<Begin Segment 7>

KL: Okay, so you were ready to move into funding and resource issues.

ER: One of the things that was frustrating to me about Manzanar, I would make occasional trips, somewhat frequent trips to San Francisco. And I would send a list into my boss, Stan Albright, the regional director, and I'd have a list, "Here are the issues going on in Death Valley. I really need some guidance on it. And here are some issues related to Manzanar," which included getting some funding, or is it okay to send George Voyta over there to do things like that. And I would go up to Stan -- and this happened on several occasions, not just one. But I recall on one occasion... almost every time I went in there, Stan was pretty receptive and supportive of things in Death Valley, "Yeah, fine, that sounds good, go ahead." Then I'd have a list of Manzanar, "No, no, no, no." [Laughs] And I think about the third time I had that happen, as I left Stan's office, I went by his secretary's office and I said, "What is wrong with Stan? Whenever I come in to talk about Manzanar, all's I get is, 'No, no, no.' What's going on?"

[Interruption]

ER: She said, "Ed, I'll tell you a little secret. He was born and raised and went to school in Bishop, California, and one of his best friends there was Bob Tanner," who I met, I knew Bob Tanner slightly. And he said, "Whenever he hears you're coming up here with questions on Manzanar, he calls Bob Tanner and says, 'Bob, what do you think about these things?'" Bob was still in his mind fighting World War II. He hated the Japanese; he did not want to see anything recognizing Japanese Americans in the Owens Valley. He was very much opposed to it. And Stan listened to him more than he did to me. And when I learned that, I kind of knew a little bit better how to work with Stan. But it bothered me that he took his advice from a guy who was still angry. So that made it a little tough. But fortunately, his subordinates there were supportive of it. But one thing, it's the old adage there: if you don't want to live with the answer, don't ask the question. [Laughs] I suspect there were people that got things done without saying, "Stan, should we do this?" just do it. [Laughs]

KL: Were there others in the regional office who were opposed to Manzanar or were throwing up blocks, or was it pretty much Albright who was a solo show and others were supportive?

ER: Well, as I recall, he's the only one that felt that way. I mean, there may have been others, but he's the only one I had to interface with. The others I interfaced with either were not involved with Manzanar and never commented on it, or were very supportive. As I say, the people in Dave Cherry's, they were all supportive because they were all involved. But Stan is really a decent human being, and as a person, I like him, but he had some blockages in his vision of where things should be and go. It was kind of sad, but it was true.

KL: Were you surprised that his secretary told you that?

ER: No. I was pleased, because it helped me. Because I just, "What is wrong with him?" Well, that gave me the clue. And you know, when you understand somebody who is the opposite of your thought, if you understand where they're coming from, you can approach them a little differently.

KL: You said you had encounters with Bob Tanner at some point?

ER: Well, just on positive things. He had a string of mules, and he'd bring the mules down when they'd ever have the twenty mule team wagon functioning in Death Valley, he would be involved in that. But I've never talked with him on the issues we're talking about now, is basically, the couple times I ran into him, maybe just a couple, it's all about these mules and pulling the wagons and all that. So he just seemed like a great guy, other than his take on the Japanese Americans.

KL: That's kind of interesting that he continued to be a Death Valley supporter even though he probably connected you and the park with the Manzanar endeavor.

ER: Yeah. Well, I don't think he took anything personally, and I didn't take anything personally. But that was just... but there were people that really did not want to see it in the Owens Valley.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.