<Begin Segment 2>

TK: You had a lot of other opportunity to take other positions, what made you take this one in particular?

AM: Well, you know, even just reading what you read in law school, you, you're very struck by these cases. This is not what you expect the Supreme Court of the United States to be deciding. Especially when there does not appear to be any evidence that directly ties the defendants in the cases to any kind of clear (threat), espionage, (or) even misbehavior. So that you are (...) grabbed by that, and I obviously talked with Joan Bernstein about what the commission was doing. And by that time a number of hearings had been held, and she gave me some sense, and I think some of the transcripts of what had gone on in the hearings and it didn't take long for me to feel that this was something I would really like to know a great deal more about. And so I decided that it made a great deal of sense from my point of view to take this, take this opportunity.

TK: Do you remember if there's one particular incident, or one particular event that made you suddenly say, "Oh, I think this is worth exploring"? Or was it more of a different kind of process -- gradual?

AM: Well we, it was decided to do it very quickly. And I do remember going over to Jodie's house. She lived not very far from where I lived at that point. And sitting around, literally around her dining room table, just talking about what her experience had been with the commission, and what my reaction was to reading the handful of things that she'd sent over for me to look at a day or two ago. And then her saying that she really (needed) some help here. That this was, it was an important job and a difficult job and we'd work together a lot and she thought that I could really be of aid and assistance. And it didn't take long, in the course of the two or three hours that we were chatting there, I really decided that I would do it.

TK: Did she think that you had any particular talents or attributes that made her come ask you as opposed to many of the persons that obviously she knew?

AM: I think probably two things. She's always believed I had a strong sense of fairness (...). This is a very emotional topic in many ways, and that aspect would be valuable. And she had seen in the time that I'd really been her chief lawyer, that I spent a lot of time, in that case, dealing with briefs, legal briefs, (...) trying to get the writing clear and effective and persuasive. And I think she felt that would be very important in this position and that it would be valuable to her.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.