It does matter because there was a war underway and this area, as all war-time national security areas, had data helpful to the enemy. It is not complicated to understand.

Again, watch War and MAGIC, BITV/BKAT or streaminn on http://www.internmentarchives.com or read brilliant articles at http://www.bainbridgehistorians.org.

And no, not everyone who was relocated was spying. Unfortunately, the wheat and the chaff both got caught up in war-time security actions. As the Docent Moriwaki says “IT HAPPENS.” I say, LET IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, and it being held hostage to terrorism or enemy agents and collusion.

Mr. Curtis: May I say something right here. I don’t believe anything will be gained by assuming that everyone who has to be evacuated is disloyal. These military decisions must be made upon the basis of the best judgement of those military authorities who are in charge. The rest of us will have to comply. It will be tuff, it will be cruel and there will be hardships.

Sherman had an old idea of what was war, but that was a long time ago and it is old-fashioned. But that is going to fall upon every American.

I live in a little town of 1,700 people. One of the car dealers there sells automobiles. He did sell automobiles, radios, washing machines and tires. His Government at Washington says, “You can’t sell any of those things. You can’t even buy them.”

It so happens that that family has two sons in the armed forces and a third one about to go. Well, now, they are not sitting down at their supper table and talking about their liberties and their precious rights to do business and their precious things being taken away. It is one of those things that all of us are just going to have to take on the chin and like it.

Mike, the only people saying everyone who had to be evacuated was guilty are the pro-reperations activists. In fact, the quote above was in response to Japanese-Americans who tried to make the same argument in 1942, hence the reponse by Mr. Curtis.

The Senate voted 69-27 to approve the bill with certain ammendments, and after the ammendments had been applied the final document was voted on by only six senators in a late evening session. The House voted to approve the bill 257-156. Reagan reluctanly signed the bill in an election year.

You can read about that here.

http://www.bainbridgehistorians.org/page12.html

The vast majority of Americans have no in-depth knowledge of this history. Passive reading in the media and taxpayer funded re-education of this history (a result of the bill, “Leaving Our Island” being a perfect example) has a lot to do with public sentiment.

At this remove, the occurrence/non-occurrence of “espionage” is a moot point. The biased reading of history promoted by you, your wife, Malkin, et. al. is simply entertainment for a few die-hard revisionists.

What IS relevant — and what you are obviously able unable to grasp — is that the vast majority of Americans agree that it is un-American to punish an entire class of people for the possible transgressions of a few, even during wartime. What is so complex about this simple tenet that you can’t get that through your head? Or are you now making the case that everyone who was interred during WWII was in fact guilty of espionage?

I stand by the failure of Woodward et al to foist a propaganda curriculum on our poor students for any sustained period of time.

This book’s publication was a sweetheart deal funded with monies from out of the area.

Again, see War and Magic playing on BITV and BKAT with streaming video on http://www.internmentarchives.com. Also see www. bainbridgehistorians.org for thoughtful analysis of the issues and foibles of this special-interest pressure group.

No one will read this although they may require our little mush head students to memorize it.

Although it’s true that Josef Goebbels maintained that if you repeated a lie often enough, people would come to believe it, I think it’s time to give up your one man crusade against the truth. While it is theoretically possible that everyone except you and Ms. Malkin is “out of step”, it seems most unlikely. Even Ronald Reagan (Peace be upon him!) thought we had something to apologize for.

If you persist in trying to sell your version of history, I suggest that you follow the advice common in Nelson’s navy: “Go tell it to the Marines!”

One will recall Mary Woodward let an effort along with several teachers and Frank Kitamoto to immorialize this story in the controversial curriculum Leaving Our Island. The curriculum was opposed as being biased, bad history and in large measure propaganda. The controversy was carried in the international press and national press. Despite Superintendent Crawford’s assurance that the curriculum was accurate, the curriculum was quitely gutted last year and that is another story.

In Defense of Internment by Michele Malkin appears to be the book Woodward is trying to honor with her title. However, fiction cannot hold up to Michelle Malking galvanizing book. I assume the title was another clever editor with an inside joke. We will see what comments Ms. Malkin might want to share with the readers.

I believe far more accurate information can be obtained from several local sources. One source is the documentary series War and MAGIC being aired weekly on BITV (station 22) and BKAT (Bremerton station). I believe there are 24 in the series with 4 more in production. You can see the series in streaming video either through BITV or http://www.internmentarchives.com and go to the documentary sectio. Another excellent resource is Bainbridge Historians at http://www.bainbridgehistorians.org and go to the blog site for excellent analysis.

Again, wonderful to see the Woodward homage to Malkin’s In Defense of Internment.

LET IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, and “it” being allowing collusive elements to infiltrate Pacific Rim countries during World War II as the Japanese did. Espionage and sabotogue are real dangers during war time. We have espionage on Bainbridge and I believe the Woodward knew that but time has been allowed to airbrush that out of this newest book.