Zoot Suit Riots

The following interview features Roger Bruns, historian and former deputy executive director of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives in Washington, DC. He is the author of many books, including Encyclopedia of Cesar Chavez: The Farm Workers' Fight for Rights and Justice; Negro Leagues Baseball; and Icons of Latino America: Latino Contributions to American Culture. He has written several biographies for young readers on such figures as Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr.  He is author of the forthcoming Zoot Suit Riots, part of the Landmarks of the America Mosaic series.

You have written a book to be published next spring by ABC-Clio on the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles during World War II.  First of all, what are zoot suits? 

Although the exact origins of the zoot-suit are unclear, many Mexican-American youth in Los Angeles in the early 1940s adopted the so-called “drape” look worn by African-Americans they had seen in pictures and movies, especially in eastern cities, and, most especially, in Harlem. The jazz music and the jitterbug dance craze had made their way to the West Coast along with the clothes that spoke of youthful rebellion and urban identity. There was the oversized coat with broad shoulders and ballooned and pegged pants, large broad-brimmed hat, with a watch chain often dangling down the side. Thick-soled shoes called Calcos added to the look.

Mostly, the youngsters were Mexican-Americans born in the U.S. to parents who had immigrated. Walking around the streets wearing the drapes with friends from their neighborhoods gave them, both young men and women,  a group identity – admiration from some in their own community; disgust and ridicule from others, especially Anglos.  Many young men took on the name “pachucos” and women “pachucas,” terms of uncertain origins that mostly came to mean those in adolescent gangs wearing zoot-suits. Not every pachuco wore a zoot suit, however, and certainly most members of the Mexican-American community did not consider themselves part of the pachuco rage. Indeed, the parents of many of those adolescents involved were unquestionably anxious and concerned about the fidelity of their sons and daughters to this new cultural phenomenon. 

But the zoot-suit rage grew. Pachucos intermixed English and Spanish with slang they called “Chuco,” much of it from a Caló dialect that could be traced to early Spanish wanderers and outcasts. They gathered in groups that carried names of Mexican-American neighborhoods – 39^th Street, White Fence, Alpine Street, and Happy Valley.

What led to riots?

Most of all, we have to remember the entrenched prejudice against Mexican-Americans in this period. It was not only invidious but out in the open for all to see. Many public facilities were closed to Mexican-Americans. Some churches would allow Mexican-Americans inside only on certain days. Many cemeteries, even those publicly operated, reserved special sections specifically for Mexican-Americans, thus separating them in death from Anglos just as they had been during life. Some theaters did allow Mexican-Americans and Afro-Americans access but only on certain nights. There were actually signs that read “No Mexicans or Dogs Allowed.”

Mexican-Americans read stories in Los Angeles newspapers that called them “undesirables.” They were accused by law enforcement officials and political leaders of being inclined to engage in criminal activities and were, therefore, a threat to law and order. When arrested for petty crimes, many were subjected to what was euphemistically called the “third degree” – from beatings with rubber hoses to “three-day hunger tests.”

The Zoot Suit Riots are inextricably linked to the infamous, so-called Sleepy Lagoon murder in August 1941 southeast of Los Angeles.  The Sleepy Lagoon was a reservoir used to irrigate crops and a swimming hole and meeting place for many Mexican-American youths. At a party at a nearby house on August 1, a young man named Jose Diaz was found dead after a brawl among a group of youngsters from the neighborhood around 38^th Street and some youths from other neighborhoods. The Los Angeles Police Department, in a zealous demonstration of combating juvenile delinquency, rounded up in a dragnet more than 600 young people, mainly those who wore zoot suits. Unable to tie any single individual to the crime, a grand jury indicted over 20 youngsters for murder, an unprecedented and outrageous overreach. In the subsequent trial, marked by unbridled bias and judicial misconduct by the judge, most were convicted of first or second degree murder. They would later be released on appeal after serving significant time in jail.

Within months of the convictions, Los Angeleserupted in a riot. On June 3, 1943, with tensions escalating between U.S.sailors stationed in Los Angelesand Mexican-American zoot suiters, some 50 sailors on shore leave ventured into Mexican-American neighborhoods armed with clubs and other weapons. Their mission, supposedly in retaliation for earlier attacks on servicemen, was simple – beat up and rip the clothing from any “zoot suiter” they could find. For several days, sporadic attacks by servicemen against Mexican-Americans threw parts of downtown Los Angelesinto chaos and rioting. For a week, sailors and other servicemen dragged kids off streetcars, from restaurants, and out of movie theaters. The boys were beaten and stripped of their zoot suits, a kind of ritualistic cultural humiliation.

Thousands of white civilians egged on the servicemen. At one point at the end of the week of carnage, an estimated 1000 servicemen rampaged through the Mexican district, storming into bars, penny arcades, theaters, stores, and dance halls with relative impunity. A number of taxi drivers joined the fun, offering free rides to servicemen and civilians to the riot areas. .

Eventually, with news of the riots reaching the national press and with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt referring to the spectacle as race riots against Mexican-Americans, local and military police eventually restored order. Of the many hundreds of  individuals herded off to jail, almost all were Mexican-Americans, the targets of the attackers.  They were mostly charged with disturbing the peace.

In the end, the Los Angeles City Council banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angelesstreets.

What was the highlight of your research? In the course of your research, what discovery surprised you the most?

Records at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, at NARA’s records center in Riverside, California, and at the Franklin Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, had a wealth of original documents about the deep concern of the U.S.government that the trial and riots were damaging the country’s relations with Mexico and Latin Americaduring wartime. In late 1942, the Office of War Information (OWI), an agency designed to coordinate news releases favorable to U.S.interests during the war, worried that open hostility toward Mexican-Americans in Los Angeleswas being exploited by the enemy. Axis propaganda sent to the U.S., Mexico, and other Latin American countries attacked as a sham U.S. claims that it was a democratic nation free of the persecution of minorities. The OWI sent Alan Cranston, a former journalist who would later become a U.S. Senator from California. Cranston met managing editors and publishers of all four of the major newspapers in the city encouraging them to stop slandering Mexican-Americans in their articles. He also encouraged city officials to prepare a plan to help ameliorate the conditions under which Mexican-Americans were struggling in the city.

Also State Department officials had numerous communications and face-to-face meetings with Mexican diplomatic figures trying to temper the anger and suspicions aroused by the Sleepy Lagoon trial and the riots.

What effects did the Sleepy Lagoon trial and the Zoot Suit Riots have on the Mexican-American community and how are these events from 60 years ago relevant today?

So outrageous had been the treatment accorded to Mexican-American citizens in Los Angeles during wartime that activists, reformers, and the immigrant community itself  began to fight back, to make demands, and seek ways to come together to force change against the kind of  systemic prejudice and  dehumanization so evident in the trial and the riots.

In coming years organizers would win a landmark case of Mendez v. Westminster (1947) that would outlaw segregation of Mexican-Americans in public schools. In the same year, reformers founded the Community Services Organization (CSO), a civic-action group dedicated to promote community improvement, awareness of citizenship rights and responsibilities and to fight against human and civil rights abuses. It would fight discrimination in housing, employment, and education; promote political involvement; and establish self-help programs.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the so-called Chicano Movement produced a new generation of activists and leaders who brought to national attention a variety of issues vital to the Mexican American community and sought to remedy the ills of discrimination and powerlessness through direct political action.  In the early 1960s, Cesar Chavez, a zoot-suiter in his youth, began his historic fight to establish a union of farmworkers. One of his friends and allies, Luis Valdez, who would later be called by many “the Father of Chicano Theater, wrote a play called  Zoot Suit that opened on Broadway in 1978. It related the events of the early 1940s to the continuing struggles of Mexican-Americans and played for the first time in Mexico City in 2010, the same year that the state of Arizona passed draconian legislation against immigration. As the nation continues to grapple with such issues as immigration, fair employment and educational opportunities, and the many aspects of civil rights for Latinos, the story of the Zoot Suits Riots remains a compelling reminder of how far we have come but how daunting remain the challenges.

Interview with Michael Frassetto, Author of The Early Medieval World: From the Fall of Rome to the Time of Charlemagne

How does the early medieval world differ from the classical world and the later Middle Ages?

The early medieval world differed in a number of ways from the ancient and later medieval worlds. It was much more rural than the ancient world; cities virtually disappeared in the early medieval world and the literate and urban culture associated with ancient Romevanished. The early medieval world was an increasingly Christian world, unlike the polytheistic world of antiquity, and its primary cultural center was the monastery. Politically, the early medieval world was ruled by kings rather than the emperors of antiquity and government itself was understood in more personal terms. In part building upon the traditions of the early medieval world, the later Middle Ages differed markedly from the early medieval world. City life revived in the later Middle Ages and population and the economy grew dramatically. The later Middle Ages experienced a commercial revolution that revived international trade, which had virtually disappeared in the early medieval world. The use of the written word throughout society expanded in the later Middle Ages, new institutions of learning such as the university were established, and the institutions of Church and state grew in power and organization.

What can the early medieval world teach us about our modern world? Are there any similarities?

It has often been said that the past is a foreign country, and this is no more true than in regard to the early medieval world, which had a worldview that is fundamentally different than the worldview held today. Having said that, it must be noted that the early medieval world has much to teach us today. People of the early medieval period left an important legacy in terms of spirituality and religious belief and practice that can provide comfort and important insights to many people today. Early medieval rulers faced numerous challenges of governance and had to create new institutions of government that could help guide modern political leaders. The early medieval world was also one of surprising diversity as peoples with a wide range of cultural practices, languages, and traditions came to create a new social order out of the old Roman Empire, and lessons in our own increasingly diverse world could be learned from our medieval forebears.

What do you think is a common misunderstanding about the early medieval world?

The most common misunderstanding of the early Middle Ages is that it was a “dark age.” Although the early medieval world suffered decline in population, city life, and other areas, it was a period of important cultural transformation and growth. During this period, Europe underwent a process of Christianization, and it was during the early Middle Ages that the Christian, Roman, and Germanic traditions merged to lay the foundation for later European civilization. Important institutions such as the papacy and monasticism took shape during this period, and influential Christian and encyclopedic texts were written. There was also a series of cultural revivals, most notably the Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth to ninth centuries, that produced important artistic works and literary texts. The Carolingian revival was most important for the later development of European civilization. Many ancient classical and Christian works were copied and preserved by Carolingian authors who also wrote works of history, biography, theology, and law. Carolingian artists lavishly illuminated these texts with dazzling images that borrowed from earlier Christian and Roman works of art.

What are some of the contributions the early medieval world gave to us?

The early medieval world has left a number of important cultural artifacts. The Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels are two beautifully illuminated manuscripts from the early Middle Ages, and Carolingian artists produced a number of equally beautiful illuminated manuscripts. The standard version of what became the Catholic Bible took shape during the early medieval world. Carolingian scholars preserved much of ancient classical and Christian literature; the earliest surviving copies of nearly all ancient Latin manuscripts were made by Carolingian scholars in the ninth century. The Code of Justinian, which shaped European legal and judicial traditions, and the Rule of Saint Benedict, which defined the practice of religious life into the modern era, were creations of the early medieval world. Charlemagne’s chapel at Aachen, Theodoric’s mausoleum, and the Hagia Sophia are among the great architectural monuments created during the early Middle Ages.

In working on the book, did you discover anything particularly surprising or interesting?

One thing I discovered is the wide range of truly interesting personalities that lived during this period. The people of the early medieval world are a fascinating group of scholars, holy men and women, and political leaders. Many of them are interesting because of their courage and integrity and others are interesting—perhaps more interesting—because of their ruthlessness and quest for power at any cost. I was also surprised by the incredible creativity of the period during which society went through a profound transformation. New forms of religious life developed, and kings and other political leaders devised new ideas about political power and created new forms of government. Patterns of daily life were transformed and new social institutions developed. And although I have long known this, I am continually surprised by the literary and artistic creativity of this period that includes the great achievements of the Church fathers, Carolingian Renaissance scholars, and many other early medieval writers and scholars.

Michael Frassetto, PhD, teaches medieval and world history at the University of Delaware, La Salle University, and Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. He has published numerous articles on medieval religious and social history. Frassetto is author of The Great Medieval Heretics: Five Centuries of Religious Dissent and editor of Christian Attitudes toward the Jews in the Middle Ages: A Casebook and Heresy and the Persecuting Society in the Middle Ages: Essays on the Work of R.I. Moore

ABC-CLIO Solutions Helps Nevada Student with National History Day Contest

Each year more than half a million children across the country participate in the National History Day Contest. Students are challenged to choose a historical topic related to the annual theme, and then conduct primary and secondary research. They are then asked to present this research in a creative way via performance, exhibit, documentary or website.

This year student Bennett Wallace's creative website on Valley Forge has been selected from his state to compete at the national level. Bennett used ABC-CLIO Solutions as his primary source of information in creating his website. We took a moment to ask Bennett about this project and how ABC-CLIO Solutions helped him create his winning website.

Screen shot of Bennett's webpage. Visit it here: http://94560837.nhd.weebly.com/index.html

ABC-CLIO (AC): Why did you choose this topic?


Bennett Wallace (BW): I chose Valley Forge as a topic because I had visited the Valley Forge National Park when I was 11 and learned so many interesting things there about how Valley Forge was a turning point in the war. I felt like it would fit the topic perfectly. 

AC: How did ABC-CLIO resources help your research for this project? 

BW: ABC-CLIO resources helped me so much on this project because it was quick and easy to find reliable sources from their database and they even have the MLA citation at the bottom of each source. ABC-CLIO made it easy to cite sources for my annotated bibliography. 


AC:What challenges did you face during the course of this project? How did you overcome these challenges?

BW: The challenges I had during this project were trying to keep under the word limit. There is quite a lot of information on Valley Forge and I wish I could have added more.  Another problem I faced was making the annotated bibliography. I used so many sources that it was hard to cite them all. I overcame these problems by getting rid of some pages on my website and also by using sites like EasyBib and ABC-CLIO that made making my bibliography easier. 

AC: What surprised you the most about your subject during the course of your research?

BW: The thing that surprised me most about my subject is that Valley Forge was a turning point not only in the Revolutionary War but also in George Washington's life and really our country's history.  Also, what surprised me were the conditions at Valley Forge and how harsh the winter was.  

...

We also asked Bennet's teacher, Lindsey Clewell, for her perspective on the ABC-CLIO and the project:

AC: What made you decide to have your students participate in the contest? 

Lindsey Clewell (LC): I heard about National History Day from the coordinator of Social Studies for Washoe County, Sue Davis.  I thought that this sounded like an amazing opportunity for students to learn lifelong skills while researching something they are interested in.

AC: What did you find most useful about ABC-CLIO Solutions for your students while working on this project? 

LC: ABC-CLIO offers students reliable information.  In today’s world students have the tedious task of sorting through information to find out what is correct and reliable. ABC-CLIO offers a resource that students can go to and know that the information they are reading about is accurate. 

AC: What challenges did you face during the course of this project? How did you overcome these challenges? 

LC: I feel the biggest challenge of this project was teaching the students what is a reliable resource and what is not. They are used to going to Google and typing in a search term and believing everything they read is reliable. To get them digging a bit deeper into the resource and asking the questions, “Where did this source come from?” and “How do I know if this is reliable?”, was a task that is important and something that we spend a lot of time on. I also made sure to give my students websites that are reliable and offer many primary and secondary resources. This is a skill that my students will need to know throughout their lives and is one that is worth spending extra time to teach. 

AC: How does ABC-CLIO Solutions compare to other research tools you've used in the classroom?  

LC: ABC-CLIO is easy to navigate for students and this is why my students tended to gravitate to the source.  Their generation is used to getting answers fast and ABC-CLIO offered great answers in a timely manner.  My students found multiple resources relating to their topic in one place and they really enjoyed this online resource as a primary source that they used. 

...

We asked Christine Hull, Director of Social Studies and Content Literacy Programs at the Nevada Department of Education, to give her feedback on how ABC-CLIO Solutions plays a role at the state level:

AC: What made you decide to have NV schools participate in the contest?

Christine Hull (CH): When I took the position I am in currently I inherited the role of History Day Coordinator for the State of Nevada. I encourage schools to participate in this contest because the process to prepare their projects aligns with Common Core as well as gives the teachers an authentic learning and assessment opportunity in their classrooms. I really believe the process is the most important part of the entire contest. The Director of National History Day, Cathy Gorn always says, History Day is every day! I truly believe that and the skills that students learn through this process truly are preparing them for their next step in education.

AC: What challenges did you face during the course of this project? How did you overcome these challenges?

CH: Our state is so diverse in geography and population. We are unable to have one state contest like every other state so the first time our entire delegation meets is in Maryland. We also run into problems reaching our districts in the eastern part of the state and something that I would really like to focus on in the future.

AC: How has ABC-CLIO Solutions helped you accomplish your overall goals for the social studies programs in NV schools?

CH: Having the ABC-CLIO Solutions available to every K-12 student in the entire state makes it so great for me to encourage teachers to use this as their starting point for research. Knowing that they can all access the same articles and resources I know that if I show an example during a webinar or face to face training that everyone has access to a trusted source of information.

AC: How has ABC-CLIO Solutions helped NV teachers to implement the Common Core State Standards?

CH: Our teachers are loving the ability to search by not only content standards but also by CCSS. Using the primary sources and articles available in ABC-CLIO Solutions gives our teachers the ability to have an updated textbook of sorts that is aligned to the types of literacy activities they are implementing in their classrooms. 

...

If you haven't already explored ABC-CLIO Solutions, sign up today for a FREE trial!

ABC-CLIO's American History online solution

Colonial Williamsburg’s Gift to the Nation Electronic Field Trip “Founders or Traitors”

Colonial Williamsburg’s Gift to the Nationprovides teachers with unique resources to engage students in the study of citizenship and the values that shaped our nation. The Electronic Field Trip “Founders or Traitors” explores the later part of 1776, which were “the times that try men’s souls.” Join Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge as they meet with British admiral Lord Howe, hoping to end the American rebellion peacefully. Meet the signers of the Declaration of Independence and discover the risks they took.

·         Available online 24/7 from May 1, 2013 to May 1, 2014

·         On-demand video streaming over the Web

·         Email John Adams

·         Interactive online games

·         Downloadable resources, such as the teacher guide and program script (PDF)

·         Comprehensive lesson plans

View the complete 2013-2014 Electronic Field Trip Schedule 

We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to bring this exciting, relevant program into your school or home!

Register Now at http://giftnation.history.org/

Practical Guidance for Teaching a Difficult Subject

One of the reasons ABC-CLIO created its newest online resource Modern Genocide: Understanding Causes and Consequences is to help students better understand and help educators better teach this difficult and complex topic. Despite general agreement that the subject of genocide should be covered in high school and college classrooms in the United States, aside from coverage of the Holocaust, the larger topic of genocide is often omitted from textbooks, leaving educators with little support in tackling this sensitive subject.

The below excerpt is a sample lesson taken from the Support Center which is included with all ABC-CLIO Online Solutions. If you are not already a subscriber to the Modern Genocide online resource, sign up for a 30-day trial today to gain access to the articles in this lesson and much more.

Overview

In this lesson, you will learn about the problems surrounding the definition of genocide by examining key documents which are commonly used to define genocide and examining categories and wordings in these documents that complicate the matter at hand. You will also closely look at a genocidal event to examine the problems that have arisen in defining genocide.

Resources: Access to Modern Genocide, including the following:

•    Holocaust [Entry ID: 1771182]

•    Armenian Genocide [Entry ID: 1691734]

•    Rwandan Genocide [Entry ID: 1765743]

•    UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide(1948) [Entry ID: 1758431]

•    The Eight Stages of Genocide (1996) [Entry ID: 1771570]

•    Graphic Organizer: 3-Column Table.

     •     Available in the documents section of this lesson.

Directions

Activity 1: Day 1

Prepare:

At the beginning of the class session, read the following two documents closely.

• UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)

• The Eight Stages of Genocide (1996)

Consider the differences in how these documents define the concept of genocide. Also, consider the years these were written and the events that might have recently occurred during that time that shaped how the people who wrote these documents viewed or thought about genocide. Write the different categories identified in these documents regarding potential victims of genocide as well as the exact wording (i.e., Article 2 in the UN Convention) as to what criteria is necessary for an event to be considered a genocide.

Investigate:

Having read these documents, answer the following questions:

·    UNCG Article 2 states that genocide requires the "intent to destroy"? What might be some of the problems in regards to proving "intent"?

·    Article 2 also stipulates that there must be a concerted effort at the destruction of "in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." What might be the issue with the phrasing "in part"? How does the Eight Stages of Genocide model engage these issues?

·    Consider other items discussed in UNGC Article 2. What would be some challenges in attempting to prove any of these acts? For example: "Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

·    Why would groups based on political affiliation, gender, or sexuality not be included in the UNCG definition? Consider the time it was written. How does the Eight Stages model discuss these groupings?

·    Why is it important to continue to study the causes and consequences of genocide in the 21st century? Considering the wording of the Eight Stages of Genocide model, how has the definition of genocide continued to evolve over time?

After a few minutes, your teacher will bring the class together to discuss the answers to these questions.

The Death Knell of the Pan-Indian Confederacy

November 7, 2011, marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Tippecanoe. The engagement pitted some 1,000 regular and militia troops under Indiana governor William Henry Harrison against approximately 500–750 Indians led by Tenskwatawa, also known as the Shawnee Prophet. For several years previous to the battle, Tenskwatawa and his brother, Tecumseh, had worked to create a pan-Indian confederacy to oppose Anglo-American westward expansion and preserve traditional ways of life. The defeat at Tippecanoe irrevocably weakened the confederacy, which disbanded completely some two years later. This excerpt from Dr. Spencer C. Tucker's Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars recounts the details of this historic battle.

The warriors left Prophetstown during the night, and by 4:00 a.m. on November 7 they had surrounded Harrison’s camp. One of the American sentinels, Stephen Mars, heard movement in the darkness and fired a shot or two before fleeing for the safety of the camp. He was killed before he could reach it, but his shot alerted Harrison's men. The Indians then let out war whoops and opened fire. The battle opened first on the northwest side of the camp. Unfortunately for Harrison's men, when they rose many were silhouetted against their campfires, making them easy targets. Harrison himself mounted and rode to the sound of the firing. His own white horse had broken its tether during the night, and he rode a dark one. This probably saved his life, for the natives were looking for him on a white horse. (Harrison’s aide Colonel Abraham Owen, who found and rode Harrison’s white horse, was shot and killed.) Firing then broke out on the east side of the camp, and the battle became general. During the battle, the Prophet stationed himself on a high rock to the east and chanted war songs to encourage his followers. Informed early that some of his warriors had been slain, the Prophet insisted that his followers fight on, promising an easy victory.

After two hours of fighting and when it was sufficiently light, Harrison sent out mounted men to attack the natives on their flanks. Soon the natives were in retreat. In the battle, Harrison lost 68 men killed and 126 wounded, a significant casualty rate of up to a quarter of his force. The number of Native American dead is not known for certain. Thirty-seven bodies were found at the battle site, but this did not account for those who were carried off or died later from their wounds. Native American losses are estimated at no fewer than 50 killed and 70 or more wounded.

About the author

A Senior Fellow in Military History for ABC-Clio Publishing since 2003, Dr. Spencer C. Tucker has been instrumental in establishing ABC-CLIO as the premier military history reference publisher in the country. Spence's interest in military history began while he was a student at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and was enhanced by a Fulbright Fellowship in France and while serving as a captain in military intelligence in the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. Although he concentrated on Modern European History in his graduate studies, he became interested in all periods of military history. Spence taught at the university and college level for 36 years, 30 of these at Texas Christian University and the last 6 as holder of the John Biggs Chair of Military History at VMI. Spence is particularly excited to be the editor of ABC-CLIO's award-winning series of war encyclopedias, which includes The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: 
A Political, Social, and Military History
Edited by Spencer C. Tucker


This encyclopedia provides a broad, in-depth, and multidisciplinary look at the causes and effects of warfare between whites and Native Americans, encompassing nearly three centuries of history.

Uncommon Valor – Marine Medals of Honor at Iwo Jima

Many people mistakenly believe that the Battle of Iwo Jima ended on February 23, 1945, when U.S. troops raised the American flag at the top of Mount Suribachi. That iconic moment, captured in a famous photograph by Associated Press reporter Joe Rosenthal, symbolizes victory to most Americans, but in reality the fierce fighting for control of Iwo Jima lasted several more weeks. No one knows that better than the U.S. Marines, who played a key role in that bloody battle. This excerpt from John T. Kuehn appears in ABC-CLIO's America's Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War to Afghanistan (March, 2011) and discusses some of the heroic actions on Iwo Jima that led to 22 marines receiving the Medal of Honor.

In the annals of Marine Corps history, Iwo Jima holds a place of almost mythical honor due to the fact that more Medals of Honor (MOH) were awarded there than for any other comparable campaign that the Marines fought during the War. A total of 27 Medals of Honor were awarded, half of them posthumous. Twenty-two were awarded to Marines.

The first of the medals awarded for Iwo Jima was presented for action that occurred two days prior to D-Day, February 17, 1945, to a landing craft commander, Lt. Rufus G. Herring. Herring’s LCI, supporting an underwater demolition team, got into a hot engagement with the coastal guns on Mount Suribachi. Lt. Herring was wounded after a direct hit to the ship, but was able to con the ship and crew to safety. For this action, he was later awarded the Medal of Honor. Once the landings began in earnest on February 19, the intensity of the action can be traced by the numbers of awards. Including Lt. Herrings’ medal, one third of the MOHs awarded for Iwo Jima were earned in the first five days of fighting.

Representative of the heavy fighting was the action that earned Private First Class Jack Lucas his award on February 20. Lucas, of the 26th Marines, found himself and his buddies in support of a tank crew assaulting a pill box. As Lucas’ squad advanced, 11 enemy soldiers came up behind them from a tunnel. Lucas killed two before shielding his buddies from two grenades that had been thrown by the attackers. Miraculously he survived due to the heroic efforts of on scene Navy hospital corpsmen.

The remaining two thirds of the medals were awarded for the vicious fighting against the teeth of the Japanese defenses in the plateau north of the airfield. By March 14, the battle had been officially declared over, but the bitter fighting continued and two Medals of Honor were awarded that day to two more marines. The fighting continued even after the Army’s 147th Regiment had arrived to take over from the marines; however, all formal resistance was assumed at an end on March 25 when the last Japanese stronghold in “Death Valley” was taken. Nevertheless, the next day a group of 300 Japanese survivors launched an early morning Banzai attack on the airfield. Marine First Lieutenant Harry L. Martin organized a hasty defense and then led a key counterattack until he was felled and mortally wounded by an enemy grenade. Martin’s posthumous award would be the last Medal of Honor given for the battle on Iwo Jima.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpted from America's Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War to Afghanistan 

Edited by James H. Willbanks

(ABC-CLIO, 2011)

This book features the stories of 200 heroic individuals awarded the Medal of Honor for their distinguished military service while fighting for their country, from the Civil War to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Fifty years ago, on January 20, 1961, newly inaugurated President John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address. Some of us are too young to have witnessed this speech firsthand; but, I believe we are all familiar with JFK's famous phrase, "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." Take a step back in time to that turbulent and exciting moment in American history by reading the speech in its entirety.

I can recall, even at a young age, my mother revisiting her memories of JFK and the impact that those years had on her life. She said JFK was young, fresh, full of new ideas, and immediately loved by this country. Like many, she can also remember every minute of Friday, November 22, 1963, when she heard the tragic news that he had been assassinated. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to people replicating Jackie O's classy style – the Kennedy administration definitely left its mark on her generation and the generations to come.

Gain more insight into one of the most famous and popular presidents in American history with the resources in ABC-CLIO's American Government database. If you don't already subscribe, sign up for a 60-day preview to the entire collection of databases.

Do you remember listening to this timeless speech? If so, what did you think? How did it affect you? We'd love to hear from you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming Soon...

John F. Kennedy: A Biography

Michael Meagher and Larry D. Gragg

July 2011

This biography examines the life and political career of a president whose idealism and policies continue to impact the world today despite his brief time in office.