From the Director: Tom Ikeda

Last month Neal Katyul, acting Solicitor General, wrote how one of his predecessors, Charles Fahy, deliberately withheld important information from the Supreme Court during World War II in the Korematsu and Hirabayashi cases. The Solicitor General is the U.S. government's top courtroom attorney and is viewed as one of the government's most trusted lawyers. This admission of misconduct was unusual and covered in the press. This was not new information, but few people were aware that top government officials possessed intelligence information that indicated Japanese Americans were not a threat.

For this month's eNews I wanted to shine some light on another top U.S. government attorney who served during World War II and later came to regret his actions towards Japanese Americans. Francis Biddle was the U.S. Attorney General, who knew, based on the evidence, that the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans was unwarranted. For more details read the featured article below on Francis Biddle.

Featured Article

Francis Biddle Encyclopedia Entry

This month's featured article, written by Brian Niiya, editor of Densho's in-the-works online encyclopedia, focuses on contradictory Attorney General Francis Biddle, who opposed the mass removal of Japanese Americans yet approved arrests of community leaders and warrantless searches of Japanese American homes, approved Executive Order 9066 but questioned its constitutionality and later regretted his involvement in the incarceration.

>> Read the article

Archive Spotlight

Jim M. Tanimoto: A Frightening Incident in Tulelake

During World War II, Jim M. Tanimoto was held at the Tule Lake incarceration camp, California. In 1943, he refused to answer the so-called "loyalty questionnaire," and was removed with many other young men living in his same block to a nearby former CCC camp in Tulelake, California. In this video clip, Mr. Tanimoto describes one of the intimidation tactics used by the soldiers on the young Japanese American men.

>> View the interview excerpt
>> Register for the free Densho Digital Archive

Densho News

Densho Interviews in Chicago

This month Densho will be in Chicago collaborating with the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society to conduct video-recorded life history interviews. These interviews are being funded by the Japanese American Confinement Sites program of the National Park Service.

>> For more information about the National Park Service's Japanese American Confinement Sites program
>> For more information about the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society

One-Day Seattle Foundation Match

The Seattle Foundation is doing a one-day, online event called GiveBIG. King County residents who donate to Densho through the Seattle Foundation on June 23, 2011 will have their contributions matched with a "stretch pool" of funds provided by the Seattle Foundation.

>> Donate to Densho through the Seattle Foundation

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