Letter from Joseph W. Conard to Robert O'Brien dated April 20, 1942

Letter from Joseph W. Conard to Robert O'Brien dated April 20, 1942.UW Vice President of Student Affairs, Acc. 71-38, Box 9. UW Libraries Special Collections.

2031 Baker Street
San Francisco, Calif.
April 20, 1942

Mr. Robert O'Brien
University of Washington
Seattle, Wn.

Dear Bob,

Last night in receiving your letter of the 16th, I supposed that your six students rejected from the University of Idaho had nowhere to turn, and accordingly I wired you as follows:

"INGLIS REPORT FROM SALT LAKE CITY MAY HELP IF YOUR IDAHO STUDENTS STUCK. HE SAYS UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PREPARED TO TAKE 75 MORE JAPANESE STUDENTS. LIVING ACCOMODATIONS GOOD. WORK OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIRLS. CONTACT REGISTRAR RONALD THOMAS AND PROFESSOR ELMER SMITH. WEST MINISTER JUNIOR COLLEGE WILL TAKE 15 CHRISTIANS OVER ALL COST $400.OO DORMITORY HOUSING. CONTACT PRESIDENT STEEL, THIS REPORT POSSIBLY NOT CONTEMPLATING IMMEDIATE ACTION THEREFORE CLEAR WITH COLLEGES BEFORE MOVING STUDENTS."

I have no idea whether the University of Utah or West Minister Junior College will help meet the needs of these students, but in case it might I thought you should have this information. You may add this to the accumlative list which you will be able to develop beginning with Dr. Sproul's reply and including those I sent to you a few days ago. Also there is to be added, of course, the comment from Dennison College which you sent to me.

Further information from Mr. Inglis is as follows:

"There seems to be some who feel that the Utah area may be evacuated, and since hesitate to encourage relocation there."

I have nothing from the Government to justify this fear and your guess is as good as mine concerning it's [sic] validity. Mr. Inglis says the Registrar has indicated a willingness to take a total of 100 Japanese. There are 25 on campus now. A Japanese student with whom Mr. Inglis talked (Kayoko Sato, 243 West First South Street, Salt Lake) says that he has been treated well.

The Agricultural College at Logan makes the official statement that Japanese students will not be received.

The information I gave you in the wire is complete on West Minister Junior College except for Mr. Inglis' added statement that the ex-president has written a very good statement concerning the situation and that he is now Chairman of the Board of the College.

Weber College and State Junior College in Ogden; Congregational Minister will interview the President (Dr. Dixon), who is also President of the Chamber of Commerce at Ogden, and who already has made some fine statements. Thank you very much for your information concerning Presiden Sieg which I shall, of course, keep confidential.¹

I met day before yesterday with a committee which included the official representatives of most of the major denominations in the country. This committee will be more officially organized than it is now, but those presented united in asking the Student Relocation Committee to serve as their co-ordinating agency for college students. A number of them hope to rais funds, some of which they would allocate to specific students, and some of which they would permit us to allocate.

I go to Los Angeles tomorrow to see whether we can clarify the organization relationship among Southern California colleges and also between them and the Student Relocation Committee.

Very best wishes to you for a successful trip East. To whom should I correspond for Pacific Northwest problems during your absence?

Cordially

JOSEPH W. CONARD

JCW/bm
Dictated but not read by
Mr. Conard who is out of town.
Enc.

1. The confidential information about President Sieg remains a mystery. There is no copy of O'Brien's letter of April 16, 1942 at the UW Libraries or amongst the Joseph Conard collection at the Hoover Institution.