SPEAKERS CONTENTS INSERTS Tables
Page 1 TOP OF DOC
60–413
1999
WARTIME VIOLATION OF ITALIAN AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 2442
OCTOBER 26, 1999
Serial No. 1
Page 2 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., Wisconsin
BILL McCOLLUM, Florida
GEORGE W. GEKAS, Pennsylvania
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina
LAMAR SMITH, Texas
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
BOB BARR, Georgia
WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee
ASA HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
EDWARD A. PEASE, Indiana
CHRIS CANNON, Utah
JAMES E. ROGAN, California
LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
MARY BONO, California
Page 3 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama
JOE SCARBOROUGH, Florida
DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
JERROLD NADLER, New York
ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia
MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
ZOE LOFGREN, California
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
MAXINE WATERS, California
MARTIN T. MEEHAN, Massachusetts
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York
THOMAS E. MOONEY, General Counsel-Chief of Staff
JULIAN EPSTEIN, Minority Staff Director
Subcommittee on the Constitution
Page 4 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida, Chairman
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois
ASA HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia
BOB BARR, Georgia
WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee
LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
MAXINE WATERS, California
BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts
JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
JERROLD NADLER, New York
CATHLEEN CLEAVER, Chief Counsel
BRADLEY S. CLANTON, Counsel
JONATHAN A. VOGEL, Counsel
PAUL B. TAYLOR, Counsel
C O N T E N T S
PREAMBLE
Hyde, Hon. Henry J., a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
Page 5 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
HEARING DATE
October 26, 1999
TEXT OF BILL
H.R. 2442
OPENING STATEMENT
Canady, Charles T., a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, and chairman, Subcommittee on the Constitution
WITNESSES
de Guttadauro, Colonel Angelo, Retired, San Antonio, TX
DiDomenico, Matthew, Sr., Executive Vice President, National Italian American Foundation, Washington, DC
DiMaggio, Dominic, Ocean Ridge, FL
Di Stasi, Lawrence, President, American Italian Historical Association, Western Regional Chapter, Bolinas, CA
Page 6 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Engel, Hon. Eliot, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York
La Piana, Anthony E., Representing the National Italian American Council, Lombard, IL
Lazio, Hon. Rick, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York
Piccigallo, Philip, National Executive Director, Order of the Sons of Italy in America, Washington, DC
Pinza, Doris L., Cape Elizabeth, ME
Scudero, Rose Viscuso, Antioch, CA
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
de Guttadauro, Colonel Angelo, Retired, San Antonio, TX: Prepared statement
DiDomenico, Matthew, Sr., Executive Vice President, National Italian American Foundation, Washington, DC: Prepared statement
DiMaggio, Dominic, Ocean Ridge, FL: Prepared statement
Page 7 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Di Stasi, Lawrence, President, American Italian Historical Association, Western Regional Chapter, Bolinas, CA: Prepared statement
Engel, Hon. Eliot, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York: Prepared statement
Foran, Costanza Ilacqua: Prepared statement
La Piana, Anthony E., Representing the National Italian American Council, Lombard, IL: Prepared statement
Lazio, Hon. Rick, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York: Prepared statement
Maggio, Thomas P.: Prepared statement
Piccigallo, Philip, National Executive Director, Order of the Sons of Italy in America, Washington, DC: Prepared statement
Pinza, Doris L., Cape Elizabeth, ME: Prepared statement
Scherini, Rose, Ph.D.: Prepared statement
Scudero, Rose Viscuso, Antioch, CA: Prepared statement
Page 8 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Spadaro, Vitina: Prepared statement
P R E A M B L E
We are pleased to reproduce the testimony of those who have come to tell their sad but important story. This secret history of wartime restrictions on Italian Americans living in the United States has been largely absent from the American history books. It is long past time that this unknown part of American history and the plight of an immigrant people living in the United States who endured oppression during World War II be revealed.
In the interests of history and truth itself, the shocking story of the official persecution (there is no other word) of so many persons then residing in the United States whose only fault seems to have been sharing an Italian ancestry, must be told.
The contributions to our country by Italian Americans would fill a library, whether the category is business, film, television and theatre, literature, music and entertainment, politics, religion, science and technology, sports or the visual arts. Persons of Italian heritage have helped make America the great country it is today and we owe it to our national honor to acknowledge with deep sorrow the abuses they endured here at home during World War II.
I urge you to read this testimony and be as shocked as I was by its details. By telling this ''secret history'' we can only hope it will never happen again. That it still shocks us is a sign that we have not yet lost our sensitivity and can still celebrate and esteem a proud and exceptional people as fellow Americans.
Page 9 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
This testimony is an effort to bring to the forefront the discrimination and prejudice that was suffered by Italian Americans during the war. In a gesture of remorse and atonement for these acts, the United States House of Representatives on November 10, 1999 overwhelmingly passed the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, formally acknowledging the fundamental injustice that was visited on Italian Americans during World War II. It is my hope that in studying the provisions of H.R. 2442, we will unearth the long-buried events and recast the plight of Italian-American immigrants in a way that we can help heal those who suffered and make sure that history will never repeat such injustice again.
Henry J. Hyde, Chairman,
Committee on the Judiciary.
WARTIME VIOLATION OF ITALIAN AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1999
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on the Constitution
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:33 a.m., in Room 2237 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Charles T. Canady [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Page 10 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Present: Representatives Henry J. Hyde, Bob Goodlatte, William L. Jenkins, Melvin L. Watt, and Jerrold Nadler.
Staff Present: Cathleen Cleaver, Chief Counsel; Jonathan Vogel, Counsel; Susana Gutierrez, Clerk; Sharee Freeman, Counsel; and Anthony Foxx, Minority Counsel.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CANADY
Mr. CANADY. The subcommittee will come to order.
This morning the subcommittee convenes to conduct a hearing on H.R. 2442, the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act. Though much has been written about the internment in the United States during World War II of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans few people know that during the same time approximately 600,000 Italian Americans were deprived of their civil liberties by Government measures that branded them ''enemy aliens.'' In fact, on December 7, 1941, hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI took into custody hundreds of Italian-American aliens previously classified as ''dangerous'' and shipped them to camps where they were imprisoned until Italy surrendered in 1943.
As so-called enemy aliens, Italian-American aliens were required to carry special photo identification booklets at all times and they were forced to turn into the Government items such as shortwave radios, cameras, and flashlights. Those suspected of retaining these items had their homes raided by FBI agents.
Page 11 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In California, about 52,000 Italian-American aliens were subjected to a curfew that confined them to their homes between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and a travel restriction that prohibited them from traveling further than 5 miles from their homes. These measures made it difficult, if not impossible, for some Italian Americans to travel to their jobs, and thousands were arrested for violations of these and other restrictions.
Then on February 24, 1942, 10,000 Italian-American aliens living in California were ordered to evacuate coastal and military zones. Most of those who had to abandon their homes were elderly, some of whom were taken away in wheelchairs and on stretchers.
Later in the fall of 1942, about 25 Italian-American citizens were ordered to evacuate these areas. In Half Moon Bay, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, evacuation orders had an enormous impact on hundreds of Italian-American fishermen who were prohibited from taking their boats out to sea. In fact, many boats belonging to Italian-American fishermen were impounded by the United States Navy for the duration of the war.
H.R. 2442 would require the President, on behalf of the Federal Government, to formally acknowledge that the Government measures Italian Americans were subjected to during World War II represented a fundamental injustice. H.R. 2442 would further require the Department of Justice to author a report that would include, among other things, the names of every Italian American arrested and ordered to move or taken into custody during World War II as a result of those Government measures.
The bill also urges the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities to support conferences and lectures, pay for a traveling exhibit, and fund documentaries. H.R. 2442 itself provides that this story must be told to acknowledge that these events occurred, to remember those whose lives were unjustly disrupted by these events, to help repair the damage to the Italian-American community, and to discourage the occurrence of similar injustices in the future.
Page 12 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
[The bill, H.R. 2442, follows:]
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2442
To provide for the preparation of a Government report detailing injustices suffered by Italian Americans during World War II, and a formal acknowledgment of such injustices by the President.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 1, 1999
Mr. LAZIO (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FORBES, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HINCHEY, Mrs. KELLY, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KING, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. LOBIONDO, Ms. LOFGREN, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MASCARA, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OLVER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. Wu, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. DOYLE, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. WEINER, Mr. STUPAK, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. DEUTSCH, and Mr. ACKERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
Page 13 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
A BILL
To provide for the preparation of a Government report detailing injustices suffered by Italian Americans during World War II, and a formal acknowledgment of such injustices by the President.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ''Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The freedom of more than 600,000 Italian-born immigrants in the United States and their families was restricted during World War II by Government measures that branded them ''enemy aliens'' and included carrying identification cards, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property.
(2) During World War II more than 10,000 Italian Americans living on the West Coast were forced to leave their homes and prohibited from entering coastal zones. More than 50,000 were subjected to curfews.
(3) During World War II thousands of Italian American immigrants were arrested, and hundreds were interned in military camps.
(4) Hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans performed exemplary service and thousands sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.
(5) At the time, Italians were the largest foreign-born group in the United States, and today are the fifth largest immigrant group in the United States, numbering approximately 15 million.
Page 14 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
(6) The impact of the wartime experience was devastating to Italian American communities in the United States, and its effects are still being felt.
(7) A deliberate policy kept these measures from the public during the war. Even 50 years later much information is still classified, the full story remains unknown to the public, and it has never been acknowledged in any official capacity by the United States Government.
SEC. 3. REPORT.
The Inspector General of the Department of Justice shall conduct a comprehensive review of the treatment by the United States Government of Italian Americans during World War II, and not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act shall submit to the Congress a report that documents the findings of such review. The report shall cover the period between September 1, 1939, and December 31, 1945, and shall include the following:
(1) The names of all Italian Americans who were taken into custody in the initial roundup following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and prior to the United States declaration of war against Italy.
(2) The names of all Italian Americans who were taken into custody.
(3) The names of all Italian Americans who were interned and the location where they were interned.
(4) The names of all Italian Americans who were ordered to move out of designated areas under the United States Army's ''Individual Exclusion Program''.
(5) The names of all Italian Americans who were arrested for curfew, contraband, or other violations under the authority of Executive Order 9066.
(6) Documentation of Federal Bureau of Investigation raids on the homes of Italian Americans.
Page 15 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
(7) A list of ports from which Italian American fishermen were restricted.
(8) The names of Italian American fishermen who were prevented from fishing in prohibited zones and therefore unable to pursue their livelihoods.
(9) The names of Italian Americans whose boats were confiscated.
(10) The names of Italian American railroad workers who were prevented from working in prohibited zones.
(11) A list of all civil liberties infringements suffered by Italian Americans during World War II, as a result of Executive Order 9066, including internment, hearings without benefit of counsel, illegal searches and seizures, travel restrictions, enemy alien registration requirements, employment restrictions, confiscation of property, and forced evacuation from homes.
(12) An explanation of why some Italian Americans were subjected to civil liberties infringements, as a result of Executive Order 9066, while other Italian Americans were not.
(13) A review of the wartime restrictions on Italian Americans to determine how civil liberties can be better protected during national emergencies.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the story of the treatment of Italian Americans during World War II needs to be told in order to acknowledge that these events happened, to remember those whose lives were unjustly disrupted and whose freedoms were violated, to help repair the damage to the Italian American community, and to discourage the occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in the future;
(2) Federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities, should support projects such as—
Page 16 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
(A) conferences, seminars, and lectures to heighten awareness of this unfortunate chapter in our Nation's history;
(B) the refurbishment of and payment of all expenses associated with the traveling exhibit ''Una Storia Segreta'', exhibited at major cultural and educational institutions throughout the United States; and
(C) documentaries to allow this issue to be presented to the American public to raise its awareness;
(3) an independent, volunteer advisory committee should be established comprised of representatives of Italian American organizations, historians, and other interested individuals to assist in the compilation, research, and dissemination of information concerning the treatment of Italian Americans; and
(4) after completion of the report required by this Act, financial support should be provided for the education of the American public through the production of a documentary film suited for public broadcast.
SEC. 5. FORMAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
The President shall, on behalf of the United States Government, formally acknowledge that these events during World War II represented a fundamental injustice against Italian Americans.
Mr. Watt is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WATT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will not take 5 minutes.
I do want to thank the chairman for scheduling the hearing and thank Representatives Engel and Lazio for introducing this bill.
Page 17 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
As much as we love and respect and honor this country, we keep finding that there are things in our history that either through official acts or unofficial acts we cannot be proud of as a Nation. When people ask me what value there is in the current day practice that was followed in South Africa of having a truth commission and hearings to put all these things on the table and get them out in the public and in the light of day, it always strikes me that it is impossible to move forward until you have some appreciation of inequities and injustices—acts both official and unofficial—that keep you looking backwards and retrospectively.
I hope first of all that this hearing gives us the basis for documenting as much of this as we can and that the bill gives us a basis for having a discussion above board about what acts are appropriate to address in this era and this series of injustices. There are many things that we are proud of our country for, but there are many things that leave us scratching our heads and wondering if it is the same country that stands for the same values that we all aspire to.
I am hopeful that this bill and this hearing will help in addressing this particular thing that we cannot—not any of us—be proud of and allow us to move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I yield back.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. Watt.
Page 18 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
We now go to our first panel of the day, which consists of two of our colleagues.
Our first witness this morning is the Honorable Rick Lazio, who represents the 2nd District of New York. Congressman Lazio was elected to Congress in 1992 and chairs the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Congressman Lazio has been named Chairman of the 1999 National Italian American Gala Dinner and is Congress' representative on the Holocaust Asset Committee. Before serving in Congress, he was twice elected to the Suffolk County Legislature.
Following Congressman Lazio is the Honorable Eliot L. Engel, who represents the 17th District of New York. Congressman Engel, who was elected to Congress in 1988, serves on the House Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities. Prior to his election to Congress, Congressman Engel served in the New York State Legislature from 1977 to 1988.
I want to thank both of you for being here with us today. I would ask that you do your best to summarize your testimony in 5 minutes, although I do not think anyone here is going to insist on strict adherence to the 5-minute rule. Of course, your full written statements will be made a part of the permanent record, without objection.
Congressman Lazio.
STATEMENT OF HON. RICK LAZIO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Page 19 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. LAZIO. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Let me begin by thanking you personally for holding this hearing and for your interest and for your statement, which I listened to carefully, and I which I think very much reflects the sentiments of both Congressman Engel, myself, and others that are co-sponsors to this legislation.
I want to thank the ranking member as well, Representative Watt, for his insight and sensitivity to what we call ''Una Storia Segreta,'' which is our ''secret story,'' for many Italian Americans who were not even aware of this chapter or who, because their parents or grandparents did not want to talk about it, were ashamed of it and thought that it stigmatized—which in many ways it did—Italian Americans during that era.
Let me also, if I may, thank the witnesses that have flown from different parts of our Nation to come here today because they believe with passion that this chapter needs to be told, and we need to come to terms with the consequences of America's actions during World War II.
I should also mention at the outset, as an Italian American and somebody who represents a district with many Italian Americans—in a district that was home to Anthony Cassamento, one of many Italian Americans who served during World War II, who went off to war and served in Guadalcanal, took a series of bullets in defending a hill, was shot through the throat, took a bandanna, wrapped his throat, then continued to charge up and secure the Japanese machine gun nests, thereby saving many, many lives for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor—what an irony it was that during that time when Italian Americans in unprecedented numbers were serving our Nation in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, were spilling blood and being awarded honors, including the Congressional Medal of Honor—their parents and grandparents back home were being subjected to evacuation and to the disgrace of being labelled ''enemy aliens.''
Page 20 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. Chairman, late in the night of December 7, 1941, only hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Filippo Molinari heard noises outside his San Jose home. When Mr. Molinari went to investigate, he found three policemen at his front door. They told him that by the order of President Roosevelt he must come with them.
Filippo Molinari had served in the Italian army during World War I, fighting alongside American troops. He was well known in his community as a door-to-door salesman for the Italian language newspaper, La Italia. He was the founding member of the San Francisco Sons of Italy. Now he was under arrest. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Molinari was shipped to a Government detention center in Fort Missoula, Montana for no other reason than for having the status of being an Italian American.
Filippo Molinari's story is not unique. He was one of the hundreds of Italian Americans arrested in the first days of the war and shipped off to distant internment centers without benefit of counsel or trial, where they were held against their will until Italy surrendered 2 years later—2 years later, Mr. Chairman.
Early in 1942, another 10,000 Italian Americans across the Nation were forcibly evacuated from their homes and relocated away from coastal areas and military bases. In all, 600,000 Italian nationals—most of whom had lived in the United States for decades—were deemed enemy aliens and subject to strict travel restrictions, curfews, and seizures of personal property for no other reason than their heritage.
These so-called ''enemy aliens'' were required to carry photo-bearing identification booklets at all times, forbidden to travel beyond a 5-mile radius of their homes, and were required to turn in any short-wave radios, cameras, flashlights, and firearms in their possession. In fact, Mr. Chairman, there were instances of people having their cameras seized or destroyed at their doorstep. Many times these were elderly women who had their cameras or their radios destroyed. Imagine the terror as many of the neighbors looked on and the stigma that was attached to that.
Page 21 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In California, 52,000 Italian residents were subject to an 8 p.m. curfew. In Monterey, Boston, and other port towns, Italian-American fishermen were grounded and many had their boats impounded by the Navy—all this while half a million Italian Americans were serving, fighting, and dying in the United States armed forces during World War II.
To this day, few Americans have any idea that these events took place. Indeed, few Italian Americans know what happened to their ancestors during the war. Many believe that President Roosevelt's infamous Executive Order 9066 applied only to Japanese and Japanese Americans living in western States, but that is not the case.
There is another chapter to this sad story which I mentioned before, ''Una Storia Segreta''—a secret story. The bill we are discussing today represents an attempt—I think a very balanced and very modest attempt—to begin setting the record straight. The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act calls upon the Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive study of our Government's policies toward Italian Americans during the war, to find out exactly what took place and to whom. This report will include an examination of ways to safeguard the civil liberties of minority groups during future national emergencies.
The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act would also encourage relevant Federal agencies to support educational projects to heighten public awareness of this unfortunate episode in our history, including exhibitions, seminars, and documentaries.
Finally, this legislation calls upon the President to acknowledge formally our Government's systematic denial of civil liberties to what was then the largest foreign-born ethnic group in the United States. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to say that this bill has attracted more than 80 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. The diversity of this list is indicative of both the national scope of the injustices that took place and the widespread belief felt across ethnic and geographic lines, that justice be done.
Page 22 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The noted poet and philosopher, George Santayana, observed that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This is exactly what Representative Watt was saying: You need to confront the truth before you can deal with assuring that that sad chapter is not repeated. That is why this bill has been introduced, to establish the truth. We owe it to the Italian-American community and indeed the American public to find out exactly what happened and to publicize it. A complete understanding of what took place during this sad chapter of American history is the best guarantee that it will never happen again.
Let me also take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge the Chairman of the Full Committee, Mr. Hyde, for his support in allowing this hearing to go forward, and for his sensitivity in trying to work through the nuances of a very difficult chapter, during a very difficult time, putting this in the context of American history.
But again, it is difficult to address these seizures, these arrests based on status, and the stigma that was attached without reflecting on the irony that at the very same time Italian Americans were serving our Nation, dying, protecting others in the name of freedom, protecting American principles on far-off shores.
Again, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing this hearing to go forward.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lazio follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. RICK LAZIO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Page 23 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, I want to thank you for holding these hearing today. This issue, the violation of Italian American civil liberties during World War Two, is one that is very important to me, my constituents, and Italian-Americans across the nation.
I also want to thank all the people who have come from all across the country to testify today. I genuinely appreciate their time and effort, and admire their commitment to set the record straight.
Mr. Chairman, late in the night of December 7, 1941, only hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Filippo Molinari heard noises outside his San Jose home. When Mr. Molinari went to investigate, he found three policemen at his front door. They told him that by order of President Roosevelt, he must come with them.
Filippo Molinari had served in the Italian army during World War One, fighting along side American troops. He was well-known in his community as a door-to-door salesman for the Italian language newspaper L'Italia. He was the founding member of the San Francisco Sons of Italy. And now, he was under arrest. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Molinari was shipped to a government detention center in Fort Missoula, Montana.
Filippo Molinari's story is not unique. He was one of hundreds of Italian Americans arrested in the first days of the war, and shipped off to distant internment centers without benefit of council or trial—where they were held against their will until Italy surrendered two years later. Early in 1942 another ten thousand Italian Americans across the nation were forcibly evacuated from their homes and relocated away from coastal areas and military bases.
Page 24 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In all 600,000 Italian nationals, most of whom had lived in the United States for decades, were deemed ''enemy aliens'' and subject to strict travel restrictions, curfews, and seizures of their personal property. These so-called ''enemy aliens'' were required to carry photo-bearing ID booklets at all times; forbidden to travel beyond a five mile radius of their homes; and required to turn in any shortwave radios, cameras, flashlights and firearms in their possession. In California, 52,000 Italian residents were subjected to an 8 p.m. curfew. In Monterey, Boston, and other port towns, Italian American fishermen were grounded, and many had their boats impounded by the navy—all this while half a million Italian Americans were serving, fighting, and dying in the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
To this day, few Americans have any idea that these events took place. Indeed, few Italian Americans know what happened to their ancestors during the war. Most believe that President Roosevelt's infamous Executive Order 9066 applied only to Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the western states. But clearly there is another chapter to this sad story, ''Una Storia Segreta''—a secret story. The bill we are discussing today represents an attempt to begin setting the record straight.
The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act calls on the Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive study of our government's policies toward Italian Americans during the war, to find out exactly what took place and to whom. This report will include an examination of ways to safeguard the civil liberties of minority groups during future national emergencies.
The Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act would also encourage relevant federal agencies to support educational projects to heighten public awareness of this unfortunate episode in our history, including exhibitions, seminars, and documentaries.
Page 25 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Finally, this legislation calls upon the President to acknowledge formally our government's systematic denial of civil liberties to what was then the largest foreign-born ethnic group in the United States.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to say that this bill has attracted more than 80 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. The diversity of this list is indicative of both the national scope of the injustices that took place, and the widespread belief—felt across ethnic and geographic lines—that justice be done.
The noted poet and philosopher George Santayana observed that, ''Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' But the truth must be established before it can be remembered. That's why I introduced this bill: to establish the truth. We owe it to the Italian-American community, and indeed to the American public, to find out exactly what happened and publicize it. A complete understanding of what took place during this sad chapter of American history is the best guarantee that they will never happen again.
Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding these hearings. I look forward to working with you and your committee on this important issue.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. Lazio.
Representative Engel.
STATEMENT OF HON. ELIOT ENGEL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Page 26 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Watt. I want to thank you for having this hearing today. I want to also thank those who have taken time out of their busy schedules to be with us to offer their personal experiences and expertise on this issue. I want to thank my friend and colleague, Rick Lazio, for sponsoring this legislation with me. And I want to thank both of you for your very sensitive remarks. Mr. Watt is right on target with the Truth Commission.
When we first started bringing this out to the public, the reaction of people is just disbelief. People just do not believe that it ever happened because the textbooks did not say anything about it. Everyone has heard about the unfortunate circumstances with the Japanese Americans, but people were unaware that the Italian Americans had a similar situation.
We have two photos up here showing Italian Americans being marched to the internment camps in Missoula, Montana. So we have documented evidence as to what really happened here.
Again, why do we do this? We do it because hopefully we will learn from the past and something like this can never happen again. We love this country. It is the best country in the world, but mistakes have been made along the line. People are human and make mistakes. This was obviously a colossal error and it is something that we need to focus on so that something like this can never happen again.
We are here today not only to discuss the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, but to listen to accounts from Italian Americans describing the events they and their families endured during World War II. The civil liberty abuses that Italian Americans suffered are not well documented and are not well known, but they did occur and the truth about this story—which we call ''Una Storia Segreta,'' the secret story—must be told.
Page 27 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
December 7, 1941 is a day that is very well known. On that horrifying day, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. What has been overlooked since that day is the fact that Italian Americans suddenly became enemy aliens. Loyal Italian American patriots who fought alongside the United States Armed Forces in World War I, mothers and fathers of U.S. soldiers, and even children were suspected of being dangerous and subversive simply because they were Italian Americans.
With this new enemy alien status, the military and local police began confiscating firearms from Italians. Italians were subject to strict curfew regulations, forced to carry photo IDs, and could not travel further than a 5-mile radius from their homes without prior approval. Soon after, radios and televisions were also confiscated, and eventually Italians were forced to give up all electronic devices, personal pictures, any papers that the Government suspected treasonous, and even their livelihoods.
For instance, an Italian car dealer in Oakland, California was told that he could not collect $3,500 for automobiles he sold to Alameda County just before Pearl Harbor was bombed because of his status now as an enemy alien. He was told that payment to him by Alameda County would be considered trading with the enemy and was prohibited.
Also Italian fishermen were forbidden from using their boats in prohibited zones. Since fishing was the only means of income for many families, households were torn apart or completely relocated as alternative sources of income were sought. Initially, the fishing boats left behind simply remained docked. However, as time passed, the military began using the boats and there was nothing that could be done to stop them, as appeals to the Justice Department were left unanswered. When some of the boats were returned after the war, they either required extensive repairs or were simply unusable, and some were never returned at all.
Page 28 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
As awful as the internment experience was, it would have been much worse if not for the intervention of Congress and other public officials attempting to prevent these injustices from continuing.
As you may know, the Tolan Committee, made up of Members of Congress, began holding public hearings on the west coast at that time regarding the treatment of enemy aliens. Congressman John Tolan of Oakland, California chaired the committee. Chairman Tolan spoke publicly about the exemplary character of many Italians subjected to civil liberties abuses. He spoke openly about the plight of the famous DiMaggio family. We will hear more about their experiences later from Mr. Dominic DiMaggio.
Thanks to the Tolan Committee, Italian Americans did not suffer the same fate as the Japanese Americans. The committee recommendation to the Department of Justice suggested that Italians were less ''dangerous'' than Japanese and that mass internment and relocation was not necessary. However, the fate of the Italians rested with Lieutenant General John DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command.
Through the efforts of the Tolan Committee, General DeWitt was forced to scale back his mass evacuation and relocation plans for the west coast. Consequently, Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, Commander of the Eastern Defense Command, who had recommended establishing prohibited zones in 16 States along the east coast, was pressured to scale back his plans to relocate some 52 million people.
Thankfully, relocation on the east coast never occurred, as President Roosevelt prohibited it. However, individuals considered dangerous were still taken into custody. As a New Yorker—and as a person whose grandparents came to Ellis Island to this country—it still saddens me to think that Ellis Island, the world-renowned symbol of freedom and democracy, was used to detain Italians considered dangerous. Ezio Pinza, an international opera star, was detained at Ellis Island. His wife is here today to share their story with us.
Page 29 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The east coast was spared relocation. However, Italians on the west coast were not as fortunate.
Under authority of Executive Order 9066, which first authorized the internment of the Japanese, General DeWitt began relocation and internment of Italian Americans in California. Over 10,000 Italians deemed enemy aliens were forcibly evacuated from their homes and over 52,000 were subject to strict curfew regulations. Ironically, over 500,000 Italians were serving in the United States Armed Forces at the time, fighting to protect the liberties of all Americans, while many of their family members had their basic freedoms revoked.
However, the full extent of the internment experience is still unknown. Several Italian Americans in California were so shamed about their status as enemy aliens that they committed suicide. Many Italians were arrested for curfew violations or carrying everyday products that were suddenly considered contraband. Families with ethnic names began changing them to sound more American and stopped speaking their native language.
Mr. Chairman, we must ensure that these terrible events will never be perpetrated again. We must safeguard the individual rights of all Americans from arbitrary persecution or no American will ever be secure. The least our Government can do is try to right these terrible wrongs by acknowledging that these events did occur. We are not looking for an apology, just an acknowledgement by the President. That is part of what this legislation does.
Mr. Chairman, there was not one documented case of Italian Americans conducting sabotage against the United States. While we cannot erase the mistakes of the past, we must try to learn from them in order to ensure that we never subject anyone to the same injustices.
Page 30 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Our bill, H.R. 2442, calls on the Department of Justice to publish a report detailing the unjust policies of the Government during this time period. Essential to the report will be a study examining ways to safeguard individual rights during national emergencies. Moreover, this legislation calls on the President to formally acknowledge our Government's systematic denial of basic human rights and freedoms to one of the largest ethnic communities in the United States.
Mr. Chairman, we owe it to the Italian-American community, and to all communities—especially those who endured these abuses—to recognize the injustices of the past. Documentation and education about the suffering of all groups of Americans who face persecution is important in order to ensure that no group's civil liberties are ever violated again.
I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee—Mr. Watt, the ranking member, and others—for having this hearing. As you may know—and as Mr. Lazio said—this legislation has received vast support in the House of Representatives as 80 of our colleagues have cosponsored the bill.
I look forward to working further with you and the committee on this important legislation.
I would like to revise and extend my remarks to include letters I have received from organizations supporting our legislation. I want to thank our staffs for helping us with this legislation, particularly my administrative assistant, John Calvelli, who has been so helpful in putting this together and documenting this. I want to thank NIAF—National Italian American Foundation—and all the people who have really called this to our attention and carried the ball on this.
Page 31 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I thank you for your endorsement.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Engel and referenced documentation follow.]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. ELIOT ENGEL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Mr. Chairman, I first want to thank you and the distinguished members of the Committee for having this hearing today. I also want to thank those who have taken time out of their busy schedules to be with us to offer their personal experiences and expertise on this issue. We are here today not only to discuss the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, but to listen to accounts from Italian Americans describing the events they and their families endured during World War II. The civil liberty abuses that Italian Americans suffered are not well documented and are not well known, but they did occur and the truth about this story, Una Storia Segreta—the Secret Story, must be told.
December 7, 1941 is a day that is very well known. On that horrifying day, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. What has been overlooked since that day is the fact that Italian Americans suddenly became ''enemy aliens''. Loyal Italian American patriots who fought for the United States Armed Forces in World War I, immigrants who had fought along side our troops, even women and children were suspected of being dangerous and subversive. With this new enemy alien status, the military and local police began confiscating firearms from Italians. Italians were subject to strict curfew regulations, forced to carry photo ID's, and could not travel further than a 5 mile radius from their homes without prior approval. Soon radios and televisions were also confiscated, and eventually Italians were forced to give up all electronic devices, personal pictures, any papers that the government suspected treasonous, and even their livelihoods.
Page 32 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
For instance, an Italian car dealer in Oakland, California, was told he could not collect $3,500 dollars for automobiles he sold to Alameda County just before Pearl Harbor was bombed because of his status now as an enemy alien. He was told that payment to him by Alameda County would be considered trading with the enemy and was prohibited. Also, Italian fishermen were forbidden from using their boats in prohibited zones. Since fishing was the only means of income for many families, households were torn apart or completely relocated as alternative sources of income were sought. Initially, the fishing boats left behind simply remained docked. However, as time passed, the military began using the boats and there was nothing that could be done to stop them as appeals to the Justice Department were left unanswered. When some of the boats were returned after the war they either required extensive repairs or were simply unusable, and some were never returned at all. As awful as the internment experience was, it would have been much worse if not for the intervention of Congress and other public officials attempting to prevent these injustices from continuing.
As you may know, the Tolan Committee, made up of Members of Congress, began holding public hearings on the West Coast regarding the treatment of enemy aliens. Congressman John Tolan of Oakland, California chaired the Committee. Chairman Tolan spoke publicly about the exemplary character of many Italians subjected to civil liberties abuses. He spoke openly about the plight of the famous DiMaggio family. We will hear more about their experiences later from Mr. Dominic DiMaggio. Thanks to the efforts of the Tolan Committee, Italians did not suffer the same fate as the Japanese. The Committee recommendation to the Department of Justice suggested that Italians were less ''dangerous'' than Japanese and that mass internment and relocation was not necessary. However, the fate of the Italians rested with Lieutenant General John DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command.
Page 33 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Through the efforts of the Tolan Committee, General DeWitt was forced to scale back his mass evacuation and relocation plans for the West Coast. Consequently, Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum, commander of the Eastern Defense Command, who had recommended establishing prohibited zones in 16 states along the east coast was pressured to scale back his plans to relocate some 52 million people. Thankfully, relocation on the East coast never occurred as President Roosevelt prohibited it. However, individuals considered dangerous were still taken into custody. It still saddens me to think that Ellis Island, the world renowned symbol of freedom and democracy, was used to detain Italians considered dangerous. Ezio Pinza, an international opera star was detained at Ellis Island. His wife is here today to share their story with us. The east coast was spared relocation, however, Italians on the West Coast were not as fortunate.
Under authority of Executive Order 9066, which first authorized the internment of the Japanese, General DeWitt began relocation and internment of Italian Americans in California. Over 10,000 Italians deemed enemy aliens were forcibly evacuated from their homes and over 52,000 were subject to strict curfew regulations. Ironically, over 500,000 Italians were serving in the United States Armed Forces fighting to protect the liberties of all Americans, while many of their family members had their basic freedoms revoked.
However, the full extent of the internment experience is still unknown. Several Italian Americans in California were so shamed about their status as enemy aliens that they committed suicide. Many Italians were arrested for curfew violations or carrying everyday products that were suddenly considered contraband. Families with ethnic names began changing them to sound more American and stopped speaking their native language. Mr. Chairman, we must ensure that these terrible events will never be perpetrated again. We must safeguard the individual rights of all Americans from arbitrary persecution or no American will ever be secure. The least our government can do is try to right these terrible wrongs by acknowledging that these events did occur. Mr. Chairman, there was not one documented case of Italian Americans conducting sabotage against the United States. While we cannot erase the mistakes of the past, we must try to learn from them in order to ensure that we never subject anyone to the same injustices.
Page 34 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. Chairman, HR 2442, the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, calls on the Department of Justice to publish a report detailing the unjust policies of the government during this time period. Essential to the report will be a study examining ways to safeguard individual rights during national emergencies. Moreover, this legislation calls on the President to formally acknowledge our government's systematic denial of basic human rights and freedoms to one of the largest ethnic communities in the United States.
Mr. Chairman, we owe it to the Italian American community, especially those who endured these abuses, to recognize the injustices of the past. Documentation and education about the suffering of all groups of Americans who face persecution is important in order to ensure that no group's civil liberties are ever violated again.
I want to commend the Chairman and Members of the Committee for having this hearing. As you may know, this legislation has received vast support in the House of Representatives as 80 of my colleagues have cosponsored the bill. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working further with you and the Committee on this important legislation.
| Italic Studies Institute, |
| Floral Park, NY, October 26, 1999. |
CHAIRMAN,
Subcommittee on the Constitution,
Committee on the Judiciary,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Page 35 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Re: HR 2442
Wartime Violation of Italian-American Civil Liberties Act
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Italic Studies Institute, a New York State nonprofit educational organization founded in 1987, hereby confirms its support of HR 2442 as the beginning of the process to restore the historical record and the dignity of the Italian American community in regard to the unjust and shameful results of Executive Order 9066/1942.
We have witnessed within the past few generations the Federal government's recognition of past misdeeds. Most recently, Congress has taken concrete steps to ameliorate the negative effects of the Second World War as follows:
The American Civil Liberties Act of 1987 appropriated $1.2 billion in reparations to Japanese-American victims of the Internment as well as a $50 million education fund. Close to $3 million of this fund has been awarded solely for Japanese-American media projects in 1997.
The DOD Appropriations Act of 1994 provided $4 million for the establishment of a Japanese-American Cultural Center in Ontario, Oregon.
In March, 1996 House legislation called for the rapid creation of a Manzanar National Historic Site for Japanese-American internment.
H.R. 3019 (1996) libraries appropriation allowed for a $1 million direct grant to filmmaker Steven Spielberg for his Holocaust documentation (sponsored by Senators Boxer and Specter) in recognition of the Nazi persecution of European Jews.
Page 36 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In 1996, Congress authorized a land swap in the capital to provide a site for a war memorial to the 442nd Infantry Division (Japanese-American Nisei), the first such ethnic war memorial, as well as land for a Japanese American Internment memorial.
In 1998 approximately $40 million was taken from the Civil Liberties Education Fund (cited above) to provide cash settlements to Peruvian Japanese who were interned in the United States during World War II.
We would also like to bring to the Congress' attention that the Government of Canada, through its National Film Board, allocated approximately $400,000 to produce a public documentary (Barbed Wire and Mandolins) as an atonement for its horrific treatment of Italian Canadians during World War II.
Finally, there is the serious matter of disinformation that abounds throughout the American media concerning the full scope of Executive Order 9066. Nearly every newspaper article, a majority of books, and almost all documentaries on the subject emphatically state that only the Japanese Americans were subjected to the illegal acts of Executive Order 9066. Authors and narrators often state that Italians and Germans were not targeted, as in the 1999 PBS documentary Rabbit on the Moon. They further opine that this is proof of the racial intent of the Order. These subjective views and misrepresentation of the public record need to be addressed forthrightly by Congress.
In the matter of Italian Americans, the road to atonement has not yet been taken. It is our unequivocal belief that Congress needs to finally come to terms with Executive Order 9066 for the sake of justice and the historical record.
Page 37 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Respectfully,
cc: Officers, Governors, Advisors
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. Engel and Mr. Lazio. We appreciate your very helpful comments.
I would like to now recognize the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. HYDE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Very briefly, I want to congratulate Rick Lazio for bringing this to national attention. I was shocked when I heard about it. Anthony LaPiana came to visit me and apprised me of the background of this whole situation and I was dumbfounded. And if I was dumbfounded, I wonder how many people just never heard of these terrible abuses against one of the most loyal segments of our country.
I am not Italian, but I have a profound admiration for the Italian Americans and their contribution to our country. I once had to give a speech before an Italian-American community and I spent some wonderful hours learning about the accomplishments of the Italians in music, art, literature, history, and their contribution to this country.
My old friend, Frank Annunzio, who was instrumental in having Columbus Day declared a national holiday, was needled by one of his colleagues who said, ''Everyone knows Leif Ericksen discovered America,'' and Frank, quick as a flash, said, ''When Columbus discovered it, it stayed discovered.'' [Laughter.]
Page 38 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. HYDE. But all the Italian-American community wants is the truth to be told. It is not a question of reparations or looking for money or anything like that, but the truth has been obscured and it ought not to be obscured. The truth has to be told. And we are doing it the hard way, through a congressional hearing. And this is only the beginning. I think there will be more.
It is very important that the contribution of a proud people be made known, and the abuses visited upon them be made known, because then their unshakable patriotism stands in even greater relief.
I am very proud to be a small part of this. Thank you again, Mr. Lazio and Mr. Engel.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Jenkins, would you like to make an opening statement?
Mr. JENKINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Hyde has a few years on me. I was surprised to hear him say that his degree of being unaware of this—because I certainly was—it very recently has come to my attention that there were these kinds of abuses that were being thrust upon a segment of our population. But I, like Mr. Hyde, would like to salute the contributions that have been made in every facet of our society by the Italian Americans and say that I, too, am very happy to be—if there is some way that we can atone for—a part of that.
Page 39 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. CANADY. Mr. Watt.
Mr. WATT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I know we typically do not ask our colleagues questions, but I thought this might be more appropriately addressed to them than to any of the other witnesses who will be testifying about the factual backdrop.
One concern—and I am not sure that it is an overwhelming concern—that I have about the bill is on page seven. Is there precedent for directing the President to make such an acknowledgement as we are directing him to make? Or might it be better to make the acknowledgment and have it acknowledged by his signature on a bill that we, as Congress, have officially acknowledged as opposed to having the President do it? Is there some reason you elected to do it this way?
Mr. LAZIO. I am not aware of any precedent. I think the only precedent we have for this sort of factual setting is the experience of the Japanese Americans. The reason why we have this formal acknowledgement on the part of the President is because I think he is perceived by the American public—and rightfully so—as the head of our Government. He has the ability to generate a message in a way that a piece of legislation might not otherwise be able to. And it would certainly offer the President the opportunity to make a more thorough statement than just a signature or an announcement. It is something that a message could be built around that would penetrate the consciousness of the American people that perhaps legislation might not be able to do.
Page 40 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. ENGEL. I agree with that. I was there when we put the language together for the bill and we talked about whether or not to have a formal acknowledgement by the President. We decided to do it because we felt that that would make it more forceful. Obviously, by signing the bill there is an acknowledgement, but we felt that the formal acknowledgement would emphasize it.
Again, as Chairman Hyde said, we are not asking for money, or an apology, or anything like that, but a formal acknowledgement. By doing it that way, we thought we would emphasize it and highlight the fact of what really happened.
Again, I want to stress—and everybody has mentioned it—why I believe it is so important. The overwhelming majority—99 percent of everybody who comes into contact with this bill—thinks it is a wonderful thing that we are doing. Occasionally someone will ask, ''Why drudge up the past? Why make Italian Americans as victims? Why are you doing this?''
I think it is important that we mention the past and acknowledge the past. Whether it is the injustices against African Americans in this country or what happened with the Japanese Americans or the Holocaust in Europe—it is so important to do that. How else are our children going to learn? How else are we going to learn? How else are we going to show that this happened when people ultimately will deny that these injustices ever happened?
Mr. WATT. I do not want to leave the impression that I object to this form of doing it. I just wanted to be sure that we have thought about the ramifications of this. It seems to me that just as powerful a statement would be made by having all of us going on record as having acknowledged this. I suspect that whatever president would sign this bill, it would be a further acknowledgement at that point anyway.
Page 41 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Let me emphasize that I am not second-guessing this. I am raising what I hope is a constructive question.
Mr. CANADY. Mr. Nadler.
Mr. NADLER. Thank you.
Let me first express my apologies for coming late. I was at another meeting on a different topic, in this case a current ethnic persecution. Let me express my appreciation to Mr. Engel and Mr. Lazio for sponsoring this very important legislation, of which I am proud to be a cosponsor. I am glad that we are doing this—or hope to be doing this—passing this legislation because it is about time that we acknowledge the actions of our Government.
I just have one question. We know with respect to the Japanese the shameful acts our Government committed, and Congress voted for formal reparations about a decade ago. Until Congressman Engel mentioned this to me a few months ago, I had no idea that the Government had done anything with respect to Italian Americans in World War II. I was rather chagrined to find it out, and I am glad we are considering this legislation.
Are you aware of anything the Government did to German Americans? Did the United States Government take similar action with respect to Germans in the United States, German citizens, or German immigrants? Or did they single out Italians and Japanese in a different way?
Page 42 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. LAZIO. Congressman, I believe that German Americans faced a similar status problem. They were also labelled as enemy aliens. I think their access to radios and to communications equipment beyond telephones and to firearms was also restricted. I do recall that German Americans had the same status as enemy aliens.
Mr. NADLER. And this was limited in both the Italian-American case and the German-American case to people who were not citizens? Or was it not so limited?
Mr. LAZIO. There were cases where you actually had citizens, but the overwhelming majority of the people were resident aliens.
Mr. NADLER. But there was internment of Italian Americans?
Mr. LAZIO. Yes, there was.
Mr. ENGEL. Unfortunately, there were some internments of German Americans as well. The thing that is so striking here is that there was not one documented act of sabotage by any Italian Americans. There were some unfortunate cases by some German Americans. Unfortunately, German Americans were rounded up as well. Again, that is part of our history that most of us were not aware of.
Mr. NADLER. Were any citizens in either the German or Italian extraction interned? Or only resident aliens?
Mr. ENGEL. Most were resident aliens. There were some incidents of citizens as well.
Page 43 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
As you know, some people—for whatever reason—choose not to become citizens but are legal in this country and work and pay taxes. Most of those people were the ones who were rounded up.
Mr. LAZIO. I would also add that—and while I do not believe in any way that this is justification for internment—there were cases of German Americans who were involved in espionage and helping the Nazis. There were no instances of Italian Americans involved in espionage, who passed on information to any of America's declared enemies.
Mr. NADLER. Again, I want to thank the two of you for sponsoring this legislation. I want to thank Congressman Engel for bringing the history to my attention because I was entirely unaware of it. I do hope we will approve this legislation expeditiously.
Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. Nadler.
Again, we thank both of you for your leadership on this important issue.
Mr. CANADY. We will now move to the second panel.
I thank all of you for being with us this morning. We will now proceed with the introductions of the next panel.
Page 44 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The first witness on our second panel this morning is Ms. Rose Viscuso Scudero of Antioch, California. Following her is Doris L. Pinza of Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
Our third witness on the second panel is Colonel Angelo de Guttadauro of San Antonio, Texas.
Following him is ''The Little Professor,'' Mr. Dominic DiMaggio of Ocean Ridge, Florida. Mr. DiMaggio, a former major league baseball player, is the brother of baseball legend, Joe DiMaggio.
Our next witness is Lawrence Di Stasi of Bolinas, California. Mr. Di Stasi is President of the Western Regional Chapter of the American Italian Historical Association, and Project Director of the traveling exhibit ''Una Storia Segreta: When Italian Americans Were 'Enemy Aliens' ''.
Following Mr. Di Stasi is Anthony E. LaPiana of Lombard, Illinois. Mr. LaPiana is here on behalf of the National Italian American Council.
Our next witness on this panel is Matthew DiDomenico, Sr., who is the Executive Vice President of the National Italian American Foundation in Washington, D.C. NIAF is a non-profit organization that represents an estimated 20 million Americans of Italian descent.
Our final witness on this panel is Dr. Philip Piccigallo, who is here on behalf of the Sons of Italy of Washington, D.C.
Page 45 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Again, I want to thank all of you for being here with us this morning. I apologize for mispronouncing any of your names. I would ask that you do your best to summarize your testimony in 5 minutes or less, guided by the green light. When it is red, that means the 5 minutes have expired. Without objection, your full written statements will be made a part of the permanent hearing record.
Ms. Scudero.
STATEMENT OF ROSE VISCUSO SCUDERO, ANTIOCH, CA
Ms. SCUDERO. Thank you, and thank you for having us here today.
I am Rose Viscuso Scudero and my story goes that I was twelve and a half years old at the time this happened. My mother received a letter from the Government stating that because she did not have her citizenship papers she would have to leave the town that we lived in. We had to move at least 9 miles out. Pittsburg, California had the San Joaquin River, the Columbia Steel Mill, and quite a few other vital industries.
We had to move. And because I was a minor—I was born in the United States. I was a citizen—and yet because I was a minor, I had to leave with my mother. My mother had to leave behind three daughters, my two brothers, and my father, who was building the Liberty ships at Kaiser Shipyards. My brothers were working at Columbia Steel. That is kind of ironic that there is a woman who could not read or write English, and they sent her away.
Page 46 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
There were many families in Pittsburg who went through the same thing. A lot of my classmates were sent away that were born in the United States, with their parents. I did not have any idea what was going to happen to me. I did not know if I was ever going to come back home. I had to leave all the classmates I had been in school with since kindergarten. It was just very traumatic. My mother would cry herself to sleep every night. The thought of leaving three daughters, especially, at home—18, 19, and 21 years old—was very, very hard for her to take.
They did not get to see us except every few weekends because it was hard to get a ride. Everybody did not have a car at that time. We shared the house with my two aunts, my two cousins, and my uncle, who was a citizen. He stayed with us so that we would have a man in the house.
We had to walk quite a few miles to go to the store to get groceries and things. We had no radio. They took all those things away from us. So we had no way of knowing how things were going, except when our family came to visit.
The school I went to—because we were foreign to them—I was considered an enemy alien. When I would get on the bus, they would spread out so that there would be no room to sit. My lunch was stolen several times a month. I had to share lunch with the teacher. When they would teach the children to dance, the boys would ask the girls to dance and I would sit there by myself. It was very humiliating.
And I know these things are not as bad as the atrocities that happened to the Japanese. I am not trying to compare this to that, but emotionally it did affect us. And now my grandchildren are questioning it. ''We do not see it in history books in school. Why are you saying this?'' I have to bring out a few pictures and things that I have of my family.
Page 47 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
This happened to two other members in my family. My brother was married a year and a half and had a 1-year-old child. His wife came over when she was 9 years old. She had just turned 21 at the time this happened. At that time, I don't believe they could receive their citizenship papers until they were 21. She did not have time. So she had to move to Walnut Creek with the baby and my brother stayed behind because he worked at the steel mill.
My brother joined the Navy, even though this was happening, but his boss at the steel mill said that they needed him there for the war effort. So he talked to his commanding officer and had him deferred.
So it did affect us.
My father was building liberty ships at Kaiser shipyards and yet they sent my mother away.
I have a lot of other stories of people in Pittsburg who had two or three sons in the service who came home and found their house boarded up. The mothers were living in Oakley in itinerant houses—three families in these houses—distant cousins or whatever would cook and bring them food. A lot of these things were going on.
My sister, Marie, was engaged to be married to a boy from San Francisco, Mr. Del Carlo. He came here when he was 18 months old and he was not 21 at the time. So he waited until he was 21. When he finally got his papers, 6 weeks later he is drafted. He fought in Normandy and the Rhine. And while he was there he was able to go to Lucca, Italy and he saw his 90-year-old grandfather, and here they were on opposite sides fighting each other. I have pictures of that.
Page 48 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
They confiscated all our cameras, radios, et cetera, so my mom put me on the bus after several months and sent me to Pittsburg. I was able to do that because I was born here. That liberty they gave me. I was to find out when we were going to be able to come home. The news was good at that time. We were there from February 24th until August of that year. I went back and the news was good. Everybody was so happy and crying. My mom sent me—this was sort of a rural area—to tell all the other people. I went knocking on doors and kept telling them that they could go home now. They labelled me the ''Italian Paul Revere'' at that time. [Laughter.]
Ms. SCUDERO. I am now 70 years old. I am speaking to children from the 6th grade through high school and it is amazing the reaction I get to this story and the questions they come up with. It is just mind-boggling. You can hear a pin drop.
I have shown a video of my interviews with CNN and Good Morning America. They cannot comprehend. The first question I get from most of them is, ''You mean this happened here in the United States?'' I answer yes, and it can happen again.
They want to know more. They want to read about it.
I want to thank you for having me here, and I am sorry I am so nervous. I have a lot more stories to tell, if you want to listen.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Scudero follows:]
Page 49 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROSE VISCUSO SCUDERO, ANTIOCH, CA
The year was 1942 and I was twelve and a half years old. My mother received a letter from the U.S. government stating that because she had not become a U.S. citizen, she would have to move to a specified area in the county we lived in because our house was too close to the Columbia Steel Co. and other vital industries, plus the San Joaquin River.
Because we were at war with Germany and Italy, it didn't matter that my father (a U.S. citizen) was employed at Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond Calif. building the Liberty ships for the Defense Dept. and my two brothers worked at Columbia Steel Co. My three sisters worked in downtown Pittsburgh establishments. Even though I was born in the U.S., I had to accompany my mother because I was a minor. I realize it now as an adult that they had abused my civil rights.
I was attending Jr. High School and I felt bad about leaving all of my childhood friends. I thought I would be gone forever, so gave away my collection of fancy pins that I wore on my sweaters to my classmates.
It was February 24th, 1942 that we went to live in a rented house on West St.on the outskirts of Concord Calif. about nineteen miles from our home in Pittsburgh.
We shared the house with my Aunt Sara and Uncle Filipo Nicolosi and my Aunt Mary Viscuso and her two sons, Salvatore and Johnny. My Uncle Filipo was a U.S. citizen but he stayed with us so that we would have a man in the house.
Page 50 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I can remember my mother Rosa crying herself to sleep at night, missing her family especially the thought of having to leave three daughters ages eighteen, nineteen and twenty-one years old.
I attended Clayton Valley School and the bus would pick us up in the morning. The other children were not very friendly. I would find my lunch missing many times and the teacher would share hers with me. During music class, I would not be asked to dance and I would sit alone. It was very humiliating for a twelve and a half year old. We were considered Enemy Aliens. This happened to many of my Italian friends that were born here and had to move with their parents.
My brother Salvatore's wife, Grace Viscuso and their baby son Joseph eight months old, moved to Walnut Creek, Calif. while he stayed in Pittsburg to work at Columbia Steel Co. Grace came to America when she was nine years old and she had just turned twenty-one when this happened. She didn't have time to get her citizenship papers.
My sister Marie was engaged to be married to Albert Del Carlo from South San Francisco, Calif. Because he was born in Lucca, Italy and came to America when he was eighteen months old, and was not twenty-one years old yet in order to get his papers, he was restricted from traveling so many miles from his home so my sister had to visit him when she could get a ride to San Francisco. As soon as he turned twenty-one years old, he received his citizenship papers and six weeks later he was drafted. He fought in Normandy and the Battle of the Rine. He also was able to meet his ninety year old grandfather Bezo Del Carlo while passing through Lucca, Italy. ''HOW IRONIC'' that they were on opposite sides in battle!
Page 51 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
My brother Dante joined the Navy but his boss at Columbia Steel Co. called his commanding officer and requested that he be deferred from the service because they needed him at his job for the War effort.
My family brothers Dante and Salvatore, and sisters Josephine, Gena and Marie with my father, Giuseppe Viscuso would come to visit us on weekends when they could. It would be a very happy day and yet, when they had to leave, it would be very sad with many tears.
Since they confiscated all of our cameras, radios etc. we had no way of knowing how things were progressing on our behalf, so my mother put me on a Greyhound Bus and sent me to Pittsburgh to find out if any news on when we could return home was available. The news was good so they sent me back to Concord to alert every one. I can remember the joy and tears when I told my mother and Aunts. Momma sent me on to alert the other families living in a one mile radius, blocks apart from one another. I can remember knocking on doors and shouting ''YOU CAN GO HOME NOW!'' and the excitement of it all . . . I felt like PAUL REVERE, Italian Style.
I am now seventy years old and am giving lectures in schools to students from sixth grade through high school and it is amazing at how they respond to my story. The question most asked is . . . ''You mean that this happened here in the U.S.A.?'' And I tell them YES! AND IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN! It is hard for them to comprehend it because it has not been acknowledged or documented in our history books. We are not asking for an apology nor monetary compensation. So please consider what little we are asking for.
Thank you.
Page 52 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Ms. Scudero.
Ms. Pinza.
STATEMENT OF DORIS L. PINZA, CAPE ELIZABETH, ME
Ms. PINZA. Honorable members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Doris Pinza. My late husband, Ezio Pinza, was a native Italian and an opera singer working at the Metropolitan Opera in New York when he was arrested and interned at Ellis Island as an enemy alien on March 12, 1942, thus opening one of the most terrifying chapters in our lives.
I had left in my car to do an errand that morning. Ezio was alone in an upstairs room of our home in Mamaroneck, New York, doing paperwork at a table when he suddenly became aware that two strange men were approaching him. They had entered through the unlocked back door without either knocking or ringing the doorbell. They then walked through the lower floor and up the stairway.
One of them said, ''Are you Ezio Pinza?'' Ezio replied, ''Yes, what can I do for you?'' The men showed their FBI identifications, and one said, ''In the name of the President of the United States, we place you under arrest.'' Ezio immediately stood up. He was shocked and puzzled. He asked if they would mind waiting until his wife came back from the village. They handed Ezio a warrant and said, ''There is plenty of time. We intend to search your house anyway.''
Page 53 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
When I returned to find the strange car—and men—I was shocked to hear Ezio say to me, ''They have come to arrest me.'' We knew that all Italians were classified as enemy aliens during the war, but we had not heard that they could be arrested indiscriminately as the Japanese had been. We never suspected this could happen in the United States.
When they had finished their search of every room, closet, drawer, and file and found nothing of interest except a bill of sale for our boat, they told us they were going to take Ezio to the Foley Square Court House in Manhattan. When they arrived there, Ezio was searched again, fingerprinted, photographed, and questioned at length. He was then taken by boat to Ellis Island and handed over to uniformed guards who took away his necktie, belt, and shoelaces. Finally, Ezio was assigned an upper cot in a huge dormitory. A photograph of the dormitory is attached as Exhibit A to my written statement.
I had utter confidence in my husband, and although I was confused, I felt certain that some horrible mistake had been made and that he would be released quickly. But I was soon told that he could not be released until after a hearing that would take place in 12 days time. That was chilling news. A hearing? About what?
We were told that the United States Department of Justice would not disclose to us what charges had been brought against Ezio. Needless to say, that seemed to us a highly unusual and unfair policy for an American court. Ezio was totally innocent of any wrongdoing against the country. He was due to receive his final citizenship papers in 4 months, and we had not the slightest idea of what allegations had been made. How, we agonized, could we prepare for a hearing in 12 days? What would we talk about? What allegations did we have to rebut?
Page 54 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
While Ezio was at Ellis Island, I was allowed to visit him once each week by taking a ferry to the Island. When it docked, there was a great rush to get to the head of the line to enter the facility. Then we waited patiently to have our packages, pocketbooks, and all of our clothing inspected by the hands of a male guard.
We met in a huge room, sitting on wood benches, and again being watched carefully. In 15 minutes or so, a bell signaled that it was time to leave.
At Ellis Island I found my husband in a state of deep depression. The very next morning after his arrest, his picture had been on the front page of The New York Times stating that he had been arrested as an enemy alien and implying that he might be guilty of some subversive activities. Similar articles had also been carried in every other New York paper and in the newspapers of every major city in the country. He was humiliated and felt certain that his operatic career, which depended on the goodwill of the public, was doomed.
Living as he was with untidy clothing, open latrines, censored mail, and a lack of fresh air was also difficult for him. He felt helpless to defend himself. Ezio suspected that jealousies within the opera house might be at the root of any accusations against him. But how could we know if not presented with the charges? How could I sort it all out and make successful arguments at a hearing in 12 days? I could not.
Since we had no idea of the charges, the attorney I went to could only suggest taking affidavits and witnesses to the hearing who would attest to Ezio's honesty and his apolitical nature, and we did so. At the hearing, my father and I spoke in more detail about Ezio's character and the fact that in 1939 he decided and then did dispose of everything he had ever owned in Italy including his home, three apartment houses, his car, and all Italian investments.
Page 55 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Ezio told the judges why he had decided to become an American citizen and how he had attempted to help the American war effort by performing, without remuneration, for the United States Treasury Department at rallies to sell defense bonds and for the American Red Cross in their drives to collect funds and blood. He tried to help them understand that he cared only about his family and his musical career. He later told me that he was so nervous and confused by the ordeal that he had put on the worst show of this life.
The part of the hearing that was most startling to me, as an American, was that our attorney was not permitted to be in the courtroom with us. Ezio and I were forced to face a stern panel without legal assistance and without knowledge of the charges against him. We did our best to defend against the ghosts lined up against us. Not surprisingly, we failed.
Two judges voted for acquittal and one did not. We were told that Ezio would be shipped to a camp in some distant State until the end of the war. He would never be allowed to have any visitors, and I could send him only one letter each month. What was he being punished for? My parents and I agreed this could not happen in America.
To make a long story as short as possible, within a few days I found a new attorney and with great energy on our part and the help of friends sympathetic to Ezio's plight, we were able to persuade Attorney General Biddle to grant us a second hearing. Then several of Ezio's colleagues from the Opera House stepped forward and volunteered to tell the facts about how this drama had been invented. They testified under oath at the second hearing about that as well as about Ezio's character and the impossibility of his being any type of threat to America. We presented other evidence in Ezio's favor as well. This time, we succeeded.
Page 56 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Ezio had been confined for nearly 3 months when he was finally released. When he felt strong again, he returned to his profession, and to our joy, audiences everywhere greeted him with affection. Ezio had never spoken of this episode publicly, but they seemed to have guessed the truth.
Perhaps because Ezio was a well-known person, he managed to gain his freedom within months, rather than years. Even so, the terror of being arrested and imprisoned without knowing the charges against him, the fear that he could be separated from his family for years and lose his career and the difficult conditions on Ellis Island contributed, I am sure, to the high blood pressure and heart ailment that eventually took his life at the young age of 64. His brother and sister lived to the ages of 91 and 93.
On July 2, 1945, Ezio was honored to have been chosen to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the welcoming home ceremonies for Generals Patton and Doolittle.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Pinza follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF DORIS L. PINZA, CAPE ELIZABETH, ME
Honorable Members of the Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Doris Pinza. My late husband, Ezio Pinza, was a native Italian and an opera singer working at the Metropolitan Opera in New York when he was arrested and interned at Ellis Island as an enemy alien on March 12, 1942, thus opening one of the most terrifying chapters in our lives.
Page 57 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I had left in my car to do an errand that morning. Ezio was alone in an upstairs room of our home in Mamaroneck, NY doing paperwork at a table when he suddenly became aware that two strange men were approaching him.
They had entered through the unlocked back door without either knocking or ringing the doorbell. They then walked through the lower floor and up the stairway.
One of them said, ''Are you Ezio Pinza?'' Ezio replied, ''Yes, what can I do for you?'' The men showed their FBI identifications, and one said, ''In the name of the President of the United States we place you under arrest!''
Ezio immediately stood up. He was shocked and puzzled. He asked if they would mind waiting until his wife came back from the village. They handed Ezio a warrant and said, ''There's plenty of time. We intend to search your house anyway.''
When I returned to find the strange car—and men—I was shocked to hear Ezio say to me, ''They have come to arrest me.''
We knew that all Italians were classified as ''enemy aliens'' during the war, but we had not heard that they could be arrested indiscriminately as the Japanese had been. We never suspected this could happen in the United States.
When they had finished their search of every room, closet, drawer and file and found nothing of interest except a bill of sale for our boat, they told us they were going to take Ezio to the Foley Square Court House in Manhattan. When they arrived there, Ezio was searched again, fingerprinted, photographed and questioned at length. He was then taken by boat to Ellis Island and handed over to uniformed guards who took away his necktie, belt and shoelaces. Finally, Ezio was assigned an upper cot in a huge dormitory. A photograph of the dormitory is attached as Exhibit A.
Page 58 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I had utter confidence in my husband, and although I was confused, I felt certain that some horrible mistake had been made and that he would be released quickly. But I was soon told that he could not be released until after a hearing that would take place in 12 days time—that was chilling news.
A hearing? About what?
We were told that the United States Department of Justice would not disclose to us what charges had been brought against Ezio! Needless to say, that seemed to us a highly unusual and unfair policy for an American Court.
Ezio was totally innocent of any wrongdoing against the country. He was due to receive his final citizenship papers in four months, and we had not the slightest idea of what allegations had been made. How, we agonized, could we prepare for a hearing in 12 days? What would we talk about? What allegations did we have to rebut?
While Ezio was at Ellis Island, I was allowed to visit him once each week by taking a ferry to the Island. When it docked, there was a great rush to get to the head of the line to enter the facility. Then we waited patiently to have our packages, pocketbooks and all of our clothing inspected by the hands of a male guard.
We met in a huge room—sitting on wooden benches and again, being watched carefully. In 15 minutes or so, a bell signaled that it was time to leave.
Page 59 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
At Ellis Island I found my husband in a state of deep depression. The very next morning after his arrest, his picture had been on the front page of the New York Times stating he had been arrested as an enemy alien and implying that he might be guilty of some subversive activities. Similar articles had also been carried in every other New York paper and in the newspapers of every major city in the country. He was humiliated and felt certain that his operatic career, which depended on the goodwill of the public, was doomed.
Living as he was with untidy clothing, open latrines and a lack of fresh air was also difficult for him. He felt helpless to defend himself.
Ezio suspected that jealousies within the opera house might be at the root of any accusations against him. But how could we know if not presented with the charges? How could I sort it all out and make successful arguments at a hearing in 12 days? I couldn't!
Since we had no idea of the charges, the attorney I went to could only suggest taking affidavits and witnesses to the hearing who would attest to Ezio's honesty and his apolitical nature—and we did so.
At the hearing, my father and I spoke in more detail about Ezio's character and the fact that in 1939 he had disposed of everything he had ever owned in Italy including his home, three apartment houses, his car and all Italian investments. Ezio told the judges why he had decided to become an American citizen and how he had attempted to help the American war effort by performing, without remuneration, for the U.S. Treasury Department at rallies to sell Defense Bonds and for the American Red Cross in their drives to collect funds and blood. He tried to help them understand that he cared only about his family and his musical career. He later told me that he was so nervous and confused by the ordeal that he had put on the worst show of his life.
Page 60 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The part of the hearing that was most startling to me—as an American—was that our attorney was not permitted to be in the courtroom with us.
Ezio and I were forced to face a stern panel without legal assistance and without knowledge of the charges against him. We did our best to defend against the ghosts lined up against us. Not surprisingly, we failed.
Two judges voted for acquittal, and one did not. We were told that Ezio would be shipped to a camp in some distant state until the end of the war. He would never be allowed to have any visitors, and I could send him only one letter each month!
What was he being punished for? My parents and I agreed this could not happen in America!
To make a long story as short as possible, within a few days I found a new attorney and with great energy on our part and the help of friends sympathetic to Ezio's plight, we were able to persuade Attorney General Biddle to grant us a second hearing. Then several of Ezio's colleagues from the Opera House stepped forward and volunteered to tell the facts about how this drama had been invented. They testified under oath at the second hearing about that as well as about Ezio's character and the impossibility of his being any type of threat to America. We presented other evidence in Ezio's favor as well. This time, we succeeded.
Ezio had been confined for nearly three months when he was finally released. When he felt strong again, he returned to his profession, and to our joy, audiences everywhere greeted him with affection. Ezio had never spoken of this episode publicly, but they seemed to have guessed the truth.
Page 61 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Perhaps because Ezio was a well-known person, he managed to gain his freedom within months, rather than years. Even so, the terror of being arrested and imprisoned without knowing the charges against him, the fear that he could be separated from his family for years and lose his career and the difficult conditions on Ellis Island contributed, I am sure, to the high blood pressure and heart ailment that eventually took his life at the young age of 64. His brother and sister lived to the ages of 91 and 93.
On July 2, 1945, Ezio was honored to have been chosen to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the welcoming home ceremonies for Generals Patton and Doolittle.
Thank you.
04
EXHIBIT A
60413a.eps
This is where Ezio slept during his stay at Ellis Island—he had an upper berth.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Ms. Pinza.
Mr. de Guttadauro.
STATEMENT OF COLONEL ANGELO DE GUTTADAURO, RETIRED, SAN ANTONIO, TX
Page 62 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. DE GUTTADAURO. Gentlemen, thank you having me here today.
Very briefly, my father was born in 1899 in Italy and was drafted into the Italian army at the tender age of 17. He immediately was sent to the front. I want to emphasize the fact that at this time Italy was an ally of America, and Italy was fighting with the American forces against the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. My father fought on the front for almost a year until he was seriously wounded. He received Italy's War Cross for Military Valor, which was the equivalent of our Silver Star. He then came to the United States, married my mother, who was a native-born American citizen, in San Francisco.
His problems began even before December 7, 1941. Under the provisions of FOIPA, I have received a number of documents from the Department of Justice and the FBI. I have one here dated March 19, 1941 from the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in San Francisco to the Director, Mr. Hoover. Everything from ''Dear Sir'' to ''Very Truly Yours'' has been sanitized. Another document, dated April 20, 1941, was an interrogation and investigation by the FBI of my father. Again, you can see the sanitization that was done.
In these documents, going from 1941 to 1944, my father was always referred to as having an alias. My father's first name was Antonino, but he went by Nino. The FBI continued to refer to Antonino Guttadauro, alias Nino. Alias in the dictionary is defined as ''An assumed name: The swindler worked under various aliases.'' So this gives a sinister background to my father by having his name going from Antonino to Nino. It said alias, and this continued.
Again, this manipulation was done by the Justice Department and by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to try to prove a preconceived point of a subversive activity, which did not exist.
Page 63 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I have here a letter personally signed by J. Edgar Hoover, a memorandum for Mr. Smith, LMC Smith, Chief, Special Defense Unit of the FBI in San Francisco: ''It is recommended that this individual be considered for custodial detention in the event of an actual emergency,'' dated September 30, 1941, prior to Pearl Harbor. And that is Mr. Hoover's signature.
Mr. Hoover issued my father a copy of a custodial detention card, which he had to use, again, as an assumed subversive. Wendell Berge, the Assistant Attorney General of the United States, wrote a memorandum to Mr. Hoover regarding my father—this is February 10, 1942—stating that ''there is not sufficient evidence upon which to institute a criminal prosecution against the subject at this time.''
However, the FBI and Mr. Hoover continued to the point that on September 1, 1942 he received an official order from General DeWitt stating that he had to report to an individual exclusion hearing board in San Francisco in less than a month. If he failed to do so, he would be fined a penalty of $5,000 and/or 1 year in jail, or both. Five-thousand dollars compounded quarterly at 7 percent is over $250,000 today. I am afraid my father, as an accountant, simply did not have that kind of money, as I am sure most of the people treated in this fashion did not.
At the exclusion hearing, he was told in writing—and I have the documents here—that he would not be told who his accusers were, he would not be told what the accusations were, and he would not be allowed to bring counsel with him. This is, I believe, a nullification of the civil liberties we were all granted. I would like to remind you again, at this time my father was a citizen of the United States.
Page 64 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
If I look back just a few years, that horrible happening in Oklahoma City—the man responsible for that was allowed to examine his witnesses, he was allowed to see evidence, he was allowed to have counsel. My father was not.
The exclusion hearing barred my father from over 50 percent of the United States. This is a map of the military areas and it runs all the way from Washington State to Maine. He could not go to any of these parts of the United States. Attempts to extinguish his United States citizenship continued, however, in the case entitled ''Antonino Guttadauro, with alias, Internal Security-I, (again from J. Edgar Hoover) Denaturalization Proceedings'' while he had already been excluded within the United States. A report, dated May 19, 1943, again from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, continued the denaturalization proceedings—again sanitized.
I spent almost 32 years in the service of our country—I retired in 1991—and during that time I commanded a nuclear warhead detachment, was a member of the Strategic Studies Institute at the Army War College, which is our senior think tank for the U.S. Army, and was on the personal staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and I know when we have to sanitize documents. I know when it is reasonable to have classified information deleted. This is not the case, especially now that we are talking 60 years after the fact. But they continue to hide behind this veil of secrecy.
My father's exclusion order was finally rescinded, I believe in April 1944. Between the investigations by the FBI, the interrogations, and the exclusion, it ran from March 1941 to April 1944. So there was a period of 3 years. In that time, my father was an accountant. He had to find work. The first job he could find was as a grocery clerk in Salt Lake City, where he knew no one. It really destroyed the family fabric. And this is something, gentlemen, that I think should never again be repeated to any ethnic group for any reason. At least the restraints and the due process of law should be applied in every case.
Page 65 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I thank you for hearing me.
[The prepared statement of Colonel de Guttadauro follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF COLONEL ANGELO DE GUTTADAURO, RETIRED, SAN ANTONIO, TX
Last winter, my son Andrew, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, sent me a copy of Tom Brokaw's 1998 best seller, The Greatest Generation, as a Christmas present. It is a riveting account of personal integrity and courage as documented by the lives of Americans who were destined to confront World War II. But I was totally dismayed and offended that Brokaw continues to assert the widely held canard that Italian Americans were not persecuted during that period. His following passage makes this fictitious position quite clear:
''Italian and German aliens living in California coastal areas were ordered to move in early 1942 but by June of that year the order had been rescinded, and there was no major relocation for those groups. Italian and German immigrants were picked up and questioned closely; they may have had some uncomfortable moments during the war, but they retained all their rights.''
Some moments, some rights.
My father, Nino Guttadauro, was born in Italy in 1899 and as a teenager was commissioned an infantry second lieutenant in the Italian armed forces. He served for over a year in combat against the Austrian Army in World War I until he was seriously wounded on the front lines. At that time, Italy was allied with America, England, and France to defeat the invading German and Austrian forces in Europe. For his gallantry in action, he was awarded Italy's War Cross for Military Valor, the equivalent of America's Silver Star.
Page 66 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Following the war, my father emigrated to the United States, married my mother (a native-born American citizen), continued his profession as an accountant, and became a naturalized American citizen residing in San Francisco, California. Because of his status as a veteran of World War I, he joined The Federation of the Italian World War I Veterans in the U.S.A., Inc., an organization very similar to America's VFW. His later position as president of the Federation's San Francisco branch, however, would have very damaging consequences for him and his entire family.
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information-Privacy Acts (FOIPA), I have received dozens of documents from the FBI covering the period from 19 March 1941 to 13 July 1944. A number of these documents were signed by John Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and by Wendell Berge, Assistant Attorney General of the United States. A brief summary of these documents will illustrate the unconscionable manner in which my father's most basic civil liberties were abused and the core principles of the Constitution were abrogated. Even today, almost sixty years after the fact, the names of my father's accusers to the FBI and, indeed, their very allegations have been blacked out, or sanitized, in these documents.
My father's interrogations by the FBI began in March 1941 and continued until September 1942. At no time was he allowed to know the names of his accusers or the nature of their accusations. During his 28 March 1941 interrogation, the FBI agent recorded that the ''Subject denied there was any Fascist activity in the Italian Colony in San Francisco'' and further noted my father's statement that ''Communism was an international ideology and Russia sought and would, if the chance came, inflict its system on the whole world.'' History has proven my father correct on both counts.
Page 67 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Notwithstanding my father's consistent denials over a period of one and a half years of any inappropriate or illegal activities, a Board of Officers was convened by the Commanding General, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, to determine if he should be issued an exclusion order prohibiting him from living in over half of the United States. The board was held in Room 483 of San Francisco's Whitcomb Hotel at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 September 1942. As Lt. Col. Frank E. Meek, the board president, informed my father in writing, ''Materials in the hands of the Board will not be made available for your inspection'' and you will not ''be permitted to examine witnesses.'' These are exactly the arbitrary procedures exercised by the infamous ''Star Chamber'' courts of the Middle Ages, and these same processes were utilized during the FBI interrogations.
The board's decision, for which there was no appeal, resulted in my father being served Exclusion Order F–1 at 10:18 a.m. on 29 September 1942. He was ordered to report two days later at 10:00 a.m. to a Maj. Ray Ashworth for ''processing.'' This processing included having a photograph and fingerprints taken and a specimen signature supplied. Documentaries of military tribunals treating civilian citizens in such an arbitrary manner can be seen almost weekly on the History Channel, but most such examples were filmed over half a century ago in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia.
The immediate result of Exclusion Order F–1 was my father's automatic expulsion from California, the loss of his professional position, and, most importantly, his forced separation from his wife, his seven-year-old daughter, and five-year-old son. In fact, he was not only expelled from California, but he was also prohibited from living in or traveling to the following states:
Page 68 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Prior to departing California, my father was ordered by Lt. Gen. J. L. DeWitt, Commanding General of Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, ''to communicate in writing the time of your departure, initial and ultimate destinations, route to be followed and means of travel; upon arrival at ultimate destination, you will report in person the fact of your arrival and your address at such destination to the Special Agent in Charge of the nearest office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice.'' This military notification and personal reporting mandate remained in force anytime my father traveled more than five miles or changed his residence, even in the same city. Although an American citizen, my father was, in effect, a prisoner in his own country.
It was impossible for my father to find qualified accounting positions because he would have to inform prospective employers that he was excluded on security grounds from half of the United States. It is understandable that employers would not trust such an individual with financial ledgers and cash payments. After an extensive search, the first job he was able to find following the exclusion was as a grocery clerk in Salt Lake City, Utah. This economic disruption and hardship, as well as the psychological scars, remained with my father for the rest of his life.
But the entire family also suffered. Due to the swiftness of the expulsion order, household goods were either stored or simply abandoned. We were forced to rent, in numerous cities, furnished apartments or homes at high costs due to our transient status. We had become, by military fiat, a family of involuntary gypsies. It fell upon my mother to create an artificial home atmosphere as best she could while my father roamed the Rocky Mountain states (in the non-prohibited areas) searching for a living. Because of this arbitrary and coercive action, a man's value to himself, to his family, and to his community and society was dramatically and permanently diminished.
Page 69 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Three years after my father's initial FBI interrogation in March 1941, his Exclusion Order F–1 was finally cancelled and rescinded effective 13 March 1944.
Despite the hardships and injustices inflicted on a loyal citizen by his government, my father was always proud of my decision to enter the United States Army from which I was honorable retired as a colonel after almost thirty-two years of commissioned service.
Had he lived, my father would have been a centenarian this year. By exposing the indignities he was forced to endure, you can relay to his spirit, and to all citizens, that our country is truly based on liberty and justice for all. Not only is this the right thing to do, it is the American thing to do.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Colonel.
Mr. WATT. Mr. Chairman, would it be appropriate to move at this point that all of these attachments that have been referred to be made an official part of the record so that we can get copies of them into the record?
Mr. CANADY. Without objection, all the materials referred to will be made a part of the record.
[The referenced documentation follows:]
102699a.eps
Page 70 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
102699b.eps
102699c.eps
102699d.eps
102699e.eps
102699f.eps
102699g.eps
102699h.eps
102699i.eps
102699j.eps
102699k.eps
102699l.eps
102699m.eps
Page 71 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
102699n.eps
102699o.eps
102699p.eps
102699q.eps
102699r.eps
Mr. CANADY. Mr. DiMaggio.
STATEMENT OF DOMINIC DIMAGGIO, OCEAN RIDGE, FL
Mr. DIMAGGIO. Mr. Chairman, I am referred to as the little professor, due to my short stature and large glasses, and to the fact that I look more like a scholar than an athlete.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am pleased to be here today to participate in this hearing. This legislation, the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, is important in the Italian-American community, and it is important to me.
I am here today in hopes that we can bring to light the tragic events of the past and honor those that had to endure them. Half-way through the 1942 baseball season, I enlisted in the United States Navy. The Navy was very, very reluctant to accept me because of my eye deficiency, but after a long conversation with the optometrist that examined me, I convinced him that he should draft a letter, have it signed by all the members of the Federal building in Massachusetts, send it to the War Department in Washington, D.C. recommending to them that they accept me on the basis that perhaps my athletic ability offsets some of my eye deficiency. That was done, and in due time I was accepted in the United States Navy.
Page 72 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
And it was an honor to serve my country. I gladly put my baseball career on hold to do so. But I had no idea that while I was away fighting for my country, the United States Government declared Italian Americans enemy aliens. It saddens me to think that my mother and dad were considered enemy aliens by the country they adored so very much.
I was not the only son who came home from the war to find that their parents or other members of their family had suddenly become enemy aliens. Over 500,000 Italians served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Many of these brave soldiers were fighting to protect the very rights and privileges evoked from their families. In fact, there are several accounts describing how some Italian Americans, so saddened and shamed by their enemy alien status, ended their life. Should the deaths of these innocent people go unnoticed?
I, too, feel we should honor those who endured these terrible injustices by at the very least acknowledging that they did happen. I remember my dad was forbidden from fishing or even visiting his friends at the wharf because it was a prohibited zone. I do not know the extent, but I am sure that Dad was terribly hurt after his experience as an enemy alien.
A number of people affected by these events will never be known, and the effect on the Italian-American community can never be measured. What we can do is acknowledge these terrible events and work to ensure that it will never happen again.
I want to express my strong support for the legislation before us today and urge the committee to move this bill forward.
Page 73 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. DiMaggio follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF DOMINIC DIMAGGIO, OCEAN RIDGE, FL
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to participate in this hearing. This legislation, the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act, is important to the Italian American community and it is important to me. I am here today in hopes that we can bring to light the tragic events of the past and honor those who had to endure them.
After completing the 1942 baseball season I enlisted in the United States Navy. It was an honor to serve my country and I gladly put my baseball career on hold to do so. However, I had no idea that while I was away fighting for my country, the United States government declared Italian Americans enemy aliens. It saddens me to think that my mother and father were considered enemy aliens by the country they adored so much.
I was not the only son who came home from the war to find that their parents, or other members of their family, had suddenly become enemy aliens. Over 500,000 Italians served in the United States Armed Forces. Many of these brave soldiers were fighting to protect the very rights and privileges revoked from their families. In fact, their are several accounts describing how some Italian Americans, so saddened and shamed by their enemy alien status, ended their lives. Should the deaths of these innocent people go unnoticed. I think we should honor those who endured these terrible injustices by, at the very least, acknowledging that they happened.
Page 74 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I remember my father was forbidden from fishing or even visiting his friends at the wharf because it was in a prohibited zone. I do not know the extent, but I am sure my father was changed after his experience as an enemy alien. The number of people affected by these events will never be known and the effect on the Italian American community can never be measured. What we can do is acknowledge these terrible events and work to ensure that it will never happen again. I want to express my strong support for the legislation before us today and urge the Committee to move this bill forward.
Mr. CANADY. Thank you, Mr. DiMaggio.
Mr. Di Stasi.
STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE DI STASI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ITALIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER, BOLINAS, CA
Mr. DI STASI. Thank you.
I just wanted to answer a question that was raised earlier.
First, I suppose I should greet the committee. I would really like to thank Chairman Hyde. I wrote recently, ''When will Italian Americans get their hearing?'' in a piece I wrote about Ezio Pinza. I would like to thank Chairman Hyde and Chairman Canady for making this hearing possible now. It is an honor to be here.
Page 75 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I would also like to thank Representatives Lazio and Engel for introducing this legislation on behalf of millions of Italian Americans.
I wanted to correct or amend what somebody said earlier. The Italian Americans interned were all non-citizens. That is, those who were put in internment camps were non-citizens. There were citizens who were affected, as we just heard from Colonel de Guttadauro. They were excluded from certain military zones. But the people who were interned, as far as we know, were all non-citizens.
The truth of the matter, however, is that we really do not know who all those people were because we have not been able to get their names. That is one of the reasons for this legislation. Even 50 years later, we still do not know all the people who were interned because we have to have the exact names of the internees before we can get any records from the FBI, and we do not have all those names.
I would like to focus in my remarks on two wrongs that I feel were committed during this time. One, the actual restrictions and violations that took place, and secondly, the denial for over 50 years that these events ever happened. In fact, the United States Government's official response has been that it targeted only selected individuals, which is equivalent to saying that the restrictions on the Italian Americans only hit those who had done something wrong. I believe this is a further wrong.
The events themselves come in two different categories. The first is those who were targeted as individuals, however wrongly—that is, the people who were interned and the people who were excluded from military zones—and second, those who were targeted en masse because they were Italian.
Page 76 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
First, the internees and the excludees. I think the main point to bear in mind here is that people were interned and excluded from military zones for no action that they committed. They had been put on the list since 1939 of so-called dangerous individuals. That ''dangerous'' categorization was gleaned from newspapers. The FBI simply looked to see who were the most prominent people in Italian-American communities and in most cases put people on that list. They were members of the Federation of Italian War Veterans, which had fought on the side of the United States in World War I. They were broadcasters, teachers in Italian schools.
When they were arrested, as we have already heard, they were never told of any charges against them because there were no charges against them. They were arrested for what the Government thought they might do. They had no lawyers.
So the first wrong is that their 14th Amendment right to due process was violated. These people were arrested for what they might do, not for what they had done.
Secondly, I think it is important to note that the whole basis for their apprehension was later repudiated by the Attorney General of the United States, Francis Biddle. He said in a memo to J. Edgar Hoover in 1943, ''The Department fulfills its proper functions by investigating the activities of persons who may have violated the law. It is not aided in this work by classifying persons as to dangerousness. The notion that it is possible to make a valid determination as to how dangerous a person is in the abstract and without reference to time, environment, and other relevant circumstances, is impractical, unwise, and dangerous.'' So in fact, the Attorney General repudiated the entire process upon which Italian Americans were deemed dangerous and interned and excluded.
Page 77 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The same is true, of course, of excludees, except that they were citizens of the United States. They had done nothing wrong. They were exiled and their lives and reputations ruined on the basis of hearsay and accusations about past associations.
The second category of violations of civil liberties are the raids on homes and the evacuations from prohibited zones. Now we come to people violated not as individuals, but violated as a group because of their Italian origins. They were permanent resident aliens and citizens, but most of them were permanent resident aliens. I think it is important to note that the Civil Rights Act of 1988 specifically applies to permanent resident aliens of Japanese extraction. I think it is important that we know that the same liberties must apply to the resident aliens of Italian extraction.
First, the raids and searches on people's homes—these had started from the very beginning, late in 1941, but they were stepped up in February 1942 in response to a demand by the military—namely, General DeWitt, of the Western Defense Command—he wanted blanket authority to search all homes in given ethnic neighborhoods without a warrant. The Attorney General of the United States refused. He said that you still needed a warrant to search homes. But on January 4th, in a memo which is contained in Personal Justice Denied, the record of the Japanese internment story, he capitulated on probable cause. He said, ''The question of probable cause will be met only by the statement that an alien enemy is a resident in such premises.'' That is, premises that authorities wanted to search.
Probable cause means that—what this meant was that no evidence of a crime was needed, no suspicious activity was needed. The operating principle had become, if you were Italian-born and lacking U.S. citizenship, it is probable that you have committed a crime and your home can be searched. Thousands of homes were so searched and property was confiscated that is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Many of these homes were owned by citizens, but it did not matter because the operating principle was that if an enemy alien lived there—he did not have to own the place and did not have to be in charge of the place—as long as he lived there, the entire house was subject to search and seizure.
Page 78 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
This happened to my own uncle in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was an enemy alien, his home was searched, and the radio was taken. And I never learned about this until 2 years after I had been working on this story.
One might say that the Government had to search these homes. Let me read to you a memo that was written by the same Attorney General—Attorney General Biddle—sent to President Roosevelt in May of that year—in which he made it plain that these searches were really to no useful purpose. He said, ''We have not uncovered, through these searches, any dangerous persons that we could not have otherwise known about. We have not found among all the sticks of dynamite and gunpowder any evidence that any of it was to be used in a manner helpful to our enemies. We have not found a camera which we have reason to believe was for use in espionage.'' In other words, all of these violations were for no purpose.
Finally, the evacuations. I have a photograph I would like to show you that gives you an idea of who the people were that had to leave their homes. This is a photograph of the people from Pittsburg, California. These are all people in advanced years. They are all Italian immigrants. Most of them could not speak English. These are the people—in the number of almost 2,000—who had to leave one single town in Pittsburg, California at this time.
So these prohibited zones were set up. And what is important to notice about this evacuation—they had to leave by February 24th—is that 10,000 Italian Americans had to leave their homes. Nothing gets put in the books about this. You can read through Personal Justice Denied, you can read about all the accounts of what happened to the Japanese Americans, but all the emphasis is on the debate—and rightly so—of what should be done with the Japanese Americans, but the fact that all these Italian Americans had to leave their homes—you never find anything mentioned. That is why nobody really knows about this story.
Page 79 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Thus, with these two categories—raids and searches and evacuations which were done to people en masse—the Government's position that only individuals were affected is nonsense.
Finally, the denial of all this. Books have routinely overlooked the evacuations, the fact that 600,000 Italian Americans were affected by these measures, and the fact that the military seriously considered—as I think we heard before—moving millions of people from the east coast of the United States. The reason that movement was stopped was not because it was unjust. It was stopped because the President and the rest of the Government understood that the economic and political implications of moving that many people would have been detrimental to the war effort, if not devastating to the war effort. That is why those people were not moved, but the military wanted to move those people.
In 1992, the Commission for Social Justice of the Order of Sons of Italy wrote to the President of the United States asking for an apology for these events. The Justice Department wrote back to the Sons of Italy a letter which I have here. The relevant information is this: ''According to the Commission's report, a relatively small number of ethnic Germans and Italians received individual exclusion orders, in contrast to the mass detention of Japanese Americans.'' That is the Government's official position so far. This did not happen to Italian Americans en masse.
This is a complete misrepresentation of what happened to Italian Americans and it gets perpetuated daily. The latest comes in Tom Brokaw's 1998 book, The Greatest Generation, in which he does admit that Italian and German aliens had to move, but he says, ''There was no major relocation for these groups. They may have had some uncomfortable moments during the war, but they retained all their rights.''
Page 80 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
This was 1998, after our exhibit had been travelling for 5 years. Uncomfortable moments is what Mr. Brokaw tells the American public about the Italian-American experience. This trivializes and flat-out denies the truth of what happened to Italian Americans during the wartime. And this denial of a whole people's story must stop.
That is what this hearing is about. That is what H.R. 2442 is about. I thank you very much for listening.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Di Stasi follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE DI STASI, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ITALIAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER, BOLINAS, CA
Space prohibits me from rehearsing the entire history of the internment, restrictions and evacuation of Italian American resident aliens during World War II. That story is well and briefly told in the 32-page booklet Una Storia Segreta. Here I will only remark that more Italian Americans—600,000 nationwide—were affected by the basic wartime restrictions than any other group. An additional 52,000 in California had to abide by an 8 PM to 6 AM curfew which amounted to virtual house arrest. And an estimated 10,000 were forced to move from homes and businesses that were located in the ''prohibited zone'' set up on the West Coast in February of 1942.
The above facts have been routinely denied in history books, in newspaper stories, and in official responses by the U.S. Government for over 50 years—which is the reason for this hearing, for HR 2442, and indeed for the exhibit Una Storia Segreta, which has been traveling and astonishing those who see it for five years now. The general claim has been that no action was taken against Italian resident aliens as a group, but only against selected individuals—a claim which suggests that only those few who were ''guilty'' were affected. What I would like to show is that this claim is untrue. What I would like to focus on are the several levels of civil liberties violations suffered by Italian Americans during those years.
Page 81 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
To begin with the internment of the so-called 'dangerous' aliens. Aside from the fact that not a single case of sabotage or espionage was ever brought against an Italian alien at this time, the remarks of Attorney General Francis Biddle in 1943 suggest that the whole process by which they were classified was flawed from the outset. In a memo to J. Edgar Hoover dated July 16, 1943, the Attorney General stated what should be obvious: The department fulfills its proper functions by investigating the activities of persons who may have violated the law. It is not aided in this work by classifying persons as to dangerousness . . . the system is inherently unreliable. The evidence used for the purpose of making the classifications was inadequate; the standards applied to the evidence for the purpose of making the classifications were defective; and finally, the notion that it is possible to make a valid determination as to how dangerous a person is in the abstract and without reference to time, environment, and other relevant circumstances, is impractical, unwise, and dangerous. If this were not enough, it is necessary only to look at the experience of Ezio Pinza, the great opera and musical star. In his autobiography, Pinza describes the process whereby he was arrested and given a 'hearing,' and it is chilling. He was never told what he was charged with. Instead, he was expected to convince a hearing board of his innocence, without knowing what he was accused of, without benefit of a lawyer. Pinza failed in his first try at this, but managed to win his freedom in a second. Upwards of 250 Italian Americans like him did not, and had to spend two years in internment, not for what they had done, but for what they might do.
It is hard to imagine such violations of basic rights today. Likewise, it is hard to imagine other arrests being sustained—arrests for violation of curfew laws, for example. One man, Aristide Bertolini of Santa Rosa CA, was arrested for returning late from delivering an order for tomatoes. He spent two months in detention. Another, Marino Sichi, of Arcata was arrested for visiting his girlfriend after hours. He was put behind barbed wire for several months. Did such severe measures help the war effort?
Page 82 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Egregious as they were, the above instances of injustice belong to a class we might call ''individual injustices.'' The government targeted single individuals for a 'reason', be it an action or a presumed intention. Indeed, when Italian Americans have pressed government officials about the wartime violations, their usual response is to take refuge in precisely this justification: 'no action targeted Italian Americans as a group,' they say; actions were taken against individuals who, presumably, had done something wrong. But the next two categories of action cast doubt on this justification. In both the evacuation of Italian Americans from 'prohibited zones,' and in the raiding of homes to search for contraband, people were targeted simply because they were non-citizens or, in some cases, because their names were Italian.
Start with the evacuation. In late January and early February, the Justice Department, under intense prodding from the War Department, agreed to a plan which would establish 'prohibited zones'—mostly near the coast, or defense plants, military installations, power plants, etc.—from which all enemy aliens would be banned. Those who lived in such zones would have to move, most by February 24, or face arrest.
Because of demographics, those most affected were Italian Americans. The entire town of Pittsburg on the Sacramento delta was declared off limits, and nearly 2,000 Italian aliens had to move. Many had been legal residents of America for fifty years. Ninety-seven-year-old Placido Abono had nearly one hundred American-born children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but he still had to be removed—on a stretcher. Catherine Buccellato had three sons in the service, yet she still had to move. In Monterey, Rosina Trovato found out one day that her son and nephew, both in the U.S. Navy, had been killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor; the next day she was told she had to leave her Monterey home.
Page 83 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
U.S. citizens were also affected. Rose Scudero, American-born, was twelve years old when her mother, a non-citizen, was ordered to leave. Rose had to accompany her because she was under fourteen years of age. Yet at least they found a house to stay in. Bettina Troia of Pittsburg had such difficulty finding a place that she ended up living in a chicken coop.
Those with jobs in prohibited zones lost them. Fifteen hundred fishermen in San Francisco, among them Joe DiMaggio's father, were idled because the wharf was off limits to non-citizens. Fishermen in Monterey, Arcata, Boston and many other ports were similarly idled; many had their boats requisitioned by the Navy. Al Bronzini's father lost his vegetable stand because it was on the other side of the prohibited line in Oakland.
What must be borne in mind is that none of these individuals, nor the nearly ten thousand more like them, had done anything wrong. They were part of a group—Italian immigrants—whose country of origin had become the enemy. As part of that group, their rights were summarily stripped from them when they were branded 'enemy aliens.' But though this was technically ''legal,'' was it necessary? or just? If parents who have given their sons to fight and die for their country do not deserve the full protections of that country's laws, then who does?
Lastly, we must turn to the raids and searches of aliens in their homes, which began in December, but which were stepped up to a much higher level in February of 1942, due mainly to the release of the Roberts Report, which put the blame for the U.S. military's defeat at Pearl Harbor on fifth-column activities by Japanese residents of Hawaii. Though these allegations were later proven to be false, at the time they caused panic among officials on the West Coast and in the Western Defense Command. Gen. John DeWitt demanded that the Justice Department issue blanket authority for law officers to enter the homes of all aliens and search for 'contraband' such as radios that might be used to signal the enemy. In fact, DeWitt requested that authorities search entire neighborhoods for contraband.
Page 84 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Attorney General Biddle vehemently objected, knowing that this would be a serious violation of rights. ''Under no circumstances will the Department of Justice conduct mass raids on alien enemies,'' he said. The Attorney General knew that protecting the individual from searches without a warrant was one of the bedrock rights inscribed in the Constitution's 4th Amendment. Under our system, law officers cannot search someone just because he looks guilty, or because he fits a certain ethnic or racial profile, or because he lives in a certain neighborhood. They must have a reason to suspect him of a crime (probable cause), and state that reason in applying for a warrant. Should the Army insist on searches without warrants, said Biddle, he would go directly to the President to fight the request.
The Attorney General won this part of the battle. But he won it at a price. There would be no mass raids on ethnic neighborhoods. There would be no ''blanket authority'' to enter alien premises and ''search and seize immediately without waiting for normal processes of law,'' as General DeWitt wanted. But there would be a compromise, or, more precisely, a capitulation, and it would be the first in a series of capitulations by the Justice Department which would eventually lead to the mass relocation of Japanese Americans.
That capitulation was this: the Attorney General of the United States wrote in a memo on January 4 that, when seeking a warrant to search any residence,
The question of probable cause will be met only by the statement that an alien enemy is resident in such premises. (Personal Justice Denied, Chapter 2, note 81)
In other words, an FBI agent had only to say, 'An enemy alien lives here,' and a judge or a U.S. Attorney would issue a warrant to search that place. No evidence of a crime was needed. No suspicious activity was needed. The enemy alien did not need to even own the place, or live there alone—which many did not, most living with their citizen families. The operating principle had become, If you are Italian-born and lacking U.S. citizenship, it is probable that you are violating the law.
Page 85 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
That is nothing less than to infer guilt by birth; guilt by ethnic origin. And just such inferences were made by law enforcement officials. Frank Brogno remembers that his father, an American citizen, but one well-known to be Italian, had his house in Gary, Indiana searched and his prize Philco radio taken. His only crime: being Italian.
Brogno was not alone. During February of 1942 and thereafter, the FBI and local police did indeed redouble their raids in Italian neighborhoods. Usually an alien resided in the target home, and usually officials had a warrant, but many law officers entered without one. Inside, they turned homes inside out, seizing short wave radios most often, and suggesting to the press that this work of uncovering 'dangerous' items was both vital and just. But aside from the fear, the loss of prized possessions, the fact that many such homes were owned by U.S. citizens whose constitutional rights were violated, there is the statement by the Attorney General of the United States to take into account. For when he wrote his autobiography, In Brief Authority, Francis Biddle made it plain that these raids netted virtually nothing of value. Most of the 'contraband,' he writes, was harmless, and he pointed this out in a memorandum to the President in May, 1942:
We have not uncovered through these searches any dangerous persons that we could not otherwise have known about. . . . We have not found among all the sticks of dynamite and gunpowder any evidence that any of it was to be used in a manner helpful to our enemies. We have not found a camera which we have reason to believe was for use in espionage. (p. 221)
In short, the 4th amendment rights of countless Italian Americans were violated to no useful purpose. The net result was simply fear, humiliation, and a legacy of shame.
Page 86 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Some have tried to take refuge in another 'explanation' for these violations—that they took place only in California where the Japanese invasion of nearby Hawaii had caused panic. But several documents show that the War Department intended to impose similar prohibited zones and evacuations on the East Coast and in the Southern Command as well. Indeed, the U.S. Senate held hearings on exactly this; the testimony therein (U.S. Senate Report of Proceedings held before Committee on Military Affairs, S. 2352, March 13, 1942) makes clear that the Army was ready to evacuate many more thousands of Italian Americans in the eastern and the southern United States.
It is possible to bring this debate close to home. A memo from the Attorney General to the President on April 23, 1942 refers to two proposals regarding enemy aliens in Washington, DC. One proposal, to fire all such people working in Washington, was opposed by FBI Director Hoover on the grounds that the 'dangerous' ones were already in custody and the rest were being kept under surveillance. The other, a proposal to remove all 3500 alien enemies from the District of Columbia (as happened during WWI), was favored by Hoover, who suggested it was needed both for the safety of public officials and to relieve wartime overcrowding. Biddle's memo objected thus:
If this Department evacuates alien enemies from the District, the Army and Navy will be encouraged to evacuate much larger numbers from the West and East coast areas where most of them live. If the Government finds them too dangerous to have in Washington, employers cannot be expected to keep them in industry. We should not make more untenable our present awkward position of discrimination against aliens in public employment and insisting that private employers not do likewise . . . (FDR Library)
Page 87 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The Attorney General won this argument as well. Had he not, Italian American waiters in Washington hotels, workers in government, and residents would have been subjected to the same humiliation already endured by those in California. Once begun, the same removal policy could have spread to the massive populations to the north.
In fact, a close look at the record indicates that this consideration—that further removals would spread to the massive Italian American populations of the northeast, jeopardizing not only the war economy and morale, but the election chances of Franklin Roosevelt in the upcoming election—became a paramount reason for limiting the extreme measures to the West Coast, and for the ultimate lifting of restrictions on Italian aliens in October 1942. Not the principle of justice, that is, but economic and political considerations saved the day for millions of Italian American immigrants.
It is time for the principle of justice to operate. Though the wartime injustices cannot be erased, they can at least be acknowledged by passage of HR 2442. Thus can a form of justice, albeit lesser, albeit 50 years late, finally be done.
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
WASHINGTON, D.C.
July 16, 1943
Page 88 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
MEMORANDUM FOR
HUGH B. COX, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
AND
J. EDGAR HOOVER, DIRECTOR
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
I refer to Mr. L.M.C. Smith's memorandum to me dated June 28, 1943, which reviews the history, development, and meaning of the Special Case work and of the danger classifications that were made as a part of that work.
After full re-consideration of these individual danger classifications, I am satisfied that they serve no useful purpose. The detention of alien enemies is being dealt with under the procedures established by the Alien Enemy Control Unit. The Special Case procedure has been found to be valueless and is not used in that connection. There is no statutory authorization or other present justification for keeping a ''custodial detention'' list of citizens. The Department fulfills its proper functions by investigating the activities of persons who may have violated the law. It is not aided in this work by classifying persons as to dangerousness.
Apart from these general considerations, it is now clear to me that this classification system is inherently unreliable. The evidence used for the purpose of making the classifications was inadequate; the standards applied to the evidence for the purpose of making the classifications were defective; and finally, the notion that it is possible to make a valid determination as to how dangerous a person is in the abstract and without reference to time, environment, and other relevant circumstances, is impractical, unwise, and dangerous.
Page 89 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
For the foregoing reasons I am satisfied that the adoption of this classification system was a mistake that should be rectified for the future. Accordingly, I direct that the classifications heretofore made should not be regarded as classification of dangerousness or as a determination of fact in any sense. In the future, they should not be used for any purpose whatsoever. Questions raised as to the status or activities of a particular person should be disposed of by consideration of all available information, but without reference to any classification heretofore made.
A copy of this memorandum should be placed in the file of each person who has hitherto been given a classification. In addition, each card upon which a classification appears should be stamped with the following language:
''THIS CLASSIFICATION IS UNRELIABLE. IT IS HEREBY CANCELLED, AND SHOULD NOT BE USED AS A DETERMINATION OF DANGEROUSNESS OR OF ANY OTHER FACT. (SEE MEMORANDUM OF JULY 16, 1943 FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO HUGH B. COX AND J. EDGAR HOOVER).''
| U.S. Department of Justice, |
| Civil Rights Division, |
| Washington, DC, June 25, 1992. |
Mr. RICHARD F. ARMENTO, President,
Social Justice Commission,
Palm Springs, CA.
Page 90 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
DEAR MR. ARMENTO: This is in response to your recent letter written to President Bush regarding the internment and relocation of Italo-Americans during World War II. Your letter has been forwarded to the Office of Redress Administration for response.
The Office of Redress Administration has been established within the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice to implement the redress provisions of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. The Act authorizes payments to American citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who were evacuated, relocated or interned in the United States during World War II.
According to the 1982 report Personal Justice Denied, by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, the evacuation, relocation and internment was ''executed against 120,000 people without individual review, and exclusion was continued without regard for their demonstrated loyalty to the United States.'' These orders were executed against United States citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry.
Congress reiterated the Commission's findings in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 by recognizing that
a grave injustice was done to both citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry . . . [and] these actions were carried out without adequate security reasons and without any acts of sabotage or espionage documented by the Commission.
According to the Commission's report, a relatively small number of ethnic Germans and Italians received individual exclusion orders in contrast to the mass detention of Japanese Americans (see attached excerpt from Personal Justice Denied).
Page 91 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Based on this finding, the Commission recommended that Congress limit compensation to individuals of Japanese ancestry. Congress incorporated this recommendation into the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Thank you for your inquiry.
Sincerely,
| John R. Dunne, Assistant Attorney General, |
| Civil Rights Division. |
Enclosure
60413a1.eps
Some of the Italian Americans forced to move from Pittsburg, CA. Photos like these were published in the local newspaper.
Mr. HYDE [assuming Chair]. Thank you very much, Mr. Di Stasi.
Mr. Canady has had to go to another meeting, but he will return. Meanwhile, I will try to fill in.
Our next panelist is Anthony E. LaPiana, of Lombard, Illinois. He is a very valued constituent of mine and he is here on behalf of the National Italian American Council. He is the gentleman who very forcefully brought this entire sad saga to my attention and is very instrumental in our being here today.
Page 92 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I want to say this before I forget, in the record I would like to get copies, if possible, Colonel, of the correspondence that was so sharply redacted. Time has now passed and I would like to resubmit those to the Director of the FBI to see if he would submit unredacted copies.
Mr. DE GUTTADAURO. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to do that.
Mr. HYDE. Maybe we can get a practical result from these hearings as well as the importance of getting the story told.
Mr. LaPiana.
STATEMENT OF ANTHONY E. LA PIANA, REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL, LOMBARD, IL
Mr. LAPIANA. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. I am here today to seek your assistance in passing H.R. 2442. I believe the passage of this bill will not only improve the quality of life of all Italians globally, but will also raise the level of awareness on how different cultures should be treated in the future in American society.
The date March 4, 1999 will remain in my memory for the rest of my life. It was a day of not only complete and utter shock to me, but amazement, and most importantly a rude awakening. While during my years living in our great country I had experienced bigotry toward my nationality, I would have never imagined an outrageous act of reckless behavior would have occurred in the United States of America by its Government. We sincerely hope that today's date, October 26, 1999, marks the start of a significant day in the historical record.
Page 93 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Many of those who suffered the abuse passed down on them by the same Government in a moment of peril are still screaming silently inside themselves for justice. This day, October 26, 1999, is a great day in our Nation's history, for finally those 600,000 plus Italians who experienced injustice, branded enemy aliens by the same Government that they served to protect, will be heard.
It took an article in a major Chicago newspaper, written by a man of character and courage, Raymond Coffey, to ignite the fire inside an emerging group of activists to engage themselves in a political battle that has been long overdue. Activists from across this country worked together in unity to bring these hearings before the citizens of our Nation.
To say my experiences of the last 9 months have all been positive and filled with joy would be a lie. I cannot tell this committee how much sadness I have had to endure day after day listening to hundreds and hundreds of Italian Americans expressing their anger and sorrow about the way we, as a culture, are treated by our Government, and by the Hollywood bigots who have a field day depicting Italians negatively in movie films.
I mention the Hollywood media issue, not because I believe this body is responsible for changing the portrayal of stereotypes in films, but to demonstrate that the same attitudes which led to the internment of innocent citizens still exists today.
Mr. Chairman, the Italian people are outraged at the way they have been treated by their Government. May I make a very strong recommendation, sir? Please, do something to help correct these unwarranted acts of injustice that a culture has had to endure without justification.
Page 94 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
On a daily basis, activists as well as organizers worked the streets in the rain, heat, and well into the late hours of the night bringing this important issue to the forefront of the minds of Americans across this Nation. Italian Americans and other cultures cared enough to donate their time away from families working on a cause that they felt in their hearts was worth sacrificing for.
Mr. Chairman and other members of this committee, allow me to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to express myself before our Nation. I am proud to be Italian and I am proud of the Italian people. The activists in this movement were astonished at how many people reacted with such vigor.
Italians and other cultures alike clamored to sign petitions. They are still arriving at a tally of 50 to 250 per day. Our movement continues to grow rapidly and with intensity. The Italian people believe these hearings will hold a better future for all Italians globally.
While always confident that our goal would be obtained, at times there were doubts. You see, this movement had no political clout, had no PAC money, and had no corporate connections. We had only ourselves to throw into the battle. More importantly, we had hopes, and we believed this day would come.
I would like to end my remarks today by thanking Chairman Hyde, Chairman Canady, and each of you for allowing me the time to address this issue. We know that there are many issues competing for your valuable time and we appreciate the attention and support you have given us. Once again, I ask that you draw on your sense of fairness and compassion, and support H.R. 2442 to help set the historical record straight.
Page 95 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. LaPiana follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANTHONY E. LA PIANA, REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL, LOMBARD, IL
Good morning Mr. Chairman. I am here today to seek your assistance in passing Bill HR 2442. I would like to thank the honorable chairman Hyde, and Canady, as well as each member of this committee for the opportunity to address this esteemed body.
I believe the passage of this bill will not only improve the quality of life for all Italians globally, but will also raise the level of awareness on how different cultures should be treated in the future in American Society.
The date March 4, 1999, will remain in my memory for the rest of my life. It was a day of not only complete and utter shock to me, but amazement, and most importantly a rude awakening. While during my years living in our great country I had experienced bigotry towards my nationality, I would have never imagined an outrageous act of reckless behavior would have occurred in the United States of America by its government. We sincerely hope that today's date, October 26, 1999 marks the start of a significant day in the historical record.
Many of those who suffered the abuse passed down on them by the same government in a moment of peril are still screaming silently inside themselves for justice. This day October 26th, 1999, is a great day in our nations history, for finally those six hundred thousand plus Italians who experienced injustice, branded enemy aliens by the same government that they served to protect, will be heard.
Page 96 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
It took an article in a major Chicago newspaper written by a man of character, and courage, Raymond Coffey, to ignite the fire inside an emerging group of activists to engage themselves in a political battle that has been long overdue. Activists from across this country worked together in unity to bring these hearings before the citizens of our nation.
To say my experiences for the last nine months have all been positive, and filled with joy would be a lie. I cannot tell this committee how much sadness I have had to endure day-after-day listening to hundreds and hundreds of Italian-Americans expressing their anger and sorrow about the way we as a culture are treated by our government, and by the Hollywood bigots who have a field day depicting Italians negatively in movie films.
I mention the Hollywood media issue not because I believe this body is responsible for changing the portrayal of stereotypes in films, but to demonstrate that the same attitudes which led to the internment of innocent citizens still exists today.
Mr. Chairman, the Italian people are outraged at the way they have been treated by their government. May I make a very strong recommendation?, sir. Please, do something to help correct these unwarranted acts of injustice that a culture has had to endure without justification.
On a daily basis, activists as well as organizers worked the streets in the rain, heat, and well into the late hours of the night bringing this important issue to the forefront of the minds of Americans across this nation. Italian-Americans and other cultures cared enough to donate their time away from families working on a cause that they felt in their hearts was worth sacrificing for.
Page 97 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. Chairman, and other members of this committee, allow me to take this once in a lifetime opportunity to express myself before our nation. ''I am proud to be Italian'', and ''I am proud of the Italian people''. The activists in this movement were astonished at how many people reacted with such vigor.
Italians, and other cultures alike, clammered to sign petitions. They are still arriving at a tally of 50 to 250 per day. Our movement continues to grow rapidly, and with intensity. The Italian people believe these hearings will hold a better future for all Italians globally.
While always confident that our goal would be obtained, at times there were doubts. You see, this movement had no political clout, had no pac money, and had no corporate connections. We had only ourselves to throw into the battle. More importantly, we had hopes, and we believed this day would come.
I would like to end my remarks today by thanking chairman Hyde, and Canady, and each of you for allowing me the time to address this issue. We know that there are many issues competing for your valuable time and we appreciate the attention and support you have given us. Once again I ask that you draw on your sense of fairness, and compassion, and support Bill HR 2442 to help set the historical record straight.
Thank You.
Mr. HYDE. Thank you very much, Mr. LaPiana.
Page 98 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Our next witness is Matthew DiDomenico, Sr., who is the executive vice president of the National Italian American Foundation. NIAF is a non-profit organization representing an estimated 20 million Americans of Italian descent.
We are pleased to hear from Mr. DiDomenico.
STATEMENT OF MATTHEW DIDOMENICO, SR., EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. DIDOMENICO. Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution.
My name is Matthew DiDomenico, Sr., and I am the executive vice president of the National Italian American Foundation.
The NIAF is a non-profit organization based here in Washington, D.C. and we represent an estimated 20 million Americans of Italian descent, the Nation's fifth largest ethnic group. We fund scholarships, internships, conferences, and other programs that help preserve Italian-American history and culture.
I have come here today to tell you of the NIAF's support of H.R. 2442, the Wartime Violation of Italian Americans Civil Liberties Act, and of the NIAF's efforts over the years to inform Americans about this little-known chapter in our history.
Page 99 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
For nearly a decade, the NIAF has waged a campaign to educate Italian Americans, the media, and the public about the serious civil rights violations of thousands of Italian-American residents in the United States during World War II. Many of these people were elderly parents whose sons were serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, yet all were classified as enemy aliens. Some were arrested, forced to relocate, or interned in camps around the country. Others had to register every month at their local post office, had their radios, binoculars, and other possessions confiscated, were given curfews, and had their travel restricted.
We began by publishing articles about these events in our national magazine and national newsletter. We then developed a fact sheet which we posted on our web site and sent to the Italian-American media as well as to interested individuals. We also gave grants to film makers and historians investigating this issue and helped reporters and documentary makers find experts and eyewitnesses for their stories and films.
I was directly involved in one of our earliest and most important initiatives. In 1995, the NIAF brought ''Una Storia Segreta,'' a popular west coast exhibit on the internment issue, to the east coast for the first time. We exhibited it at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia and held a press conference when it opened. For the press conference, we found a number of local eyewitnesses to these wartime events, including a judge and a former school administrator.
We received further evidence of these Government policies during the weeks that the exhibit was open to the public. A number of visitors signed the exhibit guest book. They left not only their names and addresses, but brief summaries of what happened to their families as a result of being classified enemy aliens. The NIAF has a photocopy of this book, which we would be happy to give to this distinguished panel.
Page 100 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In 1997, the NIAF brought the exhibit to Washington, D.C. and set it up in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill so that Members of Congress could become familiar with this issue. We also have encouraged other Italian-American groups to bring the exhibit to their cities as part of the education process.
It has been a source of wonder to the Foundation that such a remarkable story should be largely unknown not only to the general public but to Italian Americans as well. Since these Government policies toward Italian Americans were never mentioned in history books, most people do not believe that they ever took place.
I, for one, know from my own family's personal experiences that they did indeed happen. My grandfather, Matteo DiDomenico, had his radio confiscated because he was of Italian heritage. At the time he was an air raid warden, had two sons serving in the U.S. Army—one in the Pacific and the other in Europe—and was himself an American citizen.
I urge the members of this committee to give the most serious consideration to this bill, which would make this sad chapter part of the record and help ensure that such civil rights violations during wartime would never again be tolerated.
I would also like to thank John Calvelli, Congressman Lazio, and Congressman Engel for their support in this matter.
Thank you.
Page 101 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
[The prepared statement of Mr. DiDomenico follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MATTHEW DIDOMENICO, SR., EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON, DC
Good morning Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution.
My name is Matthew DiDomenico, Sr. and I am the executive vice president of the National Italian American Foundation.
The NIAF is a non-profit organization in Washington, DC which represents an estimated 20 million Americans of Italian descent, the nation's fifth largest ethnic group.
We fund scholarships, internships, conferences and other programs that help preserve Italian American history and culture.
I have come here today to tell you of the NIAF's support of HR 2442—The Wartime Violation of Italian Americans' Civil Liberties Act and of the NIAF's efforts over the years to inform Americans about this little-known chapter in our recent history.
For nearly a decade, the NIAF has waged a campaign to educate Italian Americans, the media and the public about the serious civil rights violations of 600,000 Italian residents in the United States during World War II.
Page 102 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Many of these people were elderly parents whose sons were serving in the U.S. armed forces. Yet all were classified as ''enemy aliens.'' Some were arrested, forced to relocate or interned in camps around the country. Others had to register every month at their local post office, had their radios, binoculars and other possessions confiscated, were given curfews and had their travel restricted.
We began by publishing articles about these events in our national magazine and national newsletter. We then developed a fact sheet which we posted on our website and sent to the Italian American media as well as to interested individuals.
We also gave grants to film makers and historians investigating this issue; and helped reporters and documentary makers find experts and eye witnesses for their stories and films.
I was directly involved in one of our earliest and most important initiatives. In 1995 the NIAF brought ''Una Storia Segreta,'' a popular West Coast exhibit on the internment issue, to the East Coast for the first time.
We exhibited it at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia and held a press conference when it opened. For the press conference, we found a number of local eye witnesses to these wartime events, including a judge and a former school administrator.
We received further evidence of these government policies during the weeks that the exhibit was open to the public. A number of visitors signed the exhibit guest book. They left not only their names and addresses, but brief summaries of what happened to their families as a result of being classified ''enemy aliens.''
Page 103 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The National Italian American Foundation has a photocopy of this book which we would be happy to give to this distinguished panel.
In 1997, the NIAF brought the exhibit to Washington, DC and set it up in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill so that Members of Congress could become familiar with the issue.
We also have encouraged other Italian American groups to bring the exhibit to their cities as part of the education process.
It has been a source of wonder to the Foundation that such a remarkable story should be largely unknown not only to the general public but to Italian Americans as well.
Since these government policies toward Italian Americans are never mentioned in history books, most people do not believe that they ever took place.
I for one know from my own family's personal experiences that they did indeed happen.
My grandfather, Matteo DiDomenico, had his radio confiscated because he was of Italian heritage. At the time he was an air raid warden, had two sons serving in the U.S. Army . . . one in the Pacific and the other in Europe . . . and was himself an American citizen.
Page 104 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I urge the members of this committee to give the most serious consideration to this bill which would make this sad chapter part of the record and help ensure that such civil rights violations during wartime would never again be tolerated.
Thank you.
FACT SHEET: ITALIAN AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II
Few people are aware that more than half a million Italians living in the United States during World War II suffered serious violations of their civil rights.
Shortly after the United States declared war on Italy in 1941, the federal government classified more than 600,000 Italians living in the United States as ''internal enemies.''
From February through October 1942, the United States imposed restrictions on these 600,000 Italians, most of whom had been living in the United States since the turn of the century.
As ''enemy aliens,'' Italians were required to register at the nearest post office, carry identification cards, and report all job changes. They could not travel more than five miles from their homes, had to adhere to curfews, and were forbidden to own guns, cameras, and short-wave radios.
The Army forced more than 100 U.S. citizens of Italian birth to relocate from the east and west coasts and the Gulf of Mexico to ''safe'' inland zones.
Page 105 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
The restrictions caused many Italians to lose their jobs and limited the freedom of movement of thousands of others, including a fisherman named Giuseppe DiMaggio, who could not visit the San Francisco restaurant owned by his son, Joe DiMaggio.
During World War II, an estimated 1.5 million Americans of Italian descent served in the U.S. military, constituting one of the largest segments of the US combat forces of about 12 million. However, elderly Italian mothers and fathers were not allowed to visit sons in the U.S. armed forces, who were assigned to military installations.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service held nearly 3,300 Italians in internment camps for varying lengths of time during the war.
During the same period, the mayors of two of America's largest cities were Italian Americans: Angelo Rossi of San Francisco and Fiorello LaGuardia of New York. Both were sons of Italian immigrants.
For more information, see ''The Unknown Internment'' by Stephen Fox. The book is available from the author in McKinleyville, California for $10.00. To order, call or fax 707/839–1919.
Prepared by: The National Italian American Foundation in Washington, D.C. Telephone: 202/387–0600 Fax: 202/387–0800 Web: www.niaf.org
Mr. HYDE. Thank you very much.
Page 106 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Our final witness on this panel is Dr. Philip Piccigallo, who is here on behalf of the Sons of Italy of Washington, D.C.
Dr. Piccigallo.
STATEMENT OF PHILIP PICCIGALLO, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ORDER OF THE SONS OF ITALY IN AMERICA, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. PICCIGALLO. Thank you, sir. Gentlemen, thank you very much. I will be brief and I will also take advantage of the fact that I think it is quite appropriate and it works well that I am the final speaker of this distinguished panel because I will try to validate some of the things they have said in a different but impacting way.
I am Dr. Philip Piccigallo. I am the national executive director of the Order of the Sons of Italy in America, commonly known as the Sons of Italy, our acronym is OSIA. The reason I can speak with such authority—and am proud to be here today—is that we are the largest organization representing Americans of Italian heritage with members. We have 550,000 members. We are the longest established organization representing Americans of Italian heritage in the world, dating to June 22, 1905. The reason that is important is that while my testimony cannot nearly be as dramatic as everyone else's—I do not have personal experiences—virtually every one of the people here who have spoken from personal experiences, or the relatives thereof, have been in some way or another members of my organization, are constituents that I represent.
Page 107 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
We have nearly 800 chapters in 35 States. Few issues over the last years have resonated, percolated up, have refused to go away as this particular one because it offends Italian Americans.
I will not have a lengthy testimony here. I think everything that could be said has been said. The Order Sons of Italy in America has done everything it could from day one to support this project. We have done it financially—one of the most important—but we have also done it with advocacy. We are proud that we have underwritten the travel of some of the individuals on this panel to a prior press conference, and we have helped fund the origins of the program itself.
Let me conclude with two or three observations. We are not saying that there is necessarily anything honorable or noble in victimization. But in truth, being brought to light, there is.
I have a Ph.D. in American history. I have had published two books. My expertise is the period covering World War II. I have to say that I did not know anything of this. I had actually written articles on the Japanese internment. When it was first brought to my attention, I was skeptical. It was not until I had received a draft of the excellent work by Professor Steven Fox, of Brown University—I believe it was called ''The Unknown Internment''. I read it and passed it on to a few of the more erudite members of my organization. They, too, were stunned—older gentlemen and ladies who should have known more about this. This is important because it is an opportunity to rescue this very important issue from historical oblivion.
Page 108 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
And there is another matter, which I think is extremely relevant. As an advocacy group, as we are called, the grassroots organization—and I get complaints, as I am sure each member of this committee gets complaints from people in their districts that they represent—there are few issues that are of more concern to Italian Americans—and I thank Mr. LaPiana for bringing it up—than the issue of defamation, stereotyping, and bigotry.
Without going off on a tangent, there seems to be a virtually endless stream of stereotyping of Italian Americans. Indeed, in July of this year The New York Times referred to Italian Americans as the ethnic stereotype that Hollywood cannot refuse. We deal with it every day in multifarious ways. Wrongful misrepresentations hurt. They impede, they are insidious, they stigmatize, they cut off potential opportunities.
Here is an opportunity for you, on behalf of the United States Government, and with the imprimatur of the President, to help us correct what is a wrongful misrepresentation, and we ask for your help.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Piccigallo follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF PHILIP PICCIGALLO, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ORDER OF THE SONS OF ITALY IN AMERICA, WASHINGTON, DC
Good Morning, I am Dr. Philip Piccigallo, National Executive Director of the Order Sons of Italy in America, OSIA. OSIA is the largest and longest-existing organization of Italian Americans in the United States. Established in 1905, OSIA was founded by Dr. Vincenzo Sellaro with the purpose of bettering the lives of Italian immigrants and Italian Americans. Our creed states that we believe in the government of the United States and promise to abide by all laws as set forth by the U.S. Constitution; we believe in government by orderly process; we believe in respect for the land of our forefathers; we believe in the brotherhood of man; we believe in equal rights and duties for all; we believe in freedom of thought, conscience, and education.
Page 109 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
OSIA's two not-for-profit branches, the Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF) and the Commission for Social Justice (CSJ), also strive to better the lives of all Americans. The SIF supports medical research, educations, disaster relief, cultural preservation, and many other special causes. The CSJ is the anti-defamation arm of OSIA that fights to ensure equality for all, especially Italian Americans.
It is based on these beliefs that OSIA endorses H.R. 2442, the ''Wartime Violations of Italian American Civil Liberties Act.'' This legislation calls on the president of the United States, on behalf of the U.S. government, to acknowledge the atrocities towards Italian Americans during World War II. The legislation also calls for the Department of Justice to prepare and publish a comprehensive report detailing the government's systematic denial of human rights and freedoms of Italian Americans.
During World War II, about 600,000 Italian Americans were deemed enemy aliens—forced from their homes, separated from their families, forced to give up everyday items like radios and flashlights, and even warned through posters hung around towns not to ''speak the enemy language.'' Italian Americans that had been in the country since the turn of the century and even those who had children fighting in the armed services were subjected to these atrocities.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D–NY) and Rep. Rick Lazio (R–NY) are co-sponsoring this legislation which they originally introduced as H.R. 2090.
Mr. HYDE. I certainly want to thank this panel. I want to also suggest to you that your testimony was so compelling today that I am going to do what I can—and I think I can very successfully—have this testimony printed up as a booklet so that it may be distributed to schools and writers and historians, so the light can shine in on what you have told us today. Very compelling.
Page 110 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mrs. Pinza, your testimony would make an Oscar-winning movie. The wind-up with Ezio Pinza singing the Star-Spangled Banner when General Patton returned—what a finish. [Laughter.]
Mr. HYDE. That is magnificent.
But everybody has told a story of unrequited loyalty, how you love this country, how you have done so much for this country, this country has done so much for you, and this bleak, shameful experience is shoved under the rug. It ought to be out on top so people can say, ''Hey, it can happen here. It should never happen here again.''
You have made a very important contribution. It will not stop here. It is not going to be confined to this room. I assure you that we will do as much as possible on it.
Mr. DiMaggio, I saw you play. Yes, I did.
Mr. DIMAGGIO. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed doing it.
Mr. HYDE. I did indeed. I met your wonderful brother at an Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame dinner in Chicago some years back. I have some great stories about that organization and some wonderful evenings. I presented a trophy to Rocky Graziano—they had 23 boxing champions, all the great ones—but one did not come, and that was Rocky. I was supposed to present the trophy to him. That is quite a story and I must tell it sometime.
Page 111 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
But anyway, thank you. We are going to continue to shed light on this situation. What you are asking for is honesty in history. We will see if we can't get some of that correspondence unredacted.
Mr. DE GUTTADAURO. Thank you, sir.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Watt.
Mr. WATT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am reluctant to even say anything after your powerful eloquence. I join with you and second everything you have said.
I wanted to note that earlier in the hearing one of the other cosponsors of the bill, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, was in the room and present for a period of time in support of the bill. I wanted you all to be aware of that. I just wanted to join with the chairman of the full Judiciary Committee in saying how powerful I thought all of your presentations were. I thank you for having the courage and tenacity to stay with this issue and bring it forward.
I was reminded—and I am always reminded when I hear people talk about things of this kind—when my great-grandfather was 94 years old and he could not read or write, finally, after living all his life, rounded up another relative of mine who would sit long enough to record some of the experiences that he had had during the course of his lifetime because he could never write them. He never had the ability or training to do that.
Page 112 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
It always struck me that there were only two sentences in all of what he dictated about his experiences with slavery, just a reference that basically said, ''We were slaves and there wasn't anything else to say about it.'' Then all the rest of his time he spent dealing with the positive things that had occurred in his lifetime.
It takes a lot of energy to focus on injustices and I think I realized that today as I heard you all struggle with your presentations. I want to pledge to you that I certainly will join the chairman and the cosponsors of this bill to do everything I can to try to address this issue in a just way.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. HYDE. Thank you very much, Mr. Watt.
Without objection, three statements which have been submitted to the subcommittee—one by Costanza Foran, another by Vitina Spadaro, and a third by Rose Scherini—will be admitted into the record.
[The prepared statements of Ms. Costanza Foran, Ms. Vitina Spadaro, and Ms. Rose Scherini follow.]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF COSTANZA ILACQUA FORAN
To the Committee:
Page 113 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I am unable to appear in person because I will be out of the country traveling with my husband, and our plans were made before I knew the date of this hearing.
I would like this bill passed because the internment of Italians during World War II was arbitrary, depending on where they lived in the U.S.A. and who made the decisions in that particular area rather than the actual danger to the U.S.A. from these people. The civil rights of individuals were violated, which is against the U.S. Constitution. I do not ever want this to happen again in this country of mine, not to Japanese Americans, not to Italian Americans, not to any Americans, nor to any other people who are here to become Americans.
My father was interned right after Pearl Harbor, and did not come home again until 1944. I was six in 1941, so my memories are a child's, but I remember the F.B.I. coming to search our home after my father was taken, I remember visiting my father at 801 Silver Avenue, now Simpson Bible College, where all the San Francisco internees were taken. I remember Christmases with no Dad. My mother had never worked and had no income, so my uncle and aunt, both single, moved into our house where my mother did the cooking and the laundry and the shopping while they worked. I met other women whose husbands had been taken. Many were the wives of fishermen; some were the wives of radio announcers, newspaper men. There was an agency, the Italian Welfare Agency, who tried to help these families by helping them get clothes or by writing letters or in other ways. Those families who had more tried to help those who had less. Many of these families I had met at meetings of the ExCombatenti, a group of Italian veterans of World War I who would meet mainly for comradery. The wives would continue to see each other socially during the war because they could learn about their husbands from each others' letters. Often these women were lonely because other Italian Americans would shun them, being afraid that their families would be next to be interned or excluded.
Page 114 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
During the war my father wrote often. He tended to be stoic about his experiences, since he had not been deported (he had been given the choice of being deported or being an internee—since he would have been an officer in the Italian Navy if he had returned to Italy, and since he had no desire to turn his back on America, his chosen country, he chose being interned). He would tell us after the war that they had a sign in the camp ''Join the Army and See the World; Join the Internees and See the United States''. He would also tell us how every time the internees were moved they would be led from the trains to the new camp between armed soldiers with bayonets. After a few days the internees would request the opportunity to cook their own rations rather than having army cooks. After a while the American officers would eat in the cafeteria of the internees. Since there was such a variety of educations among the internees, the better educated ones would give classes for the others to pass the time. Most of these men were over forty and after a while their guards realized that they were not dangerous at all. I wonder if that is why they were moved so often, so that their guards would not let down their guard.
After the war my father was hired by the United States Army to teach Italian to GI's being prepared to invade Italy. He was amused, since he went in a very short time from saluting officers to having officers saluting him.
For those of us at home, the greatest difficulty aside from the loss of the breadwinner and the lack of a father and husband, was the fear of the other people, both Italian American and other Americans, that we were unamerican, that we were allied to the Japanese. It felt so shameful, that even now some of the children of internees or excludees will not discuss the events of World War II.
Page 115 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I want this story told in the history books, so that it need never happen again. There is a book, The Unknown Internment by Stephen Fox (Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1990) and an article, ''Executive Order 9066 and Italian Americans: The San Francisco Story'' by Rose Scherini in the Winter 1991/92 California History, Volume LXX, number 4, which tell this story in much more detail about many Italian-Americans. I hope that this committee is aware of this book and this article, since both were based on interviews with many of the internees and excludees and on FBI records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Although World War II was a long time ago and most of the internees and many of the excludees are dead, there will be other times when hysteria leads people to act in ways that are against our Constitution. Perhaps passing H.R. 2442 and acknowledging that the violation of civil liberties is wrong will prevent such happenings in the future.
I urge that HR 2442 be passed.
PREPARED STATEMENT OF VITINA SPADARO
This is a story that must be told. It begins when I was a little girl in Italy, listening to grownups about all the wonderful things America stands for: freedom, the opportunity to work. I came here at age seven, and my father said since he was a citizen, I was automatically one too. I was very proud. He said to me, ''Here is where we will make our home. We will always obey the laws of this country.'' Fishing was my father's livelihood. He had his own boat, the Marettimo. I always went to school. We had our house on 291 Larkin Street.
All was fine until the war came. I felt betrayed by this country. All I learned in school and believed in was different than what was taking place. Everything changed. We were Italians, and we were looked at as enemies. My mother had to register because she was an alien. She had been going to school in Monterey to get her citizenship, but with the war she had to stop. When orders came for my mother to leave Monterey, I went with my parents to look for a house in Salinas. When we would ask for a place to live, they would ask why we had to move. We told them, and they said, ''Are you those Italians from Monterey? You're aliens. We're not renting to you.'' I felt devastated.
Page 116 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I would say to them, ''I'm an American citizen, my father is an American citizen.'' My father would say, ''Keep quiet.'' But how could they hurt my mother like this? She was crying all the time. When we were getting ready to move to Salinas, there were moving vans all over the neighborhood, and all the women were crying. After we found a place, my father would go back and forth to Monterey, to check the house there, and fish. I was only thirteen and had to move with my mother. I went to Salinas' Washington Junior High.
Then the 8:00 PM curfew came. I was always scared when I went shopping with my mother. There was fear because someone could hear me speak Italian with her. There were signs saying not to. We heard on the radio about how they were going to move the Italians. From news at school and from other friends in the same predicament there was fear of the concentration camp. I knew I would have to be locked up if my mother was. When I would come home from school there was a terrible fear that they had taken my mother, and maybe me too, that they'd be waiting for me.
I remember asking my father, ''Why, why, when we didn't break the law, are they doing this to us?'' He would say, ''There's a war going on. People in command don't know what they're doing.''
His boat, the Marettimo, was a purse seiner. There was a fishing fleet in Monterey, all owned by Italians, all citizens. Then I remember my father saying there was someone from the government who wanted our fishing boats. ''What can we do, the government needs our boats,'' my father said. So he had to deliver his boat to San Francisco, to the Navy. Seventy boats from Monterey were taken; it was a deal agreed to by the boat-owner's association. Being good Italians, they wanted to help the government so they were willing to let the boats go. But up north they had a fishing fleet, mostly Slavonians, and down south, they also had a fishing fleet. I feel the reason they wanted the Monterey boats was because they were Italians. They had to charter boats from up north and bring them down here to fish, to support their families. Why not take the boats up north?
Page 117 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Anyway, after several months, my father was notified that he could get his boat. He found the boat in bad shape. They had put cannons and guns on it. He was very upset. He asked about the skiff, which was missing. All fishing boats had to have skiffs-they were big enough for a 12-man crew. They told him all the skiffs were destroyed because the Navy had no use for them. My father said, ''I need money to get my boat back into condition.'' They said they'd give him $3,000. He didn't like it, said he'd think it over, because he knew it would take $3,000. to replace the skiff alone. He checked and found he would need much more, maybe $15,000, which he told them. They said, ''Either you accept what we give you, or we keep your boat.'' They forgot boat owners were citizens. My father called home, told my mother about it. She said, ''Bring the boat back. We'll do what we can to continue.''
So here he was with a boat in poor condition, no skiff, and he had already chartered a boat for the season. He had to tie the Marettimo at anchor. A terrific storm came in December. The Coast Guard called to say the boat was in danger. My father was anchored out in a cove, unable to come in. My mother asked me to talk to the Coast Guard, and I said, ''Please, see what you can do to save the boat.'' They refused. The boat was wrecked. The insurance covered very little; most went to try to salvage the boat. Eventually, my father sold the Marettimo to a boat builder for next to nothing. Then he had to get a loan, from the Bank of America, to get a new boat. It cost $45,000. Many other fishermen in Monterey had to do the same thing to repair their boats. The Navy fixed up the first three boats they returned, in better shape than before. But the rest, they just had to take it or leave it.
My mother and I came home to Monterey in September 1942. But no one complained. Even when the orders came to move out, and no one said we'll help you, it was difficult, but these good Italians just went ahead and obeyed the law. My father, even when he lost his boat, kept on being a good American citizen. This was our country.
Page 118 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
I had a lot of anger, though, especially against General DeWitt. I told my teacher, and she encouraged me to write a letter to him. I remember saying I wanted to go back to my home in Monterey. I actually got a response, saying for me to be patient, we'd get home in due time. Which we did. So it was a very difficult time for us. My father lost his life savings to get the new boat. I felt betrayed of everything I believed in. This was an injustice to the Italian people. They came for a better life. They came to work hard, and they had a lot of pride. They didn't expect to take away from the country but to contribute, and they have and still are. But during the war everyone lived in fear. We heard what they were doing to the Japanese. We were always afraid we were going to be next.
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROSE SCHERINI, PH.D.
I am the daughter of two Italian immigrants. I am an anthropologist who first learned that some Italian Americans were interned or excluded in WWII when I was studying San Francisco's Italian American community in 1973. When I was interviewing a woman active in social organizations, she told me the Italian groups were ''not the same since the war . . . some of the best people were sent away'' and that now people were afraid to be ''too Italian.'' Because it took a lot of time to learn the whole story, I did not complete this research until I retired in the late 1980s from my position at the Office of Student Research, University of California, Berkeley.
Over the past ten years, then, I have reconstructed this history using records in the National Archives, the FDR Library, the FBI Reading Room, and FOIA-requested individual FBI files and records of the Italian War Veterans and through interviews with family members of internees and others affected by the restrictions on enemy aliens and naturalized citizens, including two excluded men themselves, one member of an enemy alien hearing board, and many who were forced to relocate or otherwise suffered from the curfew and travel restrictions. I did not find any evidence of subversion, sabotage, or any wrongdoing on the part of these individuals. What I found was that the immigrants' attachment to the land of their ancestors and—in the case of the internees—membership in pro-Fascist associations prior to the US entry into the war were their only 'crimes'.
Page 119 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
My own father was one of the more than 600, 000 Italian non-citizens categorized as enemy aliens, and one of the 52,000 Californians subject to the registration, curfew and travel restrictions between January and October, 1942. I was a teenager at the time and I was hired in January to help with the registration of the enemy aliens at the Post Office. Many years later, in 1994, I became the curator of the exhibit, ''Una Storia Segreta: When Italian Americans Were Enemy Aliens''.
Why has this story been under cover for so long? There are many reasons: it has been difficult to find internee families because no researcher has found anywhere in the Archives a list of Italian American internees; the records of the WWII Detention Camps combine the names of permanent residents with those of Italian nationals; moreover, some families will not discuss the internment: they are ashamed and angry both at the government's action and at some segments of the Italian American community who assumed these interned parents or spouses must have been 'guilty' of some anti-government activities. Also, the Italian American community on the West Coast is much less cohesive than is the Japanese American population, who, nevertheless, took many years to tell their story and achieve redress. Finally, there is, still some residue of the prewar conflict between the anti- and pro-Fascist elements of the Italian community.
This legislation is an important first step in acknowledging violations of Italian Americans' civil rights that occurred during WWII. Archival documents of the Justice Department reveal that unconstitutional actions occurred amidst the chaos of war and the ongoing conflict between the Attorney General and the War Department over the removal or detention of legal residents and some citizens without evidence of any wrongdoing. Besides passing HR 2442, I urge Congress to review Title 50 of the US Code, which provides for the detention of any non-citizen in time of conflict, and to consider restricting the power given to the FBI to detain persons without evidence of illegal activities. Attorney General Francis Biddle in a July, 1943 memo to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover requested that the FBI cease the use of lists identifying individuals as dangerous solely on the basis of their associations rather than on the basis of specific illegal actions. Unfortunately, it is common knowledge that this practice has continued.
Page 120 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Finally, I hope that Congress will make it impossible for any group of permanent, loyal residents of the United States to ever again be classified as enemy aliens. Let us take a lesson from history in the action President Thomas Jefferson took when he pardoned everyone who had been imprisoned under a provision of the Alien and Sedition Acts that targeted French immigrants in reaction to fear of a French invasion. That same provision spawned Title 50 of the US Code which authorized the detention of the enemy aliens in WWII. Two hundred years later, will the Congress take steps to keep this from happening again?
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THOMAS P. MAGGIO
Dear Chairman Hyde:
I, Thomas P. Maggio, am honored and grateful to submit this testimony regarding my dear parents who came to the United States as Italian immigrants.
In August 1907 Salvatore Maggio left his beloved country of Trapani, Sicily and entered Ellis Island to an unfamiliar land and language, bringing with him only his hopes and dreams of a new life of freedom and fortune.
He settled in Flint Michigan and became employed with GM Buick Motor Car Company as a machinist. He joined the US Army in 1915, received his basic training at Jefferson Barracks, MO, and soldiered at Camp Humphries, which is now Ft. Belvoir, VA. He also served at Ft. Washington and at Ft. Leslie J. McNair, Washington, DC. He met Catherine Vereka, where they married and raised my brother Steven E. Maggio, Sr. and me. My mother came to the US from Portsmouth, England, her birthplace, in 1905 with her parents at the age of seven.
Page 121 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
In 1941 the United States declared war on Italy and Germany. My parents had not yet become citizens, although my father had belief that he was a citizen when he joined the Army. He became naturalized in 1943, my mother in 1944. In 1941 Federal agents came to my parents home and informed that they had to surrender their radio because they were considered enemy aliens. My parents were terribly distressed over this order as they were honest, law abiding and they loved their new country. My father actually kissed the ground when he landed in America. However, they complied with the law and were not able to get back the radio until the war ended. Having to give up a very important access to daily programs, news, and entertainment was very stressful and frightful to my parents. They were terrified that they could be deported. This period in their lives had a troubling effect on our families and friends. My parents left their homelands because of oppression and dictatorship. Never did they dream that they would come to a land of freedom and opportunity only to face this aggression in the United States.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman
The book entitled The Unknown Internment by Stephen Fox was submitted into the hearing record and is on file with the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Mr. HYDE. With that, and with our compliments to you, the subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:25 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.]
Page 122 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC