More Noted Things

by Cliopatria

Congratulations to Terry Belanger of the University of Virginia and Emily Thompson of the University of California, Davis. They've just been named MacArthur Fellows. Berlanger is a book conservationist and Thompson is a historian of sound.

"Race, class, and gender" is the mantra of the academic class, says Scott McLemee, but class is definitely the junior partner. Critical reflection on our own social status as an academic class is even more rare. But, in"Class Dismissed," Inside Higher Ed, 20 September, McLemee offers up a well annotated bibliography.

David Shribman,"How Will History Rate the President?" Toledo Blade, 18 September, is a thoughtful and mildly surprising comparison of the results of Jim Lindgren's recent survey of the opinions of 130 scholars with the findings of Arthur Schlesinger in 1948.

In"Soft-Peddling the Internment" at Orcinus, David Neiwart shows the damage done on the Right by Michelle Malkin's apologia for Japanese internment during World War II. But Eric Muller,"Michelle Malkin's Ever-Shrinking Defense of Racial Internment," Is That Legal? 19 September, shows that Malkin's response to Greg Robinson's discovery of the McCloy Memo is evidence that she has less and less room for maneuver. Give it up, Michelle!

In"Let Them Eat Wireless," Rob MacDougall tells a grim tale. In mid-July, he and Mrs. Mac moved to London, Ontario, where he's teaching at the University of Western Ontario. So, it's two months later and despite" competition," the MacDougalls are still awaiting a land-line telephone installation. The lackluster telephonicians must not know who they're messing with. He's publishing the history of their ass. [ ... ]

Prompted by a reading of Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passion of War, Natalie Bennett reflects on the causes of war at Philobiblion. Thanks to Jon Dresner for the tip.

Joyce Jun'r posted about it six months ago, but I thought you'd want to know that the cremated remains of Nicolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are kept in the Rare Book Room of the Boston Public Library. Somewhere on the net, surely, someone is maintaining lists of the odd things early agreements oblige special collections to maintain.

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David Lion Salmanson - 9/21/2005

More importantly, Muller points out that Malkin consistently violates the rules of historical evidence and argument (not to meniton logic). She never answers that charge.

William Hopwood - 9/21/2005

Prof. Dresner:

It is undisputed that racist hostility against the ethnic Japanese existed in some of the population of the west coast in the 1940s. But in the face of abundant and credible military intelligence revealing subversive activity within the Japanese community, when academics blindly insist that "racism" was the sole, or principal reason, for the Japanese evacuation/relocation, that is, in my view, an abdication of scholarship.

It was alleged in the recent Ramsey column, that Professor Robinson "discovered" a handwritten note written by McCloy while Robinson was reasearching for his book "By Order of the President." This, according to Robinson,is conclusive proof that military reasons were not the main reason for the evacuation decision. Further, this "new" evidence, it is now claimed by Muller, demolishes the thesis of Michelle Malkin's book, "In Defense of Internment."

But if this off-the-cuff McCloy note, written in the context of a minor administrative matter and uncharacteristic of the numerous other McCloy comments explaining the military necessity for the evacuation, was such a bombshell, why don't I find any reference to it in Robinson's book? Was it there and I missed it? Nor do I recall any reference to Patterson, whose name doesn't even appear in the index?

Ralph E. Luker - 9/21/2005

I'm not impressed with an appeal to the authority of "Ken Masugi," though I imagine he is a very nice person. You'll need to cite evidence, as Muller does, for an argument.

William Hopwood - 9/21/2005

Mr. Luker, I did read Muller's recent response to Ms. Malkin and reiterate that it was more of the same. In that I seem to be in distinguished company. As Dr. Ken Masugi observed: "...Eric Muller...is virtually beside himself in trying to deal with her arguments."

Jonathan Dresner - 9/20/2005

More to the point, if you think there's anything in Malkin's response to Robinson than a qualified "maybe" it's because you want to believe it.

And you continue to cite Malkin's straw man version of Robinson, Muller, et al., rather than something resembling their real arguments. The note you cite at the end of your post here ("As you know....local population") has a fascinating circularity to it, and a huge blind spot: the second reason is irrelevant (particularly in light of Hawai'i, which also obviates the first point) except to explain the third one; the issue that strategic fear of Japanese in America was itself racist (i.e. local hostility was only part of the racism involved in the internment).

From a historian's perspective, there rarely are "smoking gun" sources, but McCloy's repeated citation of regional racism, and implicit invocation of strategic racism, come pretty damn close.

Ralph E. Luker - 9/20/2005

With all due respect, Commander Hopwood, if you believe that there is nothing to Eric Muller's post in response to Malkin, it can only be because you haven't bothered to read it.

William Hopwood - 9/20/2005

Ralph E.Luker writes:

"In 'Soft-Peddling the Internment' at Orcinus, David Neiwart shows the damage done on the Right by Michelle Malkin's apologia for Japanese internment during World War II. Eric Muller, 'Michelle Malkin's Ever-Shrinking Defense of Racial Internment,' Is That Legal? 19 September, shows that Malkin's response to Greg Robinson's discovery of the McCloy Memo is evidence that she has less and less room for maneuver. Give it up, Michelle!"

I disagree. Actually, Ms. Malkin layed out a most comprehensive rebuttal to Mr. Robinson's "discovery" of the alleged handwritten note by McCloy, showing that Robinson's interpretation of it was, in effect, a grasping at straws in an attempt to bolster his theory that "racism" was the sole factor in the so-called "internment" decision.

Ms. Malkin points out that in other McCloy comments at the time and later, the relative importance of the hostile attitude toward ethnic Japanese by other West Coast residents was minimal in forming the internment decision.

As for Eric Muller's comments, his oft demonstrated personal animosity toward Ms.Malkin is such that at the mere mention of the lady's name he is like an old fire horse who hears the bell--off and running. Nothing of substance there.

In "Guarding the United States and Its Outposts" (Chapter V) historians Stetson Conn, Rose Engelman, and Byron Fairchild place in proper perspective McCloy's relative attachment of lesser importance to the hostility toward ethnic Japanese by other West Coast residents. The historians note that in a letter dated 16 November 1942 to General Drum, head of the Eastern Defense Command, McCloy listed three reasons for removing the Japanese, with consideration of the attitude of the local population being last. McCloy wrote: "As you know, the Japanese were removed from the West Coast, first, because of the proximity of the West Coast to the Japanese theater of operations and, second, because of the very large number of Japanese concentrated in that area, and thirdly, because of the fear that direct action might be taken against the Japanese as a result of the rather antagonistic attitude of the local population."

Manan Ahmed - 9/20/2005

"He's publishing the history of their ass."