<Begin Segment 20>

TI: When I came into your office this morning, I was looking at some of the pictures and things. And there's a really nice picture of you standing next to President Nixon.

TN: Oh, yeah.

TI: And I'm curious, did you and Wayne Collins ever talk about politics? In the country and what was going on, things like that?

TN: Well, he mentioned... I had a client in Japan, see, and he suggested that I help Mr. Isurugi. He was a Senate, he wanted to interview Nixon. It was after he was dismissed, remember. And we went to see him, and I think it was in the... what's that called? Right down in southern California.

TI: Oh, sure, I'm blanking now, too. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

TN: So, you know, he had a mansion there, you know, and he had a staff there. And he mentioned the, met a lot of these, the Japanese prime ministers like Kishi and those people, he said he knew them. And just wanted to pay respects to him, I suppose. Well, he didn't say much, though. [Laughs]

TI: But I was just curious, in terms of your politics, because my understanding is you're a Republican, and I think of Wayne Collins as being very liberal, and whether or not you guys ever had discussions about politics.

TN: Oh, Mr. Collins? Well, I asked him what, who did he vote for? "Mahatma Gandhi," he said. [Laughs] He wrote on the ballot, "Mahatma Gandhi."

TI: And what did you do when he said that? Did you just laugh?

TN: "The guy must be crazy," I thought. But, you know, come to think of it, that's what he thought. He didn't believe none of these people, being President, deserved that kind of job. [Laughs]

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.