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TI: Let's go back. So at the end of the National JACL board meeting, you said it was sorta disappointing, they looked half-asleep. But were there any actions taken by the National JACL Board? Did they adopt anything, or was it just purely informational?

HM: They decided to set up a legislative action committee, and, who would be chaired by some person that would be able to define the legislative problems. And well -- after my presentation, and the following day, when I stuck around for the other stuff, Sugiyama and Dave Ushio came up to me and says, "You know, we don't really agree with what you're doing. And we don't see the justification in pursuing reparations." So I tried to change the subject and I knew what their response was going to be because the way they behaved during the meeting. So I asked 'em, "Hey, how about some help revoking E.O. 9066, because I had researched that area and found that E.O. 9066 was still on the books. It's in the Federal Code."

TI: Now why the shift in interests?

HM: Because I couldn't get any help from them on the main area. So I decided maybe they could help me, or they would be willing to help me, because E.O. 9066 is a thorn in the Nikkei history, really.

TI: And so you thought you could sorta take them in that direction by taking a, perhaps a smaller step?

HM: Yeah.

TI: Do something with them that --

HM: And they said they weren't interested. So I figured, well, these guys, they're past the point of me trying to do anything with them. That was my conclusion that I reached. So I decided well, maybe we'll do it on our own.

TI: And so when they --

HM: And after that we did it on our own, but they got the credit.

TI: The recision of E.O. 9066? And that happened in 1976, and we'll get to that.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.