Interviews

1. Japanese Language School

2. Mentality of Issei and Nisei

3. Treatment by Chinese students

4. Attempts to sign up for military service

5. Recruited for the National JACL Redress Committee

6. Criteria for who gets redress

7. Changing "reparations" to "redress"

8. Appointing John Tateishi as National JACL Redress Chair

9. Inouye’s strategy for educating the American public

10. JACL reaction to the idea of a commission

11. Redress clash between Senators Inouye and Hayakawa

12. Recalling President Carter’s signing of the Commission bill

13. Poignant story from the CWRIC hearing in San Francisco

14. John Tateishi plays a role in changing people's minds

15. The unheralded help from beyond the community

16. Legacy of redress

17. Different races have to live together and interact

Clifford Uyeda

(1917 - 2004) Political activist

Redress clash between Senators Inouye and Hayakawa

In the summer of 1979, I got a call from Senator Inouye. He said I could get this Senate bill passed without Hayakawa’s help, but if the Congress knew that there was a Japanese American who was opposed to redress, that would be a tremendous benefit to the opposition. He said that people who knew nothing about Japanese Americans would vote against it, because Hayakawa’s voting against it. And he said that what we need to do is either to neutralize Hayakawa, [so] that he would not say anything against it, or to have him on our side. So he said, we want to talk to him, and could you make an arranged meeting for us. To make it easier for Hayakawa to say yes, tell him we will meet in his office.

So on August 1, 1979, 2:30 P.M., we had an appointment to meet in Hayakawa’s office. So we all went there. When we got there, Senator Inouye said that both Mineta and Matsui would not be there because, he said, we’re going to be talking about the Senate bill and they’re not in the Senate, so, therefore, they want to be excused and that was okay.

And as we were waiting in the room, the front door opened and two camera crews came in, and they walked right into the office. I could see Senator Inouye’s face just drop. He was very angry at the time.

Daniel K. Inouye governments politics Redress movement U.S. Senate

Date: July 1-2, 1998

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mitchell Maki, Darcie Iki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Clifford Uyeda was born on January 14, 1917, into a family of oyster farmers in Olympia, Washington. Uyeda studied at the University of Wisconsin and from 1941 to 1945 attended Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans, LA. Uyeda went on to become a medical doctor in San Francisco, CA.

Uyeda became involved in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in 1960 when he served as San Francisco Chapter chair of the Issei Oral History Project. He helped in establishing the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and played an important role in restoring the U.S. citizenship and presidential pardon of Iva Toguri, also known as “Tokyo Rose.”

After retiring from medicine in 1975, Uyeda became a full-time activist. In 1977, Uyeda served as National JACL chair of the Japanese American Incarceration for Redress committee. He was elected to serve as president of National JACL from 1978 to 1980. Uyeda continued to serve the community in various roles until his death from cancer in 2004 at the age of 87. (April 11, 2008)