Lechner1, John R. The Inside Story of our Domestic Japanese Problem. (1944) American Legion of California. 10”x 7”, 18pp. Provenance: Kilsoo K. Haan2, to Phillip H. Cummings, who gave this to the Library of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, precursor of the CIA), and from there to the Library of Congress. Rubber stamps for the OSS library and for the Library of Congress.
Only 5 copies located in WorldCat (all in the U.S.) There is also an OSS borrowing slip (with two entries) in the rear pocket of the pamphlet.
Condition: there is an old vertical fold that runs through the pamphlet. A GOOD copy. $350
Lechner—a one-time champion of the Japanese in the U.S. Turned completely against his old allies following some extended interlude after Pearl Harbor, and became a virulent proponent for the military control and incarceration of Japanese-descent people in the U.S. He also proposed the incarceration of all people of Japanese descent in the U.S., including Hawaiians. This pamphlet outlines some of his theories about people of Japanese descent in the U.S., how they planned to sabotage the country, and how they must be removed from the areas around the U.S. and never be allowed to be part of national society again without adopting certain Japanese principles (including the renouncing of Shintoism).
To give you some ides of the depth of Lechner's anti-Japanese thinking, here are some of the pamphlet's section subheads: “Japanese Language Schools” under consideration for subversive activity; “Japanese Children Attending Public School” (to “preserve the magnificent Japanese culture”; “Imperial Educational Association”, “...the control exercised by Japan...over Japanese-American youth”; “Nisei as Propaganda Agents for Japan”; “The Future Road of the Nisei”(on the role of Nisei working for the interests of Japan); “Kebei Organizations (“...brazen violation of mutual friendship ...(via) an enticement of Nisei to pursue cultural training in Japan”); “Kebei Organizations” (stating that these cultural organizations are part of Japan's “shrewd” conduct of their total war against the U.S.); “Japanese Conscription of the Nisei”; “Local Japanese Subversive Organizations”; “Imperial Comradeship Society”, (“arm of the Imperial Black Dragon Society, most powerful and most feared secret organization in the Japanese Empire...to eradicate Occidental influence in the Far East”); “Behind the Scenes at Manzanar”, (on riot and resistance at the camp); and of course “Bacteria Warfare”, (“this was to be accomplished by dropping vials containing germs, to spread bubonic plague...”). Finishing up the pamphlet is “No Time for Sentiment” (“No Christian leader can find fault with the the human treatment if the Japanese by our government”) and that there was no “race hatred” because there was a fallacious logic involved in “not understanding the meaning of race hatred”. Lastly there is a small section called “American Appeasers” listing nine U.S. Organizations working in the interest of Japanese Americans (including the (American) Civil Liberties Union
Lechner addresses the fact that no sabotage had been committed by any Japanese-American to 1944 as an instance of them being instructed by Japan “NOT to commit sabotage in the first stage of the war”, a classic bad logic (that I've seen often in these documents) where something is proved to be so precisely because there was no existing evidence to show it to be the case.
Notes
1. "Americanization" and anti-Communist activist. "Dr." John Lechner (1900–67), first allied himself with Nisei patriotic efforts just prior to World War II, then became one of the most strident voices for the mass eviction of Japanese Americans from the West Coast and against their return --https://encyclopedia.densho.org/search/
2. “Kilsoo Haan was a Korean nationalist figure who rose to prominence in Hawai'i in the 1930s and the U.S. mainland in the early 1940s, engaging in intelligence activities through the Sino-Peoples League. Claiming that Koreans in Manchuria, Siberia, China, and America could be indispensable in aiding the United States against Japanese militarism, Haan drew considerable attention from the American public as well as from U.S. government and military officials.” https://encyclopedia.densho.org/search/
“(Haan) born in Changdan, Korea (near Seoul), arrived in Honolulu as a five-year-old in 1905, and received little formal education, completing only the eighth grade. But from his education at the Korean Compound, a boarding school established in 1906 for Hawai‘i’s Korean children, he learned Syngman Rhee’s (Yi Su˘ngman) Korean...nationalism: ‘‘You are Americans by birth, but you are Koreans by blood. Someday you will be builders of [a] new Korea. Mingle yourselves with Korean boys and girls. Study hard the Korean language and Korean history if you truly love your fatherland.’’ He established the Sino-Korean People’s League in February 1932, and his Korean Underground group recruited other Koreans in northern China.... Based on information allegedly gathered from his underground group, Haan then proceeded to warn Secretary of War George Dern about the inevitability of a war between the United States and Japan because the latter nation constituted a Yellow Peril threat. ‘‘Japan is like a steamroller, slowly moving across China,’’ he warned, claiming that they will ‘‘conquer the whole world by ‘hook or crook’ or die in the attempt. Japan’s mad policy cannot be satisfied until she subjugates America in any form or manner; sooner or later, America must face this menacing horde ...Haan’s unwillingness to tone down his anti-Japanism during much of the war involved his status within the Korean independence movement. He needed to distinguish himself ideologically from other Korean American leaders to attract a following since he lacked high educational credentials. While Rhee shunned military action, deeming it absurd and dangerous prior to 1939, Haan called on U.S. government officials to grant his group a three-year Lend-Lease program to arm Korean guerrilla attacks and fund their espionage against Imperial Japanese forces in East Asia...
“Haan steadfastly called for a just postwar government, one that nationalized all Korean land as a means to solving the high tenancy and impoverishment of the country’s farming population. He demanded full and immediate independence for all of Korea, while Rhee settled for a postwar United Nations trusteeship over the nation...”
Haan claimed the Sino-Korean People’s League had 1,500 agents in China, Japan, and Korea with only a handful in the United States. In China, however, Haan was considered one of the top leaders for Korean independence. He spoke their ‘‘language’’ of not compromising with the Japanese and talked of arming them for direct action against Imperial Japanese forces. His status within the movement was enhanced by the fact that he was accredited by Kim Yak-san (Kim Yaksan) as the official representative of the Korean Volunteer Army and by Kiusic Kimm (Kim Kyusik) for the Sino-Korean People’s League. Haan’s leadership was supported by ‘‘the best element of the Koreans in China,’’ and, as Harvard University professor Alfred Tozzer observed, he was considered the only individual powerful enough politically to displace Rhee...”Brian Masaru Hayashi, “Kilsoo Haan, American Intelligence, and the Anticipated Japanese Invasion of California, 1931–1943” Pacific Historical Review, vol. 83, No. 2, Special Issue: Conversations on Transpacific History (May., 2014), pp. 277-293 (17 pages)
“Both Rhee and Haan were extremely active, and reasonably successful, in lobbying U.S. government officials in support of Korea's situation...Haan made frequent use of both the press and the radio to provide the American people with a basic introduction to his country, lobby for U.S. diplomatic support, and suggest ways in which Koreans could contribute to the war effort against Japan.”
“Haan criticized, these wars might have been prevented. The United States, he continued, could atone for its mistakes by extending to Korea diplomatic recognition. In return, he predicted, the Korean people were prepared to contribute their share should they be given a chance to fight the Japanese. Some Korean lives would no doubt be sacrificed but "I say, and my people say, let it come—we would rather die by American bombs than live as servants to the Japanese."--Caprio, Mark. “The Eagle has Landed”, Journal of American-East Asian Relations. 2014, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p5-33. 29p.
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