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FS: So anyway... and there's an interesting thing beyond all that. When I talked to Mr. Mondale, I talked to him three times in that series of conversations. And the last one he said to me, "Frank, the President and I really appreciate your taking this job, and any time there's anything I can do for you, I want you to call me." Now, you know what happened? Meanwhile, I became the IG in DOT, my friends convinced me to run for JACL president, I ran as national secretary treasurer first, because I didn't know the JACL, but they convinced me that I could help them and that's what I wanted to do.

TI: And what year was this when you became the national secretary treasurer of the JACL?

FS: 1983.

TI: Okay, so this is right during the throes of redress, I mean, the CWRIC, the commission hearings taking place, Personal Justice Denied, the report had just come out. Okay, I was just trying to set the scene in terms of where things were with the JACL.

FS: Yeah. In fact, you see, I was being asked at that time to head up the commission (staff). That was the other thing that was sitting on the table.

TI: Explain that again, head up the CWRIC?

FS: Yeah. You know, Paul Bannai took that job, and I was happy he did, because I was interested in the redress, but I didn't want that job.

TI: So, I mean, this was internal to the JACL, you're talking about, Paul took it over? When you say the commission, I'm not quite sure. Because I think of the chair as Joan Bernstein.

FS: Joan Bernstein wanted me to take that job.

TI: So what was Paul's job? I guess I'm not clear.

FS: Paul took over the head of the commission (staff). I forgot what it was called, but he was head of the staff.

TI: I didn't realize Paul did that, actually.

FS: Yeah. And Jody Bernstein was, of course, I got to know Jody quite well. But anyway...

TI: Okay, all right. So that was also on the table for you. Inspector general or this other position?

FS: Yeah. If I took that job on the commission, of course, I'd have to leave, and I didn't think that was appropriate. Anyway, what I wanted to mention to you, the interesting thing is, Vice President Mondale had told me, "Call me anytime." So meanwhile, I'm rocking along, I became national secretary treasurer of the JACL, then national president. And we were getting ready to really push on the redress program, and we were really hurting for money. We were doing okay on the national budget, but we just needed money. And Ron Ikejiri got this guy who was a professional rollout fundraising campaign guy. And Ron calls me up and says, "Hey, we've got to meet with this man," I forgot what his name was. [Narr. note: Gary Serota, SRS Consultants, Inc.] And we're getting ready to go out with this rollout solicitation. So when we're meeting with this guy, one of the things that comes up is he says, "We need somebody to sign this letter of solicitation, and we need somebody" -- and this man was a Caucasian guy, he said, "I don't think you should have a prominent Japanese American, I think you ought to try to get somebody other than a Japanese American. I think it would help better." And my wheels were turning, and then I thought immediately of Vice President Mondale's promise to me of helping. So I told them, Ron and this other guy, I said, "You know, I think I got just the guy. Let me go to my office and call him." As soon as I went back to my office, I called Vice President Mondale's office and I explained to the secretary who I was and what I was calling about. He gets on the phone and he says, "Hi Frank, what can I do for you?" I said, "Mr. Vice President, I've got a favor to ask of you." And I explained to him what we were doing, and he says, "Why, by all means." And the interesting thing is, not only did he agree to sign that letter of solicitation, he gave us his mailing list, his personal mailing list, and what a break that was for us. So, I always remember and am so grateful to Vice President Mondale.

TI: At this point, let me just back up for a little information. So you mentioned Ron Ikejiri, so he's the national director of the JACL at this time?

FS: No. At that time, he was Washington, D.C. representative.

TI: Okay, so he's a Washington, D.C. representative.

FS: Ron Wakabayashi was the...

TI: National director.

FS: National director.

TI: Okay. And then Vice President Mondale, at this point he wasn't in office, though, right? This was after he had left?

FS: Yeah, he had left office, and he was with a law firm in Georgetown just a few blocks over from where my offices were.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.