Densho Digital Archive
Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection
Title: Ernest Besig Interview
Narrator: Ernest Besig
Interviewers: Chizu Omori (primary), Emiko Omori (secondary)
Location: San Francisco, California
Date: October 1, 1992
Densho ID: denshovh-bernest-01-0011

<Begin Segment 11>

EO: So, can you just describe the climate when people were returning?

EB: It's rather difficult to... these, some of these cases were occurring. It wasn't in San Francisco but it was... what's the name of that town below us?

EO: Salinas?

EB: Not... Salinas. Salinas area. Not Monterey, but Salinas area. I remember that there were problems in that area, but I didn't make a general study of this thing. You may remember that the ACLU was handling many other problems and I was the only one in the office who was handling problems with a part-time secretary.

EO: What were some of the other problems that were going on at that time?

EB: Do you want to read the ACLU News? I will turn over the ACLU News to you and you can read... there's one that I've been, was just questioned about just last week. The case of being, people being arrested, the Okies and the Arkies, who came to California and the people who gave them work were satisfied to have them work, but when the work was over they wanted them to move on, get out of there. And if they didn't move, they'd be arrested and charged with bringing their indigents into the state of California. Children, of course they brought in children. Sometimes relatives, heavens knows what. And we'd look for a test case. There were some twenty cases we checked in, in the valleys here, but we needed one that was available. And while I was in the ACLU office reading a newspaper, I discovered this case up north. We, I wrote the man and he had been released on $1,000 bail for having brought his brother-in-law from Texas who had been on WPA. The brother-in-law came here and the man who was arrested came down here to see me with his wife and kids. They all came in, he had a lot of kids, all of them came to see me. And we said we would take his case to court, and we did take his case to court. And it went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. And as a matter of fact, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in our favor. There's an example that you requested. I suggest if you want more examples, read the ACLU News.

CO: There's no end of civil rights cases.

EB: That's right. I was getting them all the time. But whether it be McCarthyism or whatever the issue, we were generally there. I represented immigration and naturalization cases where there was discrimination; there were all kinds of cases.

EO: It seems that hasn't changed much.

EB: I'm sure it'll continue. I'm sure it'll continue. And you've got to get... the ACLU continues in action, too, throughout the country. And not always doing something I agree with. Most of the time they are, but occasionally I, they're doing something I don't agree with. But a perfectionist is hard to satisfy. [Laughs]

EO: You keep up with it, though.

EB: Well, I'm, I don't stick my nose into the local ACLU. They're running the ACLU in their fashion, and not in Besig's fashion. When I first retired, I expressed my opinions but then I decided after a while that now I should attend to my own business.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1992, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.