<Begin Segment 1>

FC: Would you describe the Japanese American Citizens League response to the constitutional issues of evacuation and camp?

RD: The Japanese American Citizens League, which from the beginning counseled cooperation with the government, was very upset -- at least its leadership was very upset -- when protesters like Gordon Hirabayashi and Min Yasui and there were a few other people, but these were the two people who were most significant at that time, objected to the whole procedure. Min went downtown and insisted on being arrested, Gordon, after a while, refused to obey the curfew. And very unwisely, I think, the leadership conducted a campaign of vilification against these people, and says, "Well, if it's unconstitutional, then we'll get our rights back, etcetera, but let's not protest now." I don't think -- I think it would have been disaster if everybody or even large segments of the community had decided to resist given the, even passive resistance. The resistance of Min Yasui and Gordon Hirabayashi was, of course, very, very much in the American tradition. There was no two ways about that. And I think they should have been supported or at least, at the very, very least, a neutral objective attitude, I think no one could criticize even now if the leadership had said, "Well, we don't think that's a correct position but, of course, they're within their constitutional rights, we don't counsel people to do that but certainly there's a long American tradition of doing this." The JACL did not do this at this particular time. Later, however, after everyone was in camp, the JACL began to join briefs, amicus curiae, to cases that went before the Supreme Court. But in 1942, when the chips were on the line, the campaign was -- and there was a campaign of vilification particularly against Yasui -- there were leaflets and speeches made, and I think that this set some of the tone for the way in which the JACL would operate. I think, psychologically, its leaders were in a very difficult position, they had very little experience, although they assumed that they were speaking for all the community and much of the outside world, both the government and the people generally took them at their face value, actually, they were only a -- membership in the JACL represented only a small minority of the community and I think this made them less willing to countenance multiple points of view. This is an essentially authoritarian kind of position which people who are in a sense usurping authority quite often take.

However, to suggest as some people have suggested that it would have been better if everybody in Japanese America had resisted, I think are not reading the 1940s very, very well. I think that would have been a disaster for the Japanese American people and I think would have resulted in measures even more repressive than those that the government actually adopted.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1998, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.