<Begin Segment 17>

TI: And so what was it like being a young married couple in Japan during this time?

LH: Well, actually, it was very good, and the Japanese were fascinated that, you know, to see a Nisei married to a Caucasian. And we had many, of course, obviously, very close American friends in the embassy and the business community and amongst the Japanese as well. I mentioned Admiral Nomura, Kurusu family, though I don't remember the husband, maybe he had passed away by then, the other Japanese ambassador that was in Washington when the war started.

TI: So I'm just imagining, this is pretty heady stuff. I mean, I'm thinking, so you married into, one you're a foreign service officer, which is prominent, but to then marry into this very prominent American family, a woman whose father's a four-star admiral, gives you access to so many different individuals, so many different situations.

LH: That's true, it did, and I admit, it helped my, my career. I don't say it made my career, it's the same old business, you make life on your own. The doors may be opened for you, but you've got to prove yourself. But it certainly helped in many ways, and it was not easy for both of us from that standpoint, and...

TI: I'm sorry, why do you say that? Why wasn't it easy?

LH: Well, because, you know, I won't mention certain ambassadors' names, but, and even certain presidents' names, that still of the mind that, you know, we are a Caucasian nation, and the Caucasians run this country. I mean, to this day, nothing against our great senators, starting from Inouye, who I know fairly well, and you go to Mineta, who became a cabinet member, two cabinet positions. Presidents will say, "Who? Mineta, who's he?" "Oh, yeah, that's that guy with the Asian face," you know? It's still, even though they themselves may not be prejudiced, it's just part of the makeup. It still hasn't dawned on so many people that, as it has in California, that we are really a force. That the minorities, I mean, after all, Latinos will be the majority in a generation or two. And I think we're already, all minorities, I think just about surpass Caucasians in the State of California.

TI: In California, I think that's true, yes.

LH: I can mention an episode or two about my relationships with various presidents, but maybe you want me to go on from...

TI: Well, so I'm curious, your relationships with, your entre into meeting presidents, you mentioned Admiral Nomura. Was that more from your, your career, or was it from the family connections?

LH: Well, in Nomura's case, it was the family. In many others, the Kurusu family, it all occurred through some negotiation I was involved in officially. So it's a combination of the two. And then, my wife, actually, doesn't like to be called "Admiral Cooke's daughter." She wants to be known as Mary Maynard Cooke, or Mary Maynard Cooke Horiuchi in her own right. And I can understand that, because her younger brother, who did very well at the naval academy and the Air Force, and then as an instructor at the Air Force Academy as a assistant secretary under Richardson and others, but never felt he made it in life because his father was so well-known. And he himself had what you call a EP, Executive Position. I think for most Americans, they don't really understand the foreign service and some of the other gradations, but they understand the GS system, and there's GS 1 through 15, and then there's super grades from 16 through 18. And then beyond that, it's called the Executive Position, from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1 would be a cabinet member, 2 would be an agency head. Well, he was an EP5. I mean, that's above a GS18, that's pretty darn good. But yet, he felt he never really made it, 'cause his father was so great. So I can understand that syndrome, of not wanting to be known as "the daughter of," or "the son of."

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.