In 1941, Government agents seized Ewan Yoshida's father. He was never seen again. In this final part of our three part episode on FDR and the decision to intern the Japanese in WWII, we review the consequences of the internment decision for the people sent to the camps, and why Roosevelt made the decision in the first place.  This episode uses the following archival sound files: “Goodbye, Mama, I’m Off to Yokohama” (1942) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyOoJhqEzas Office of War Relocation explains the Internment, narrated by OWR director Milton Eisenhower (1942) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_rk3RP5KQs Testimony by Martha Okamoto, Kuniko Okumura Sato, Teru Watanabe, Masaharu Tanibata, Ewan Yoshida, Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians testimony (1981)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zTG6om6l0w&t=118s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdtqHokzEC0 Josh White and his Carolinians, “Trouble” (1940) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUdmP1T97iA Carson Robinson, “Remember Pearl Harbor” (1942) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFKnkWvSJA4 Eddy Howard and His Orchestra, “Remember Pearl Harbor” (1942) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADJMnhJsZvE Sumiko Seki, testimony before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (1981) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nca5BhM1XUc Richard E. Yamashiro, “Witnessing the Manzanar Riot” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFCDcGE-KTI Jim Tanimoto, “Internment – Time of Remembrance” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hd_ADvIZ7k vromKTTnixUwJkJ16IMQ    

What happens when a strong person makes a weak decision and a weak person makes a strong one? In part two of our episode on FDR and the internment of the Japanese in WWII, we look at the anti-Japanese hysteria that seized the West Coast in the wake of Pearl Harbor and the bureaucratic infighting that resulted in the imprisonment of 120,000 people. This episode makes use of a variety of archival audio, including: WOR United Press Radio Announcement on the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD9PNkkq5Mc Akiko Kurose, “Hearing about the Bombing of Pearl Harbor” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZoL-O9Y9Aw&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4CS9Ggr6IezvCHoIhYov-f Gordon Hirabayashi, “Worries about Issei parents after the bombing of Pearl Harbor” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBjYz0xn38&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4CS9Ggr6IezvCHoIhYov-f&index=8 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Fireside Chat on Fifth Columnists, May 27, 1940 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZZ2k5pXFOU&t=1s Excerpts from “All Through the Night” Warner Brothers, 1942 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64kxaXSj2tA Excerpts from “1941,” Steven Spielberg, 1979 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPnwlNvwBLI Pearl Harbor attack newsreel, 1941 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kSnlS4xX8 Kara Kondo, “The Day of Mass Removal” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am46ZQgfI3I&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4CS9Ggr6IezvCHoIhYov-f&index=10  

This is the story of one of the gravest injustices in American history, where over 120,000 people of Japanese descent were uprooted from their homes and placed into concentration camps without due process and in violation of their civil rights. Most lost everything; after the Second World World ended, they returned to homes and businesses that had been sold off, and sometimes stolen. The internment was put in motion on February 19, 1942, by Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. How one of the most esteemed presidents, justly lauded for his leadership during the Depression and World War II, came to embrace such a draconian and unjust policy can tell us a lot about the process of decision making--both good and bad.    Archival recordings Part 1 Rae Takegawa, “FBI Raid on Family’s Home” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHWAXvNCYCc&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4CS9Ggr6IezvCHoIhYov-f&index=5&t=22s Rudy Tokiwa, “A visit from the FBI after the bombing of Pearl Harbor” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMPWyLBNYew&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4CS9Ggr6IezvCHoIhYov-f&index=6 Classical Chinese song, “The General’s Command” (1903) https://vimeo.com/100191126 Ray Matsumoto, “Father’s Immigration Story” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf7F2z48S5Y&t=151s Masao Fujiwara, “Ano Onekoete” (1920s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOjsmhs7qik Eiichi Edward Sakauye, “Impact of the Alien Land Laws” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yjiEINoz_k&list=PL_txUBUpMcH4DfP8j9V92fFzgnA4gDtc0&index=12 Excerpts from “Confessions of a Nazi Spy,” Warner Brothers, 1939 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBDW81R_xwg&t=4s Fritz Kuhn, excerpt from speech at Madison Square Garden, Feb 20, 1939 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gU9op16rjQ&t=98s

Executive Decision is a podcast that looks at some of the most significant presidential decisions in American history: Why they happened; how they happened; and what they ultimately tell us about the process of decision making. This is Part Three, Episode Three: FDR and the Lend Lease Decision. It reviews how FDR moved the Lend Lease decision through Congress, and summarizes FDR's decision making process. 

Executive Decision is a podcast that looks at some of the most significant presidential decisions in American history: Why they happened; how they happened; and what they ultimately tell us about the process of decision making. This is Part Two, Episode Three: Lend Lease and the Decision to Intervene in WWII. It reviews the isolationist movement, the pacifist movement, and FDR's efforts to work around this political opposition and provide aid to Great Britain after the start of WWII.

In 1940, the Nazis overwhelmed the continent of Europe and left England isolated on its island across the Channel. Norway was conquered in eight weeks; France in six. Denmark had been absorbed in six hours. Most in America thought Britain would fall as quickly as had France or Norway. Everyone, save Franklin Roosevelt. This is Part One, Episode Three: FDR and the Lend Lease Decision. It reviews how FDR gradually came to understand the threat of Nazism, and how he came to develop a plan for addressing it, in the face of substantial political opposition. 

Executive Decision is the podcast that reviews some of the most significant decisions in history: why they happened; how they happened; and what they ultimately tell us about the process of decision making. In part three of this episode, on Harry S Truman and the decision to drop the atom bomb, we analyze the alternatives to using the bomb and the recommendations of the Interim Committee, and contrast Truman's decision in WWII to those regarding the use of the bomb in the Korean War. 

Executive Decision is the podcast that reviews some of the most significant decisions in history: why they happened; how they happened; and what they ultimately tell us about the process of decision making. In part two of this episode, on Harry S Truman and the decision to drop the atom bomb, we analyze the historical axioms that Truman used to build consensus with FDR's cabinet, and how those axioms determined the approach the government took towards the atomic bomb.

In Episode two of Executive Decision, the podcast that reviews the great decisions in presidential history, we look at Harry S Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on two cities in Japan during World War II. This first part of the three part episode analyzes Truman's background in WWI, the machine politics of Missouri, and the New Deal. It also contrasts his decision making process with that of Franklin Roosevelt, who left him no guide for the awesome decisions he would be forced to make.

The third part of our episode on the Cuban Missile Crisis and John F. Kennedy's decisions during that crisis looks at how Kennedy made the choices he made, and why his deep skepticism of the military, drawn from his study of history and his experience in the Navy, influenced his approach. This podcast reviews the decisions President John F. Kennedy made to respond to the Cuban Missile Crisis--a crisis he inadvertently provoked. It features archival recordings of the Excom committee--the committee that advised Kennedy to the successful resolution of the crisis.