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VY: Okay, so let's see. Should we talk about, how about we talk about pilgrimages and camp preservation now?

DS: Right, pilgrimage. First of all, President Clinton signed an executive order to establish Minidoka as a National Historic Monument or site. And that was during the latter last days of his administration. And I can't remember the date, but our son Dan, who worked in the White House, was involved in making it happen and putting it on the agenda. And that's a whole different story, but Dan has been involved in the Minidoka National Historic Site for, since its inception. But Dan invited me to come down to the White House, to the East Room where President Clinton signed the executive order that established Minidoka as a National Historic Site. It's the first and the last time I've ever been in the White House, but it was at a really exciting time because there were some of the principals in the Bill Clinton, President Clinton's administration, including, of course, Congressman Mineta and others. But an unsung hero is John Podesta, who was then Chief of Staff. And I'd like to tell a short story about John Podesta.

VY: Please.

DS: Although Dan may object. But as is in all political environments, it's difficult to get the issue to the top or for the President to consider it as an important issue. But Dan approached John Podesta, who was then Chief of Staff. And Dan told Mr. Podesta about the situation, about Minidoka, about Dan's parents being interned at Minidoka. And John Podesta said, "I know all about it. I know all about the internment." Because he grew up on the north side of Chicago, and many of the Japanese Americans who migrated out of the camps settled in the north side of Chicago. So he was quite familiar with the aftermath of the internment and its aftermath. And without any hesitation, John Podesta said, "Well, let's go with it." And it was essentially done, signed during the last days of the Clinton administration.

VY: Again, another example of the importance of exposing people to this information, right?

DS: Right. And that gets me sort of... this is my soliloquy about why I give the talk. You never know when and where the internment story will find a home and resonate with somebody. Years later, now, John grew up in the 1940s when there was a large influx of Japanese Americans, but years later, in 1980/'81, 1990, he remembered that and made a critical decision. So my feeling about telling the internment story is that it's like a put this experience of the Japanese American community in a bottle and I throw it out into the ocean. And somewhere, somehow, somebody will pick up the bottle, open it up, and read the story. So I think about high school students, nobody knows what their future will bring. But maybe someday a high school group will use the example of the internment and make a critically important decision.

VY: I just love that image of throwing the bottle out into the water and someone opening it and finding the note inside it.

DS: Yeah. Forty years later, fifty or a hundred years later. So that's my raison d'etre, my reason for giving these talks, because you never know where the seed will find fertile ground.

VY: It's so true. It's so true.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.