World War II and the American Indian by Kenneth William TownsendReview by: Richard N. EllisThe Journal of American History, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Dec., 2002), pp. 1110-1111Published by: Organization of American HistoriansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3092461 .

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1110 The Journal of American History December 2002

pies. Law has become a matter of interpreting congressional intent as well as the letter of var- ious statutes to determine whether non-Indi- ans living within the boundaries of reserva- tions subjected to "checkerboarding" are or are not under tribal jurisdiction. Excluded from participation in tribal governance, non-Indi- ans resist any attempt to extend tribal controls over them as a violation of their fundamental rights as American citizens, while the tribal governments jealously guard their al- ready-compromised sovereignty against local challenges. Disputes over alcohol sales and state enforcement of highway laws on Rose- bud serve as case studies.

Biolsi's book is as enlightening as it is de- tailed-and it is very detailed. His introduc- tion and conclusion make clear that his sympa- thies are with the Sioux. But "Deadliest Enemies" is an even-handed study of the ambi- guities and inconsistencies inherent in Indian law that, because each decision rendered is nec- essarily a close call between equally valid, con- tradictory claims, pits tribal and non-tribal members in an ongoing struggle that defies fi- nal resolution. In short, the law itself has cre- ated an adversarial situation and a reality of its own whereby Indians and whites are now often in fact, as in legal theory, "deadliest enemies."

Brian W Dippie University of Victoria Victoria, Canada

World War II and the American Indian. By Kenneth William Townsend. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. xii, 272 pp. $35.00, ISBN 0-8263-2038-4.)

If, as many believe, World War II is the twen- tieth-century event that had the greatest im- pact on American Indians, it is remarkable that the topic escaped scholarly attention for so long. Laurence Hauptman was the first to deal with the topic in 1986 in his wonderful book on the Iroquois. In 1991 Alison Bern- stein published a book on American Indians and the war, and Jere' Bishop Franco followed suit in 1999. Those scholars now are joined by Kenneth William Townsend, author of the re- cently published World War II and the Ameri- can Indian.

While all three scholars deal with such is- sues as the draft, military service, wartime em- ployment, and postwar events, there are differ- ences in approach and focus so that each makes a useful contribution to our knowledge of this subject. Those differences are reflected in the primary sources used by each author, and Townsend makes effective use of the serial Indians at Work, a Bureau of Indian Affairs publication that served as an effective vehicle for John Collier to express his views and to promote his program. Townsend places greater emphasis on Indian Commissioner Collier than do the other authors; that empha- sis provides a unifying theme for the book while also providing new insights into Col- lier's personality and policies. The result is a much less appealing portrayal of the New Deal Indian commissioner.

Collier is central, too, to the issue of draft resistance; he sought complete compliance with selective service and failed to understand reasons for resistance. He also failed to defend Native Americans in Virginia, where Walter Plecker, a state official and an ugly racist, de- termined that Virginia Indians were people of color and must serve in all black military units. Nor did Collier support the Iroquois in their legal struggle over the draft, an impor- tant sovereignty issue.

Townsend provides the most thorough coverage of the case of Warren Green, an Iro- quois challenge to the applicability of the Se- lective Service Act that was based on their trea- ties and on the argument that the Six Nations existed as a separate nation. Collier, who was determined that Native Americans comply with the act, "created a masterful piece of propaganda" to explain away this challenge.

Collier contributed to the reinforcement of stereotyping Indians as warriors, and he helped pave the way for termination by por- traying Indian unanimity for the war effort while ignoring areas of disagreement between tribes and the government. Thus many politi- cians believed that American Indians desired assimilation. Aware that political support had shifted away from the Indian New Deal, Col- lier sought ways to protect the Indian bureau and the Indian Reorganization Act (iRA). Townsend argues that he saw the War Reloca-

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Book Reviews 1111

tion Authority, which was responsible for in- terned Japanese Americans, as such an oppor- tunity and sought to apply the IRA to the camps. He also wanted to apply the iRA to the people of the recaptured Pacific Islands. Townsend concludes that, if Indian participa- tion in the war helped lead to termination, In- dian military service and wartime employ- ment opportunities also laid the basis for subsequent demands for self-determination.

This is a very useful book; it complements the work of Bernstein and Franco so that we have a much fuller understanding of the war and American Indians. The book has one seri- ous fault, however. Some of the citations to Bureau of Indian Affairs records (National Ar- chives Record Group 75) are incomplete and fail to provide the information necessary to lo- cate a document within that vast record group.

Richard N. Ellis Fort Lewis College Durango, Colorado

By Order of the President: FDR and the Intern- ment of Japanese Americans. By Greg Robin- son. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. 322 pp. $27.95, ISBN 0-674-00639-9.)

In By Order of the President, Greg Robinson examines President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1942 decision to sign Executive Order 9066, which empowered the U.S. Army to incarcer- ate the entire Japanese American population of the West Coast. Robinson focuses in his first two chapters on the development of Roosevelt's sentiments about Japan and Japa- nese Americans, following the future president from his student days to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The rest of the book deals with the war years.

Roosevelt acquired an anti-Japanese Amer- ican bias early on, Robinson argues. Coming of age in an era when "scientific racism" was popular, the future president subscribed to prevailing views about the undesirability of ra- cial mixing and held to them for the rest of his life. He generally considered Japanese equal to white Americans but believed they should stay in Japan. Roosevelt also drew few if any dis- tinctions between the Japanese in Japan and

the Japanese Americans of the United States, regardless of their birthplace. In this early sec- tion, Robinson's argument seems forced; he merely shows that FDR'S attitudes resembled those of many of his elite white peers.

Robinson is at his best when he describes the process behind the drafting of the executive order and the ensuing debates among various cabinet members and officials. Roosevelt's style of delegating tasks to advisers with opposing views bolstered his power and could lead to creative policy making; at the same time, how- ever, it depended on the president's personal interest in a particular issue. By Order of the President shows that once FDR felt he had neu- tralized the Japanese American "threat" with his executive order, he largely ignored the in- carcerated people. When Roosevelt did occa- sionally turn his attention to the plight of those Americans, he continued to make crucial deci- sions about them for purely political reasons. As Robinson notes, the president's indifference had drastic consequences for the rights and property of Japanese Americans and revealed a frighteningly casual attitude toward civil rights in general.

Robinson frames his argument by contrast- ing current popular understandings of FDR as a champion of liberal values with the suppos- edly aberrant Executive Order 9066. Yet Roosevelt's well-documented acquiescence to Jim Crow throughout his presidency and his relative indifference to evidence of the ongo- ing Holocaust in Europe instead suggest a real consistency, however disturbing. Robinson also frequently assumes a moralizing tone, and, although few readers would disagree with his sentiments, the processes and debates de- scribed in the book make the case much more convincingly.

In short, this book is a valuable if flawed contribution to the growing literature on race, civil rights, and the Asian American experi- ence in World War II America. Its insights into the workings of the Roosevelt administra- tion will also interest political historians and legal scholars.

Charlotte Brooks Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois

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