October 15, 1942
From: The Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
To: The Secretary of the Navy.
SUBJECT: Proposals of Mr. Elmer Davis concerning Nisei.
Enclosure: (A) Letter from Mr. Elmer Davis to the President, The White
House, dated October 2, 1942.
1. The letter from Mr. Davis to the President appears to present three questions with respect to the Nisei, which require comment from the Navy.
2. The first concerns the bills now before Congress regarding which Mr. Davis wishes the President to make a statement. It would, of course, be highly improper for the Navy to make recommendations concerning these bills before Congress or enter into this controversy in any way.
3. The second is the matter of permitting the Nisei to enlist in the armed forces. So far as the Naval service is concerned, it is felt that permitting such enlistments would serve no useful purpose. It is not believed that the Nisei should be enlisted, nor that they should engage in work for the Navy except in a few special cases. These special cases would probably all come under the heading of naval intelligence in which field the individuals would be far more useful as civilian agents than as enlisted men.
4. The third point is Mr. Davis's statement that Army and Navy intelligence people and other competent authorities state that 85 percent of the Nisei are loyal and that it is possible to distinguish the sheep from the goats.
5. It is the concensus [consensus] of opinion of the Division of Naval Intelligence that at least 85 per cent of the Nisei are loyal to this country and that it is usually, perhaps almost invariably, possible to distinguish the sheep from the goats. However, we cannot guarantee that such distinction will be one hundred percent successful. There may be a few exceptions.
This office is in complete agreement with Mr. Davis general thesis that everything practicable should be done to encourage the loyalty of an lessen the prejudice against the Nisei.
J.H. Newton, Acting
Dictated Oct. 13, 1942 by Lieut. Col. Boone
Typed by F.M. Sublett.