<Begin Segment 7>

EK: Why don't we move on to the section about personal impact of your experiences working with ORA?

MW: You know, one of the things -- and after you said that, I was thinking, one of the things that really struck me about the Office of Redress Administration is that, unlike everybody else in that office, I've got a background in redress. I grew up with it, so I know the history, knew the history. But what really struck me was the fact that the people in the office, who came from all sorts of other backgrounds, really bought into it. That for them it was more than just a job, they really were committed to what they were doing and understanding it. And to me... but that was a takeaway that I didn't realize until later. In reflection, thinking, wow, those people were really committed to the mission of what we were trying to do. The first ceremony, the first check ceremony, so the idea was to find the ten oldest recipients and have them come. Obviously, even at that time, the oldest recipients were close to a hundred or over a hundred. And so what we realized, okay, the ten oldest, able to travel people, and so that's what, ended up how they got chosen. But I remember we were down below the Great Hall, and they had, I'm not sure the mode of transportation, but we saw them coming in in their wheelchairs with their family members and all that. And I just remember, Aaron and I were just like, grabbed each other, and, "Oh, my god." Because you're seeing the fruition of those years of work, and seeing them come down the hall was, like, oh, my god. And then during the ceremony, luckily all the staff was in back, because we were all like, all sobbing. I mean, it was really, really moving.

EK: What do you think were the biggest challenges for you either personally or for the office?

MW: Like I said, thankfully I think I came in after the procedures and the process was set up, so it was relatively easy as far as that. And like I said, I don't know that we made a whole lot of major changes. Maybe little tweaks here and there, but the process was pretty well established.

EK: So what would you say were the office's biggest successes?

MW: Being able to get it done in a timely manner. Succinctly, that would be what I would say. We had that deadline of October 1991, and I don't know why we had that deadline. But anyway...

EK: I think it might have had to do with the funding cycle or something.

MW: Maybe, yeah. But that I couldn't remember why, but I know October 1991 was when those first checks had to be issued. So it was a big crunch to get to that point. But like I said, everyone pitched in, everybody did the work. One of the funny stories is that... and each of those sections really worked as a team. And that was the one thing that I think Bob instilled, and something that Aaron and I tried to instill was the whole team concept. "Okay, you guys are the verification unit." And so it really was setting up a feeling of family, which I think also helped as well. Like I said, most of them were contractors, so they really had no reason to buy into doing a good job or anything, right? But they did, and many would then... I mean, I was able to share lots of stories, a lot of history. Because I'm like, "Well, how did this come about?" So I was able to do a lot of that kind of stuff. And they were interested.

EK: Were you able to travel to do the other original, the first round of check presentation ceremonies?

MW: No.

EK: Just in D.C.?

MW: [Nods] I think we were still busy verifying people's checks. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2019 Emi Kuboyama. All Rights Reserved.