Walter bill override, Korea Nisei and the road to the Chicago convention

Vol. 31, No. 11, September 16, 1950. 8 pages. View this issue

Congress and the coming JACL convention shaped the news of September 16, 1950. The House voted 307 to 14 to override President Truman’s veto of the Walter resolution, which removes race as a requirement for naturalization but adds security provisions. His veto message appears in full on page 2. Plans for the National JACL convention in Chicago ran through the issue: Interior Secretary Oscar L. Chapman as banquet speaker, a Nisei air race from Los Angeles, and the Hiura brothers defending their bridge title. Larry Tajiri wrote two columns, and Ernest Maass profiled Dr. Hachiro Yuasa.

Also inside: the Salt Lake JACL’s restoration of the Masashi Goto memorial, reports on Nisei soldiers in Korea, and a story of Mas Terashita, a 442nd veteran turned away from Virginia beaches. Page 6 covers Nisei baseball, with Fresno sweeping Denver, and page 8 carries news from chapters in Omaha, Cleveland and Chicago.

What’s in this issue

Community

  • Salt Lake Group Restores Memorial to Issei Aviator, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The memorial to Masashi Goto, the Los Angeles aviator who died in 1929 when his plane crashed in the Uinta mountains, was re-erected on Sept. 9 at a new site across the road from its original location. The Salt Lake JACL chapter sponsored the restoration with help from the State of Utah, which supplied the wrecker used to raise the 8,000-pound granite stone from the creek bed.
  • Nisei Crowned Queen of Fair in California, by P.C. Staff, page 1. May Fujimoto was crowned queen of the annual Del Rey community fair on Sept. 7 before an audience of 2,500. The 20-year-old Fresno State junior was honored by the Lions Club.
  • Central California JACL Council Meets in Delano, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Central California JACL district council met in Delano on Sept. 10 and discussed the Walter resolution veto, evacuation claims progress, and the method of electing national JACL officers by ballot-by-mail. Speakers also addressed plans for a future credit union.
  • Kageyama Files Challenge to Ouster Move, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Honolulu Supervisor Richard Kageyama challenged the Territorial Supreme Court’s jurisdiction over impeachment proceedings arising from his alleged false loyalty oath regarding past Communist membership. His attorney argued impeachment applies only to refusal of the oath.
  • Omahans Hold Party for New Inductees, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Sixty friends and relatives attended a dinner in Omaha honoring three JACL members entering military service. The event was sponsored by the Omaha chapter and the Grass Shack Cafe.
  • Memorial Rites Held for Nisei War Photographer, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Joint memorial services were held in Tokyo on Sept. 9 for three International News Service correspondents, including Nisei war photographer Ken Inouye, who died in a plane crash near Korea. Some 200 colleagues attended.
  • Cleveland Holds Miniature Confab, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Cleveland JACL held a mini-convention rally at Fells Lake Park on Sept. 10 to boost registration for the Chicago national convention. About 75 members attended sporting events and a picnic supper.
  • Torrance Girl Wins Sorority’s Scholar Award, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Diane Sasajima of Torrance, California, won the 1950 Chi Alpha Delta alumnae scholarship. She graduated from Narbonne High School and will attend UCLA.
  • Chicago Bowlers Begin New Season at Hyde Park Alley, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Four teams opened the Chicago JACL men’s league season with perfect records on Sept. 6. Officers were elected and high series and game honors were recorded.
  • Nisei Growers Get Ribbons for Entries in Alameda Fair, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Members of the Nisei Growers received ribbons for their Alameda County Fair entries and helped the county take second place in the plant vegetable division. The presentation was made at the Southern Alameda County JACL meeting on Sept. 9.

Military & Veterans

  • Hawaii Will Send Two Observers to JACL Convention, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Katsuro Miho and Benjamin Tashiro of Hawaii will attend the National JACL convention in Chicago at the national organization’s invitation. National director Masao W. Satow announced the arrangement.
  • Buddy System Protects Non-Caucasian Troops in Korea, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The 5th Regimental Combat Team, more than 40 percent non-Caucasian and mostly Nisei, has used a buddy system to prevent mistaken identity in combat in Korea. Soldiers say the system works well and no one has been killed by friendly fire.
  • Report 2 Nisei Hurt, 2 Missing in Korean War, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Defense Department’s Korean War casualty lists identified four Nisei soldiers, two wounded and two missing in action. The lists include their families’ addresses in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Pueblo, Colorado.
  • Dr. Hachiro Yuasa Says U.S. Is Motherland of My Dreams, by Ernest Maass, page 2. Dr. Hachiro Yuasa, entomologist, educator, and president of International Christian University in Japan, describes the United States as the motherland of his dreams. The article traces his career, his wartime work helping Japanese Americans, and his years of opposition to Japanese nationalism.
  • ‘Go for Broke’ Vets From Hawaii Visit Graves of Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Six 442nd veterans from Hawaii, invited to screen-test for MGM’s Go for Broke, paid respects at the Nisei war dead monument in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles. They were escorted by members of the Nisei Veterans Association.
  • Nisei Army Captain in Korea, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Capt. Bert Nishimura, a veteran of the 100th Battalion and 442nd, is serving as an administrative officer in Korea and hopes for a battalion command. The column also describes Eleanor Nakagawa’s work in Tokyo and the valuable role Nisei translators play for the Army.

National

  • House Overrides Truman Veto of Walter Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The House voted 307 to 14 to override President Truman’s veto of the Walter resolution, which removes race as a requirement for naturalization but adds security provisions. Reps. Walter and Judd led the floor fight for passage while Rep. Celler argued against the security provisions.
  • Nisei Photographer Freed After Three Days in Jail, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Birmingham police released Harold M. Hayashida, a Chicago Nisei and World War II veteran, after he was jailed for three days on vagrancy charges while photographing a steel mill. An investigation found him to be an American citizen born in Hawaii.
  • Daughter of Japan’s Special Envoy Regains American Citizenship, by P.C. Staff, page 1. President Truman signed a bill on Sept. 6 restoring American citizenship to Jaye Kurusu Maddox, daughter of Japan’s special envoy Saburo Kurusu. She had lost her citizenship by voting in Japan’s 1946 elections.
  • President’s Message Explains Reason for Walter Bill Veto, by Harry S Truman, page 2. President Truman’s veto message on H.J. Res. 238 argues the Walter resolution’s security provisions are vague and ill-defined and could weaken naturalization laws and threaten civil liberties. He supports removing racial bars to naturalization and urges Congress to reconsider the measure.
  • Hobbs Proposes Amendment to Repeal Fourteenth Amendment, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Rep. Hobbs proposed a constitutional amendment to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship and equal protection guarantees, which Masao Masaoka described as having no chance of passage but notable as a backward step. Masaoka noted that gains for persons of Japanese ancestry have relied on that amendment.

Commentary

  • Interior Secretary Chapman Will Speak at JACL Banquet, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Interior Secretary Oscar L. Chapman will be the main speaker at the JACL national convention banquet in Chicago on Oct. 2. Special awards will also go to MGM producer Dore Schary and writer-director Robert Pirosh for their work against discrimination in film.
  • Nisei Veteran Barred from Virginia Beaches, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Mas Terashita, a Nisei veteran of the 442nd, was turned away from several Virginia and Maryland beaches because of his race, leaving his young son asking why they could not go swimming. The article examines how private beach memberships are used to exclude non-whites and non-Gentiles along the Atlantic and Chesapeake coasts.
  • Editorial: Secretary of Interior Chapman, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial praises Interior Secretary Oscar Chapman for his courage in defending civil rights and for rebutting charges of subversive affiliations in the Senate. It notes his wartime support for the resettlement program and welcomes his scheduled appearance at the Chicago JACL banquet.
  • Editorial: Restoring the Goto Memorial, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial recounts how the Masashi Goto memorial was vandalized during World War II and rediscovered in 1948, then restored by the Salt Lake JACL. It notes that Goto carried an American flag and a letter to his family on his fatal flight.
  • Editorial: Race Equality at the Front, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial observes that the Korean War shows the Army moving toward using troops by skill rather than race, citing the buddy system and the integration of Negro infantrymen into previously all-white units. It calls this a hopeful step against segregation.
  • Security Riders, by (Name Withheld), page 4. A letter writer from Oakland argues that the security rider to the Walter resolution could cloud title to real property purchased by any alien in California. The writer predicts this will pressure the state to repeal the alien land law.
  • Minority Week: The Record, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Washington, D.C. opened all six National Capital Park swimming pools on a non-segregated basis without incident this summer. The column credits Interior Secretary Chapman for the policy and notes Edith Sampson’s appointment as the first Negro UN delegate.
  • Nisei Column: MGM and Pregnant Pigs, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. MGM’s Go for Broke casting search for a piglet to play Paisan, a pig adopted by a Nisei soldier in Italy, is used to reflect on how the film’s story shifted from home-front evacuation to the battlefield. The column also notes the film’s Nisei casting and Schary-Pirosh collaboration.
  • Vagaries, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A miscellany of notes covers Rosa Mayeda’s promotion, Al Miyadi’s editorship of Crossroads, a search for a missing Nisei family, and the reported renaming of Hawaiian streets. It also mentions Akira Fukunaga leaving for Hollywood and Joseph Grew’s review of Kase’s book.

JACL

  • Nisei Flyers Will Take Off from L.A. Central Airport on Sept. 24 in Ohye Trophy Race, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Nisei pilots will race from Los Angeles to the JACL national convention in Chicago on Sept. 24 in the Henry Ohye trophy race. The article profiles several entrants, including Jim Isao Nakauchi, Herbert Fushimi, Thomas Takemura, Albert Takahashi, and Albert Kushihashi, and names Pauline Takahash as Miss Nisei Air Queen.
  • Masaoka, Satow Nominated for JACL Award, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Mike M. Masaoka and Masao Satow have been nominated for distinguished leadership awards by the National JACL recognitions committee, to be announced at the Chicago convention. Nominations praised their longstanding service to Japanese Americans and civil liberties.
  • Deadline Nears for Air Trip to Convention, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Sept. 17 is the last day to reserve seats on the JACL-chartered DC-4 flight to the Chicago convention from Los Angeles and San Francisco. The return flight is planned for early October.
  • Do You Know? JACL’s 1942 Emergency Meet Set Group’s Wartime Policy, by Elmer R. Smith, page 6. The article describes decisions made at the 1942 JACL emergency council meeting, including moving national headquarters to Salt Lake City and agreeing to cooperate with evacuation. It also summarizes requests the JACL made to federal officials on behalf of evacuees.
  • Hiura Brothers Will Defend National JACL Bridge Title, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Dr. William Hiura and Dr. George Hiura of the Chicago JACL chapter will defend their national bridge championship at the Chicago convention. The tournament is open to JACL members registered for the convention.

Arts & Entertainment

  • Agoand For Away, by Al T. Miyadi, page 5. A short fiction piece follows a shy Japanese American boy on a Colorado farm who escapes into daydreams of knights and outlaws while his mother weeps quietly on the porch. The story ends with the family facing another winter of unfulfilled promises.

In-Depth

  • Dr. Hachiro Yuasa: Scholar in America, by Ernest Maass, page 5. This continuation traces Dr. Yuasa’s years as a young Japanese immigrant, his entomology career in the United States, and his return to Japan. It describes his academic rise and his persecution by nationalist students in Kyoto.

Sports

  • Fibber Hirayama Has a Busy Week, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Fresno State’s Fibber Hirayama returned from the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita and played in the Fresno-Denver Nisei series the same week. He also impressed football coaches with his play in the Bulldogs’ intrasquad scrimmage.
  • Nishita, Hirayama Make Semi-Pro All-American Nine, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Bill Nishita and Fibber Hirayama were named to the national semi-pro All-America team after the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, which Fort Wayne won for the fourth straight year. Both were named among the best prospects for organized baseball.
  • Fresno Sweeps Three Games From Denver, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Fresno Nisei All-Stars swept a three-game series from the Denver Nisei, winning the final game 9 to 5 on Sept. 6 after a five-run eighth inning. Lefty Nishijima’s two-run single in the third inning was a key blow.
  • Denver Nisei Lose Two Games to South Californians, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Denver Nisei lost to the San Fernando Aces 5 to 4 and to the Harbor Skippers 14 to 5 on Sept. 10 during their California trip. Herbie Isono earned the win for San Fernando.
  • Yonamine Finishes Season With Salt Lake Bees, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Hawaii’s Wally Yonamine finished his first season with the Salt Lake Bees with a .336 batting average and strong showings in runs and stolen bases. Fans celebrated him at Appreciation Night and he departed for Hawaii afterward.
  • Chicago Netters Defeat Cleveland in Intercity Matches, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Midwest Tennis Club of Chicago won the intercity tennis meet 9 to 8 over the Cleveland Nisei over Labor Day weekend. Cleveland’s champion Mitch Hashiguchi was limited to one doubles match while recovering from surgery.
  • Two National Tourneys Await Nisei Golfers in Chicago, by P.C. Staff, page 7. A National Nisei Amateur golf tournament at St. Andrews course and a 36-hole JACL convention golf tourney will be held in Chicago in late September. Entry details and qualifying formats are outlined.

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