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TI: And so, did you end up talking with primarily congressmen who were also veterans, so there was a connection between you and the people, the congressmen that you lobbied?

RT: Well, we talked against some of 'em that were vets themselves, but there was a lot of 'em that weren't. And, you know, it always comes back to me -- I lobbied this one fellow from Florida (Senior Congressman, Charles Bennett). And we had a nine o'clock appointment with him, there was three of us that went there, and all three of us were volunteers. In other words, we had served our time in the army. And so, we went to see him because he was supposed to be a tough one. And we had a nine a.m. appointment with him. And so we got there a little bit early, because we don't like to aggravate these people. You know, you've got to do everything right. But he wasn't there. And we waited in his office until nine-fifteen. And he comes walking in there and... well, I shouldn't say it like this, but I will, what happened -- but he was a very foul-mouthed person. And he come in there -- we were sittin' there -- and he comes in and he says, "What in the hell are you son of a bitches doin' in my office?" So we said, "Sir, we had a nine o'clock appointment with you to talk about the redress." And his answer to that was, "My goddamned government doesn't have to apologize to any son of a bitch. You understand what I'm sayin?" So we said, "Yes." He says, "Then what the hell are you still sittin' here for? I want you guys to just get the hell out of my office." So two of them stood up and they started to walk out, and I stayed there; and he turned around and looked at me, and he said, "What the hell are you still doin' here?" And, you know, I had been very fortunate -- there was a lady by the name of Judy Niizawa, and she had a book that she called Bible of all the politicians...

JN: By Grant Ujifusa. (The Almanac of American Politics by Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa)

RT: Yeah, and this was written by Grant Ujifusa. Well, it told you who was congressmans, who was senators, and what they were like. And I studied the one on this congressman and I found out that he was a veteran and that he also was wounded during the war. And it's an identical wound like I have. So when he kicked us out but I stood behind and he wanted to know what the hell I'm still hangin' around for, and I turned around and I said to him, "Sir, I just want to thank you." And he said, "Thank me for what? I'm not going to do a goddamned thing for you guys." And I says, "No sir," I says, "I wanted to thank you because you became a congressman right after the war ended. And you're still a congressman. And I happen to know you have a wound just like mine, so when you wake up in the damn mornings, you hurt like a son of a bitch." And I says, "Sir, even with that, you take all this pain and everything, to help run our government." So I said, "I'd like to certainly thank you, you're a damn good man." And I looked at him and I could see his eyes got a little watery and I thought to myself, "I think I've got this son of a bitch." [Laughs] And so I says, "Sir," I says, "I'd like to say thank you and I'll shake your hand," and I shook his hand and I walked out.

Now to continue the story about him, when it came time for the vote to come up on the redress deal -- we were back in Washington, D.C. And we were sittin' in Congress there to see how the votes were going to come out. Well, you know, they have an area there that's strictly for handicapped people. So I was sittin' in the handicapped zone, and I had my crutches and I was leaning against them like this and... this congressman was supposed to talk against the redress bill. And he had the full time of three minutes. And they announced for him to go up to the podium, and that he has three minutes to talk against the redress bill. So he got up -- and I was watching and as he walked down the aisle between the seats, I saw him, he looked up and he stopped once and he stood there for a while, and all of a sudden he walked to the end of the row, went down the stairs, and instead of taking a step up to the podium he went right out the door. And I was confused, I was sittin' up there -- what the hell is he doing? He was supposed to talk for three minutes against the redress, and I couldn't understand that, until I looked at... you know, in the House there, they have all the congressmen's name and at the end of each row, there's a blue button, there's a red button. Red button, you're against; blue button, you're for. I see, I looked at his name and he's voted for the redress bill.

TI: Wonderful.

RT: So, gee, I was... whoa, that's great -- I don't know what the hell's the matter with him, must be gettin' sick or something. So I looked up there and I see all the junior congressmen -- they're all voting for it. And then, that I can understand because since the other guy was a senior, they were all following his suit. And that brought us eight more votes.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.