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AI: Well, so, now, before your father passed away, actually, the war ended. Because then, in 1945, and how, do you recall hearing about the atomic bomb and --

EH: Well, you know, I'm sure I heard about the atomic bomb, and I hear about it even more, even later. Now, it becomes a very traditional issue. I also, we belong to a Church of the People, and we had joined Unitarians, and I had worked for the Quakers.

AI: Oh, later, you mean. Later.

EH: So all those groups would find the atomic bomb abhorrent. I do remember being on Lake Michigan's shores, it must have been VJ Day, with an old, a school friend of mine, a Sacramento friend of mine. Kind of realizing it was a momentous day, but not having much else to do, we were just relaxing. I think, I think the day that Roosevelt died kind of struck me, because in this typical office situation, nobody was that disturbed. And I thought, "Gee, this is one of the greatest men in American history. How come you're not, you know, you don't seem to be affected by it?" But that's about as far as I could go. Later I realized how Republican offices are, and you don't bring up Democratic heroes of any kind. Though one of the, one of the men's wife was a Quaker, and he, he often kept silent about the war. I don't know that he was a Quaker, but it was, it was also an interesting study of different personalities. Mr. Howard, fortunately, was a very good person. And it was interesting because, "Can you find more people like you?" [Laughs] I could all but say, "They're all like me." Because Niseis are fairly stereotypical. Once in a while I, some friend would locate me coming through Chicago, and we'd go have lunch. But Chicagoans actually became very scattered. The bulk of them still were on the south side.

My mother, there was a, the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago was on Lake Michigan. And that became one of the early congregations of Isseis particularly. And it was almost downtown, so they could come from all locations, and it was a, it was Sunday afternoon services. And it was interesting that people from a wide area, many, they didn't have to be Presbyterian, though the church was a Presbyterian church. That was one location. And then there were other congregations. I think there was a Buddhist congregation on the south side, and I, I think maybe a Congregational. Because we, here in Seattle were fortunate to draw somebody by the name of Muneo Katagiri. I think he was a Hawaiian Congregational minister. And it was very fortunate that he was the head of the board of the poverty program.

AI: Oh, later on, you mean?

EH: Because, (yes), because he was a level-headed guy, and he, he didn't get boisterous or loud, but he could certainly, with a firm hand, handle people who were trying to block progress of someone.

<End Segment 51> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.