizen calling for interracial co-operation. (Robinson, 2012, p. 165)
Major General J. A. Ulio, Adjutant General, U.S. Army. Flew into Hood River, Oregon, to confront town on its treatment of returning Nikkei. He declared, “Here we are fighting a war for our lives and you’re telling a citizen that they can’t buy groceries in your town!” He threatened to put Hood River under martial law. (Hood River News, November 24, 1944)
Tommy Venn, Florin, California
Charles Vetting, Rocky Mountain Seed Company, Colorado
Oswald Garrison Villard, board member of the ACLU, editor of The Nation, leader, Post War World Council. Veteran pacifist. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Girdner, 1969, p. 201; Grodzins, 1949, p. 198; Irons, 1982, p. 108; Shaffer, 1998, pp. 95-96)
August Vollmer (1876-1958), Berkeley, California, criminologist, educator. Berkeley Chief of Police, 1905-1932. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (JACL Archives)
U. S. Congressman Jerry Voorhis, California. Took a cautious stand and counseled for moderation toward Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, pp. 63-64, 79-80, 326-327; Myer, 1971, p. 327; Robinson, 2012, p. 178)
T. G. S. Walker, plantation manager, Kahuku, Hawaii. Helped American of Japanese ancestry plantation families.
Richard John Walsh, publisher Asia Magazine 1941-46, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Opposed Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Asia Magazine wrote against violation of civil rights of Japanese Americans. (JACL Archives; Grodzins, 1949, p. 198n)
Most Reverend James E. Walsh (1891-1981), theologian, superior general, Maryknoll Society 1936-46, protested 1942 forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Maryknoll, New York. (JACL Archives)
Frank L. Walters, attorney for the Nisei Gordon Hirabayashi, who challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. Walter challenged the order using the Fifth Amendment argument of the due process clause and equal protection of the law of the Fourteenth Amendment. (Irons, 1983, pp. 117-118, 131, 176, 173, 219, 154-159, 178-180, 186-192, 195, 220)
Dr. O. M. Walton, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945, Cleveland, Ohio. (JACL Archives)
Bernard G. Waring, member, Board of Directors, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Opposed to Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Testified before Tolan Congressional Committee in opposition. Testified with Floyd Schmoe, AFSC. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11526-11535)
Professor Oliver M. Washburn, chair, UC Berkeley Art Department. (Austin, 2004, p. 14)
Annie Clo Watson (1892-1960), San Francisco, California. Executive director, International Institute, 1933-1957. Cofounder (with Reverend Galen Fisher) of Pacific Coast Committee for American Principles and Fair Play (1942, Berkeley). Member, Central Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1941-1945. Annie Clo Watson provided space for JACL regional office in 1945. She also provided much needed advice and counsel for the leadership of the JACL. Advisor to WRA director Dillon S. Myer. Executive secretary, International Institute for Service to Immigrants and New Americans (a Community Chest Organization), San Francisco, California. (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33; Grodzins, 1949, pp. 181, 181n3; Myer, 1971, p. xix; O’Brien, 1949; Okihiro, 1999; JACL Archives; Tolan Committee, PT 29, March 11, 1942, pp. 11291-11292)
John Wayne (1907-1979), noted film actor. Visited Japanese American soldiers in the Pacific theater. Befriended MISLS Nisei soldier Harry Fukuhara, chairman of the Kansha Project. (Testimony of Harry Fukuhara)
Roy Webster, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Colonel (General) John Weckerling, founder, Military Intelligence and Language Service (MISLS). Founder of the Military Intelligence and Language School in the Presidio of San Francisco, California, in November 1941. (Girdner, 1969, p. 269; McNaughton, 2007; NARA; Swift, 2008, pp. 41, 77, 84-85, 145, 273-274, 278-279, 280-283, 288-289)
Reverend Dr. George A. Weiland, Protestant Episcopal National Council, Department of Domestic Missions. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 173)
Maurice Welk, attorney, War Relocation Authority (WRA). (Irons, 1983, pp. 66, 122-123, 137-139, 142, 144, 165-166, 200; NARA Record Group 210)
Gerhard Werton, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Roscoe L. West, Association of State Teachers Colleges, member of National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 176; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Edward Weston, Monterey, California, eminent photographer, photojournalist. Testified on behalf of Japanese Americans returning to the Monterey area after leaving the WRA camps. (Girdner, 1969, p. 400)
Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Chancellor, University of California. Supported Japanese Americans before and during War. (Girdner, 1969, p. 45)
Clement White, American Friends Service Committee, was assigned from Philadelphia to Minnesota to assist with the resettlement of the Japanese Americans and their families. He was a relocation officer responsible for placing many Japanese Americans into the job market. (Twin Cities JACL)
F. C. White, First Christian Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Walter White, African American. National secretary, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP officially opposed and protested Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. White wrote to Attorney General Frances Biddle to protest treatment of Japanese Americans and to demand improved conditions. White also wrote to the Justice Department urging them to establish a procedure to determine loyalty of Japanese Americans individuals and to let them return to their homes. The NAACP journal protested imprisonment of Japanese Americans in the article, “Americans in Concentration Camps.” In June 1944, with Clarence Pickett, Field Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), White lobbied Eleanor Roosevelt to ask husband, President Roosevelt, to close the detention camps and release Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 167, 284n43; Shaffer, 1998, p. 104; FDR Library, Hyde Park, New York; NAACP Papers, Group II, Box A325, C. L. Dellums to White, 7 July 1942, White to Biddle, 10 July 1942, White to Burge, 27 July 1942, Masaoka to White, 24 June 1942, excerpt from Board of Directors minutes, 26 July 1942; Crisis, September 1942, pp. 281-284, 301-302)
William Allen White (1868-1944), journalist, owner of Emporia Gazette, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1943-1945, Emporia, Kansas. (JACL Archives)
Claud R. Wickard (1893-1967), U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, 1940-1945. Opposed to Executive Order 9066 and the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Said that threats to Nikkei were a result of war hysteria and that removing Japanese Americans would adversely affect production of food on the West Coast. Recommended to Milton S. Eisenhower, head of WRA, that Nisei students be allowed to leave the relocation camps to attend colleges and universities, and to work in agriculture industries. (Austin, 2004, p. 19; Daniels, 1971, pp. 47-48; De Nevers, 2004, pp. 95, 130-132; Wickard Papers, FDR Library, Hyde Park, New York; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 23, pp. 329-330)
Ray Lyman Wilbur, M.D. (1875-1949), Palo Alto, California. Chancellor, Stanford University. Secretary of the Interior in Hoover administration. National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Sponsor, 1944-1945. Organized and founded the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, which vigorously opposed Executive Order 9066. (Girdner, 1969, pp. 26, 126; Grodzins, 1949, p. 200n51; McWilliams, 1944, pp. 67, 258; JACL Archives; Address of 9 March 1942 to General J. L. DeWitt, 24 March 1942 by Wilbur and Deutsch; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203; American National Biography, 1999, vol. 23, pp. 367-368; Wilbur Papers, Hoover Institute, Stanford, California)
Ross and Libby Wilbur, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Des Moines, Iowa. For two years, ran a hostel for Japanese Americans in Des Moines, Iowa. More than 700 former detainees were hosted by the Wilburs.
Reverend Howard G. Wiley, head, Minneapolis Council of Churches.
Ernest H. Wilkins, president of Oberlin College. Encouraged Nisei to attend Oberlin College. Worked with Relocation Council. (Austin, 2004, pp. 58, 102)
Roy Wilkins, African American community leader, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Wilkins criticized New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia for being against resettlement of Japanese Americans in New York. In May 1944, NAACP organized a rally in support of Japanese Americans. (Robinson, 2012, pp. 167, 284n42)
Herman Will, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Supported Japanese Americans, which helped them get out of camp. (De Nevers, 2004, p. 189)
Jim Willey, Member, League for Liberty and Justice, Hood River, Oregon (U.S. War Relocation Authority, Final Report of Activities of the Portland, Oregon District Office, Portland, Oreg. WRA District Office, Feb. 19, 1946; Tamura, L. Hood River Issei, 1993, pp. 237-8; Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 168-70)
Major General Charles A. Willoughby, Chief of Intelligence, Pacific. Chief of Intelligence under General MacArthur. Highly praised Nisei MIS soldiers. In report stated that the MIS may have saved a million lives and shortened the war by two years. (McNaughton, 2007; Girdner, 1969, p. 334; Commission Report, 1982, p. 256; NARA, College Park)
Atoy Wilson. Molly and her brother corresponded with their Nisei friends in the relocation camps. Kept in touch with them after the war. Sent gift to Japanese American friends who were imprisoned. (Letters are in the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles)
U. S. Congressman Charles H. Wilson, California. Congressman Wilson declared: “Our treatment of the Nisei is a shameful chapter in our national history…I think we can say with truth that it was the Japanese American fighting men that proved to our government of that day the loyalty and patriotism of the Nisei.”
George Wilson, San Francisco. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) president. Opposed and openly opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Wrote open letters of protest which were endorsed by California CIO Council. Worked with Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play (PCC). (Shaffer, 1998, p. 90; ACLU Papers: Ray Lyman Wilbur et al to Gen. DeWitt, 24 March 1942, 2394/23-25; press release, 18 May 1942, of the Committee on National Security and Fair Play, 2394/143-144; list of officers, executive committee members, and advisory board, PCC, n.d. [c. 1943], 2463/18; Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Molly Wilson (Murphy), African American, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California.
Abraham Lincoln “A. L.” Wirin, attorney. Council, Southern California chapter, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Opposed Executive Order 9066. Wirin argued, in testimony on behalf of Japanese Americans at the Tolan Committee hearings, that even in wartime, “there must be a point beyond which there may be no abridgement of civil liberties and we feel that whatever the emergency, that persons must be judged, so long as we have a Bill of Rights, because of what they do as persons…. We feel that treating persons, because they are members of a race, constitutes illegal discrimination, which is forbidden by the fourteenth amendment whether we are at war or peace” (Daniels, 1971, p. 78). Filed writ of habeas corpus petition in August 1942 on behalf of Ernest and Toki Wayakama challenging Executive Order 9066 and “military necessity.” Worked with the National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) chapter in the Yasui and Hirabayashi cases. Later, he helped Tule Lake detainees regain their citizenship. Fought to challenge the constitutionality of and overturn the California State Alien Land Acts against Japanese Americans. The cases were “People v. Oyama” and “People v. Hirose.” Wirin worked closely with African American lawyer Hugh E. MacBeth, Executive Secretary of the California Race Relations Commission. In January 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Alien Land Act. This was an important precedent for future civil rights cases, including “Brown v. Board of Education,” 1954-1955. (Daniels, 1971, pp. 78, 128; Girdner, 1969, pp. 183, 195, 202, 252, 329, 358, 364, 370, 438; Irons, 1983, pp. 110-111, 114-116, 130, 174, 177. 180-181, 189-190, 194-195, 226; Myer, 1971, p. xix; Robinson, 2012, pp. 124, 131-132, 146, 148, 179-181, 199-201, 204-206, 208-209, 216, 275n90, 275n92, 289n26, 290n32)
E. L. Wisler, First Christian Church, opposed the Watsonville-Pajaro Valley Defense Council resolution of February 23, 1943.
Alba Pichetto Witkin, volunteer, later joined American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), member, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004; Okihiro, 1999; O’Brien, 1949)
Ernest F. Witte, chairman, Committee on Wartime Social Services, Puget Sound Chapter, American Association of Social Workers. Opposed forced removal of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, PT 30, pp. 11541-11551)
Richard F. Wolfson, wrote “Legal Doctrine, War, Power, and Japanese Evacuation,” Kentucky Law Journal, May 1944, pp. 328-342. Article was a critical analysis of legality of forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Grodzins, 1949, p. 351)
M. D. Woodbury, University of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Seattle, Washington. West Coast Committee, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 182n33)
Walt and Mildred Woodward, publishers and editor of the Bainbridge Review, Bainbridge Island, Washington. Supported Japanese Americans with highly positive news articles and editorials throughout the war. Strongly opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (See oral history with Eric Saul, 1982; testimony of Paul Ohtaki; Bainbridge Review; Woodward, Mary. In Defense of Our Neighbors: The Walt and Milly Woodward Story. Bainbridge Island, WA: Fenwick, 2008.)
Dr. John Yancey, African American church leader, Chicago, Illinois. Helped Japanese Americans during the resettlement period. (Robinson, 2012, p. 170)
Wilhelmine Yoakum, Oakland International Institute, Oakland, California. Opposed forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans. (Tolan Committee, PT 29, p. 11136)
Chaplain Israel Yost. Chaplain, 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). Chaplain Yost wrote a series of letters home to his family regarding his activities as Chaplain for the 100th Infantry Battalion. (Murphy, 1955; Tanaka, 1982; Yost, Monica Elizabeth, & Michael Markrich. Combat Chaplain: The Personal Story of the WWII Chaplain of the Japanese American 100th Battalion. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.)
Honorable C. C. Young, Fair Play Committee. (Tolan Committee, pp. 11200-11203)
Reverend John Young, clergyman, Hawaii. Supported Americans of Japanese ancestry during the war. (Odo, 2004)
Dr. William Lindsay Young, president, Park College, Parkville, Missouri (near Kansas City). Moderator of the General Assembly Presbyterian Church. Young supported Nisei students at Park College despite vocal objections from local townspeople in Parkville. He was praised by the student newspaper, who said Young “took up the hatchet in behalf of the [Nisei] to a successful conclusion.” (Austin, 2004, p. 93; Girdner, 1969, p. 337)
Reverend Reuben Youngdahl, pastor, Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church, served as general chair of the Minneapolis Mayor’s Council of Human Relations. He worked to help eliminate racial and religious tension. (Twin Cities JACL)
Charles Edmund Zane (1922-2003). Civil rights activist on behalf of twenty-one Nisei who had been imprisoned for 25 months (April 1944- May 1946) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for willfully disobeying officer’s order. Discipline Barrack Boys (DB boys) were released in 1945 due to special clemency action and dishonorably discharged. From September 1948, Zane submitted multiple appeals to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records in Washington, D.C. Contacted legislators, the President, American Bar Association, President’s military aide, media, major organizations. Mounted final, unsuccessful campaign requesting new trial for thirteen Nisei in 1952. “Justice is not the business of the military,” he alleged. Thirty years later, case would continue through efforts of attorney Paul Minerich, son-in-law of Tim Nomiyama, one of the resisters. (Tamura, L. Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence, 2012, pp. 211-22, 224-27, 312; Castelnuovo, Soldiers of Conscience, 20008, pp. 41, 51, 87-91)
Mr. M. R. Zigler, director of the Brethren Service Committee (BSC), General Ministerial Board, Church of the Brethren. Supported National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC). (Austin, 2004, p. 174)
George Zook, supported idea of Student Relocation. (Austin, 2004, p. 27)
Chairman of Palo Alto and New York Units of the Fellowship of Reconciliation
Director, Seattle Oriental Evangelization Society
Reverend at Los Angeles Methodist Church