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QUIET PASSAGES The Exchange of Civilians between the United States and Japan during the Second World War p. Scott Corbett

THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Kent, Ohio, and London, England

Š 1987 by The Kent State University Press , Kent, Ohio 44242 All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 37-2069 ISBN 0-87338-343-5 Manufactured in the United States of America

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Corbett, P. Scott.

Quiet passages Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. World War, 1939-1945-Diplomatic history.

2. World War, 1939-l945-Japanese Americans .

3. World War, 1939-1945-Evacuation of civilians-United States. 4. World War, 1939-l945-Evacuation of civilians-Japan. 5. United States-Foreign relationsJapan . 6. Japan-Foreign relations-United States. 1. Title.

940.53'2 87-2069 D753 .8.C67 1987 ISBN 0-87338-343-5 (alk. paper) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data are available.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments I. Introduction: The Rules of War and the Special Division IT. Creation of the Special Division m. The Special Division and the Internment Program IV. Umpires and Empires: Protecting Powers and National Security V. Anchors Aweigh: The First Exchange VI. The Second Exchange VIT. Breakdown of the Exchanges vm. The Special Division and Internment IX. Victimas Innocentes: The Latin American Japanese X. American Internees in Asia XI. Conclusion: Of Passion and Law Notes Bibliographical Essay Index

vii 1 8 25 41 56 72 96 112 139 167 191 199 218 222

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THIS intellectual spelunking into the caverns containing our memory and understanding of the Second World War began years ago.

It has received the encouragement and thoughtful advice of numerous people along the way. From the archivists at the National Archives or the Research Committee of Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska, to colleagues sharing the same office space, it has profited a little by everyone who thought the topic interesting enough to listen and suggest.

However, a few people and their contributions stand out. Their contributions went well beyond interested nods and, indeed, spilled over into the category of supportive friendships as well as professional succor. Theodore A. Wilson, Daniel Bays, and Donald McCoy were particularly helpful in assisting my navigation of the rapids of scholarly research and writing. This work has also benefitted greatly by the time and consideration given it by Akira Iriye and particularly Michael Hunt. If this work has merit, they deserve a fair share of the credit. Conversely, blame for any surviving errors or oversights must be squarely placed on my shoulders.

Indeed, those who know these people, Ted, Dan, and Michael, may rightfully accuse me of understatement when I say that they represent the personification of the finest attributes, scholarly and personal, that mankind has to offer the world and our daily lives. If there is some repository of goodness and bounty that we occasionally draw from in this universe, it is my deepest hope that these individuals receive a generous share for all they have freely and generously given to so many.

QUIET PASSAGES Then there was a man battling age and isolation in Winter Park, Florida. He patiently received an inquisitive young man and answered questions that resurrected memories of a time long passed and largely forgotten . A special thanks goes to Mr. James H. Keeley, Jr., who was most helpful in sorting out this story and whose unacknowledged labors returned to the United States thousands of stranded civilians, including a portion of my own family. The telling of his story, and that of the Special Division, is the best that I, two generations removed from the events, can do to say thanks for what has made a difference to many.

Another pair of wonderful people eased the research and writing process in their own way. R. Dale Grinder provided more than just a place to stay as I mined the National Archives. His wisdom and friendship calmed many storms that threatened to wreck my sometimes fragile ship of self.

My sister-in-law, Claire Corbett, also, more than once, steadied its course through her excellent editorial skills.

Richard Rose contributed significantly to the completion of this project by giving me the benefit of his keen eye and good ear and therefore helping me spot problems in the manuscript. Florence Cunningham, of Kent State University Press , was a patient dream to work with as she tolerated the delays that arose from the fact that during the final stages of this project, I was in Beijing and she was in Kent, Ohio. I am inestimably grateful to them both.

Finally this work is dedicated to one man. He had the misfortune of dying on Christmas Eve, 1964, and, therefore, he never had the pleasure or the heartaches of seeing his youngest son grow up . Still , he was the one who breathed a deep abiding love of China and Asia into that son's consciousness merely by holding the boy on his knee on warm summer evenings and telling stories of a Peking that used to be .

INDEX

Abe, Saburo, 195 Abe, Shungo, 195 Acadia, 144 Acheson, Dean, 189 Aconcagua, 157, 159 Aguirre, Carlos, 146 Allied victories, 78, 102, 107 Amat, Francisco de, 45, 116. See also Spain Americans in Asia: in China, 172, 179-80, 182, 186; early in the war, 47-48, 167; general conditions, 17, 83, 176, 179, 185; in Hong Kong, 170, 172, 175; missionaries, 20; in the Philippines, 50, 169-71,174,179,185; prisoners of war, 91-92, 185; second exchange of, 94 Ando, Ryuichi, 71 Argentina, 89, 108, 164 Army, Department of the, 87 Asama Maru, 67-68 Atrocity stories, 169-70 Australia, 100, 102, 184

Bailey, E. Tomlin, 121 Beltran, Pedro, 163 Benninghoff, H. Merle, 130 Berle, A. A., 27, 44, 101, 110, 137, 175

Biddle, Francis: and drafting Japanese, 128; and forced repatriation, 80; and Hawaiian Japanese, 90; and internment! relocation, 32-33; and Latin American Japanese, 152, 154; and national security, 27; and the second exchange, 92.

See also Justice, Department of Bikini Atoll, 107 Bolivia, 162 Bonsal, Philip w., 150 Brandt, George, 11, 67 Brazil, 141, 151, 157, 164,212 n. 9 Brazil, SS, 142 Brent, Henry, 156 Bryan, B. M., 116 Bryan, William 1., 6 Buenos Aires Maru, 108 Bullitt, William, 11 Burling, John, 35

Campbell, Sir Ronald, 62, 72 Canada, 33, 35, 75, 202 n. 19 Chapin, Selden, 149 Chile, 89-90, 164 Churchill, Winston, 102 Clattenburg, Albert: on the creation of the Special Division, 11; later career, 196;

INDEX and third exchange, 99, 106-8; on the successes and failures of the division,

193-94 Collins, Wayne M., 136 Columbia, 147 Costa Rica, 139, 155 Cuba, 75, 161 Cuba, 162 Davis, Nathaniel P., 9 DeWitt, John L., 32, 36,45 Dies Committee, 18, 26-27 Duggan, Lawrence, 150 Ecuador, 147 Eisenhower, Milton S., 38, 124. See also WRA EI Salvador, 155 Emmerson, John K., 143-44. See also Peru Ennis, Edward 1.: and forced repatriation, 81; and internment/relocation, 35; resists Long, 52-53; security concerns, 91. See also Justice, Department of Ericsson (captain of the Gripsholm), 93-94 Erie, SS, 141 Etolin, 144 Fahy, Charles, 53, 87 FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation): detention of enemy aliens, 31, 37-38; and first exchange, 69; and internment, 31, 37; and national security, 21, 26-27, 31, 140; and second exchange, 75; suspicious of Spain, 44-45. See also Hoover, 1. Edgar; Security agencies Federal Alien Registration Act, 27-28 Finley, Harold C., 141 Florida, 147 Flournoy, R. w., 80, 86 Fontanel (Swiss minister in Shanghai),

187-88 Ford, Leland M., 33 Forrestal, James, 73, 79 Franco-Prussian War, 5, 18 Franklin, W. M., 43 Frederick C. Johnson, 153-54 Fujiyama, Naraichi, 71, 195

Geneva Conventions, 3-4, 37, 103; applying to Americans in Asia, 48-49, 17677, 181, 183; applying to Japanese in America, 116, 120, 124-26, 130, 132 Germans: in America, 1, 26, 37, 39, 53, 147; in Latin America, 144, 152, 161 Germany: exchanges with U.S., 1-2, 76; and Geneva Convention, 49 Gibson, Raleigh A., 33 Gilkey, Langdon, 177, 180, 186 Gorge, Camille: and second exchange, 88; and third exchange, 104-5, 107, 110; and visitations, 50, 183 Grant, Hugh G., 18 Great Britain: exchanges with Japan, 6061, 110; and second exchange, 83; security concerns, 61, 76; and third exchange, 100-101, 105 Green, Joseph: early career, 11; and evacuation of Asia, 23; and evacuation of Europe, 12; on internment, 30, 32, 170; and Latin American Japanese, 145; upholding Geneva Conventions, 116. See also Special Division Gresham, Walter Q., 6 Grew, Joseph C.: ambassador to Japan, 16, 18, 41-42, 63; assistant secretary of state, 187-88; departs Japan, 68; on evacuation of Asia, 20 Gripsholm, 204 n. 27; costs of, 64; first exchange, 65-68; second exchange, 7273, 77-79, 83, 93-94, 182; third exchange, 105, 110 Guatemala, 155 Gufler, Bernard, 35-36, 54,107,115,121; and WRA, 127. See also Special Division Gullion, A. W.: concern over American POWs, 91-92; and internment, 32-33; and national security, 29 Hackworth, Gene, 80 Hague Convention, 3, 37 Halsey, William, "Bull," 191 Hamilton, Maxwell M., 16, 33. See also State Department, Far Eastern Division Handy, Thomas F., 148 Hanley, 1. Daniel, 147 Harrison, Leland, 44, 59, 108

223

INDEX Hayashi, Chika, 119, 123 Hayashi, Yoshio, 38, 119, 120, 123 Herrick, Myron T., 8 Hershey, John, 128 Hirasawa, Kazushige, 195 Hirobayashi, George, 136, 211 n. 86 Hoover, 1. Edgar: and first exchange, 69; and Hawaiian Japanese, 86; and internment, 31; and Latin American Japanese, 140; and national security, 26, 31; and second exchange, 86-87; and Special Division, 76. See also FBI; Security agencies Hull, Cordell : and Americans in Asia, 167, 184; and drafting Japanese, 128; and evacuation of Asia, 17, 22; and exchanges, 56, 79, 92, 106; and forced repatriation, 81-82; and Latin American Japanese, 146, 153; protests to Japan, 182; and relocation, 134. See also State Department Ickes, Raymond, 155-56, 159 Iguchi, Sadao, 194 Imperial, 157-59 Ingles, H. C.,150 International practices: development of, 4-6, 18 International Red Cross (IRC): in Asia, 50, 171, 173, 175, 186-87; and Hawaiian Japanese, 113, 137 Internment/relocation sites: Ft. Missoula, Montana, 118-19; Manzanar, 119, 210 n. 50; operated by the Border Patrol, 117; Poston, Arizona, 127; Santa Fe, New Mexico, 122; Thle Lake, California, 129-35 Italians: in America, 26, 37; in Latin America, 144 Italy: exchanges with U.S., 1-2 Iranian hostage crisis, 196 Japan: and American evacuation of Asia, 20-21; concerns over Japanese in America, 88, 97-98; concerns over Japanese in Latin America, 144, 156; decision to intern Americans, 168, 177-78,215 n.

40; defines exchangeable personnel, 56; evacuation of America, 22-23; exchanges

with Great Britain, 60, 65; internment of Americans, 171, 173, 176-78, 181, 186; protests to the U.S., 68-69, 125; and reciprocity, 18, 173-74, 178, 181-82; selects Spain as protecting power, 44; workings of government, 206 n. 33 Japanese in America, 34; after return to Japan, 71, 87, 94, 194-95; anti-Japanese incidents, 54; and citizenship, 81; and the draft, 128; dual citizenship, 28, 86; Hawaiian Japanese, 33-34, 73, 84, 86, 90, 113, 137; issue of forced repatriation, 65, 79, 98, 129; kibei, 130; mistreatment in detention, 118-19, 132; separation of fitmilies, 37, 119-20, 123, 160; suspicions of, 28-29, 31-34, 202 n. 17 Japanese in Latin America: internment in U.S., 142, 147, 154, 166; second exchange, 93; separation of families, 160 Japanese in the Philippines, 50-52 Justice, Department of: and exchanges, 59, 74-76, 80-82, 86-87, 90-92; and internment/relocation, 27-28, 35, 37; and Latin American Japanese, 148, 152-53, 161; and national security, 29; and separation of fitrnilies, 120-21. See also Biddle, Francis Kabayama, Count Aisuke, 94 Kanagoora, 175 Kamisato, Junken, 161-62, 166 Kamisato, Kami, 157 Kawasaki, Ichiro, 71 Keeley, James H., Jr.: early career, 11; and evacuation of Asia, 16; and evacuation of Europe, 12; and exchange lists, 58, 60; later career, 195; and Latin American Japanese, 153; and problem of kibei, 131; relations with Long, 12,53,75-77, 85,97,113,131,193,195,197; and security agencies, 76; and separation of families, 120; and shooting incidents, 132; and WRA, 126-27 Kelley, Willard F.: first exchange, 93; relations with Spanish, 54; and separation of families, 121 Kennedy, Joseph, 11, 15 Kikuchi, Charles, 36

224

INDEX Knox, Frank B., 32, 74, 84. See also Navy, Department of the Lafoon, Sidney K., 196 Langdon, William R., 95, 98 Leahy, William, 101, 184 Lecca, Garido, 145 Lindbergh, Charles A., 191 Lippmann, Walter, 40 Lockhart, Frank P., 17, 185-86 Long, Breckenridge: early career, 10; and evacuation of Europe, 12-14; and exchanges, 58-59, 65, 73, 77-79, 84-85, 96, 207 n. 1; and forced repatriation, 129; and internment, 31; and Latin American Japanese, 142, 144, 146, 151, 155; political views, 10, 53, 197; and preparedness for war, 23; and problem of kibei, 131; and Spain, 66--67; and Special Division, 193; treatment of Japanese, 31-32, 52. See also Special Division Lourenc;o Marques (Africa), 57, 64, 88, 93 Lyon, Frederick B., 163 MacArthur, Douglas, 48, 96, 99-101 McCloy, 1. 1., 126, 134 McNarney, Joseph T., 100 Madison, 161 Maeda, Tamon, 71 Marshall, George C., 100, 134, 140 Martin, Carlos, 45, 118-19. See also Spain Mathews, H. Freeman, 15 Matsuno, Tsuruhei, 88 Messersmith, George P., 9-10, 13,26 Mexico, 33, 141, 147, 151 Miller, Jessie I., 29-30 Molina, Don Juan de, 98, 115-16. See also Spain Morgenthau, Henry, 32 Mormugao, 93-94, 103-4 Morse, Huntington, 102 Munson, Curtis B., 28-30 Myer, D. S., 117, 124, 126-27. See also WRA

Navy, 86; 84, See

Department of the, 9, 73-74, 76, 78, compromises on Hawaiian Japanese, 90; on forced repatriation, 79-80. also Knox, Frank B.

New Zealand, 184 Nicaragua, 148, 155 Nishino, Chieko, 158 Nomanchi, Tamanoseki, 38 Nomura, IGchisaburo, 66-67 North, Douglas, 183 Norweb, R. Henry, 143, 157, 159. See also Japanese in Latin America; Peru Okamoto, Soichi, 133 Okamura, Yasutaro, 139, 149 Onouye, Eisuke, 114 Panama, 78, 140, 156 Paraguay, 157 Patterson, Jefferson, 151. See also Japanese in Latin America; Peru Peru: Japanese in, 143, 145, 149, 153, 157-58 Prado (president of Peru), 151, 158 President Coolidge, 20-21 Red Cross. See International Red Cross Rice, Edward, 47 Rockefeller, Nelson, 150 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 26, 191; and exchanges, 58, 79, 102; freezes Japanese assets, 20; and Latin American Japanese, 146, 150, 163; security concerns, 31, 45-46 Rumbold, Sir Anthony, 62 Russo-Japanese War, 6 Saito, Shigeru, 70 Saito, Siberius, 71 Salisbury, Lawrence E., 193 Saugstad, Jesse, 102 Sayre, Francis B., 173 Security agencies, 19, 59, 65 . See also FBI; Hoover, 1. Edgar Shawnee, 146 Shibata, Yoshiro, 195 Smyth, Robert Lacy, 16 Spain: and exchanges, 66-67, 89; favorable to U.S., 119, 132; inspection of camps, 52,97,114,117,126; investigates complaints, 118; and Latin American Japanese, 159-60; on problems in camps,

225

INDEX 122, 135; as protecting power, 44-47, 54, 113, 115, 116; and WRA, li7 Special Division: and Americans in Asia, 168; assumes responsibility for hemispheric exchanges, 57, 59; creation of, 1, 10-11; efforts to improve conditions in Asia, 185, 188; and Europe, 14-15,49, 108; and evacuation of Asia, 15, 19; on internment, 54-55; and Latin American Japanese, 162-63; and national security, 28; protests to Japan, 49, 64; and security agencies, 64, 75-76, 86, 99. See also Long, Breckenridge; Keeley, James H., Jr. Spiker, Clarence 1., 18 State Department: begins negotiations for first exchange, 56; Far Eastern Division, 16, 22, 33, 35, 58, 85; Public Affairs Division, 83-84; treatment of Japanese, 49. See also Hull, Cordell Stettinius, Edward R., Jr., 44, 164, 185 Stimson, Henry L., 33, 48, 84, 89, 185.

See also War Department Submarine warfare, 108-9, 197 Suzuki, Kisaburo, 88, 109-10 Sweden, 46, 47, 112, 137 Switzerland: assistance to Americans in Asia, 179; as America's protecting power, 41-42; as Japan's protecting power, 123; views of as protecting power, 42-44, 189; and visitation of camps in Asia, 97, 176, 187; visits limited by Japanese, 50, 183-84. See also Gorge, Camille

Tani, Masayuki, 88 Tatuta Maru, 21-22 Taylor, Myron, 14 Thailand, 59, 170 Tokumi, Uschichiro, 70 Truman, Harry S, 165 USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), 90, 102-4, 108, 110, 181 Venezuela, 147, 159 Vietnam War, 196 Wallace, Henry A., 142 War Department, 29, 148. See also Stimson, Henry L. Washburne, Elihu B., 5 Watanabe, Kosaku, 70 Weddell, Alexander W, 14 Welles, Sumner, 31, 35, 113, 141, 150, 170 Whipple, Allen 0 ., 14 Wilson, Edwin C., 140 Woodring, Harry H., 27 World War I, 3, 6, 8, 25 WRA (War Relocation Authority), closing of camps, 135; establishment of, 36; policies, 117, 124-27; tensions in camps, 129-30. See also Internment/relocation sites; Myer, D. S. WSA (War Shipping Authority), 102 Yodokawa, Masaki, 143

226