Transcript of Video Interview
April 1, 2014
April 1, 2014
As you know, Roosevelt was the president during the 1930s and 40s, and it was the time of the Great Depression. Could you tell us a little bit about what your life was like during the Great Depression? Where you were? What you were doing at the time?
I wrote all this [hands interviewers boook]...this is my story and…that’s why I am now helping others do the same thing.
Where were you when the Depression was going on?
I was in the state of Nebraska. Nebraska is an agricultural state and I was born on a farm, my parents were farmers and I lived in the agricultural community for about the first ten years of my life. Then the plot thickens. I was…I need to talk about the general economic conditions. Things were quite bad economically and because of several things, one being the financial system of banking that seems to have failed, and many people who had some savings lost their savings because of that. Another factor was just related to the economy. There weren’t as many jobs as there might have been. And so, many people were unable to find work. Since this community that I lived in was farming, many of the farmers suffered because they couldn’t get an adequate price for their goods, but the climate was such that it was very dry and the soil is interrupted so…much soil was blown across the land and almost drifted like so…and that soil was the nutritious topsoil that would normally raise corn. So, the farmers...many couldn’t succeed at farming. And so from that began the migration of people away from the farming country. Many left because there was not sufficient income for them to feed their families. So we were in the group who lost the ability to farm. And my parents moved myself, my brother, and sister off the farm into a small town. And that was fine except there weren’t many jobs in the small town either. I remember that hunt for work was a demanding thing and my father didn’t have skills other than the farming and so it was hard for him to find any work. And when he did find a job, we were all happy but the job only paid $9 for a week’s work and so that was hardly enough to live on. So, as time went on, people began to look for ways to get away and if you ever have an opportunity to look at the film “Grapes of Wrath” this is a film that described that migration from these towns and farms to mostly the West coast, many of them went to California and the other western states. Much of the fruit crop survived in California and Washington and Oregon and these people began to find jobs picking the fruit that was the limited and temporary situation because even at best it was poor crops. We were loaded into a truck. My father had a truck from the farm and we were loaded in the truck, my brother and I in the back of the truck and my sister and mom and dad in the cab and we came cross country that way camping as we went and landed in Seattle.
So that was the story of our migration and it goes on from there, I suppose I should back up and say that the government was trying to do many things to change the circumstances starting under Hoover and then, when Roosevelt came, he had some grandiose ideas that had never been tried in government before. Things were so depressed that I guess the people were more or less welcoming change without really knowing what that meant. But change came and change came in some pretty dramatic ways with a number of programs that had not been seen in governments before. One of which you might particularly look into: there was the CCC, those were camps for young men and they were run pretty much like army camps and they learned to cook for themselves and organize their lives pretty much and in response to that contribution they did many good works for people, for the public. Particularly in national parks and some of the parks and so on. It was a marvelous program because it gave these young fellas a very tangible place to live on, sort of and also gave them the opportunity to learn skills, many…there were not many opportunities to learn to do skilled work. So there’s only limited unskilled work, such as picking fruit, so doing maintenance on a park or building facilities like restrooms in a park was terrific. Some of these projects are still standing today, still in use. So they were great programs, and not without some political questions being raised. You might say the conservative politicians were not on board for all that because it was giving from the government to the people and their philosophy was to give only if they’ve earned it, and when there are such limited opportunities to earn and to learn it was an unhappy circumstance. I at that time, then went to work in the shipyard at Bremerton. I took an examination and was called to work. That was a big step because I developed skills that my father never had and otherwise I would never have had it if there hadn’t been the particular program so I was fortunate. And I learned how to be a marine electrician, I learned to do electrical work on these Navy ships and so that was the foundation of my education-- well, I should say I finished high school in Bremerton and I got into this apprentice thing and finished that and became qualified as a marine electrician. And so that kind of activity preceded the preparation for war because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 on December 7th. And by that time the economy had begun to pick up and there were jobs and so President Roosevelt came to visit in the shipyard where I worked. I remember that.
Did you meet him?
No. I was just a little guy [laughter] and I mean, unimportant. But I remember those things and I remember how the breaking out of the war impacted us because we received ships that had been bombed and that sort of thing and pretty shocking. And so, then I went into the Navy as a military person. And I was trained as an electronics person, I went to I think four different places in the United States where I was given training...so after that was finished I was sent to the Philippines and I was there when the war ended and just a sidelight on all of this was believe it or not I was in 1945 and in my discharge papers from the Navy, I was given–qualified for four medals and I got three of them. I never got the fourth one until a couple of weeks ago after all these years and I got a Philippine Liberation Medal so that connected me with the war. I should backtrack and say, a few people made up their minds that they wouldn’t leave what they called the Dust Bowl and at the same time, farming practices changed because of Roosevelt and his desire to institute some agricultural changes. Primary one was the way they plowed or tilled the earth so it didn’t turn to dust and didn’t pulverize it and leave it loose to blow over to the next county. So they began to plant rows of trees as windbreaks to keep the wind from bursting and they planted certain grasses so the erosion was reduced considerably. And the climate also changed some so that the farming soil was more stable and the farmers, some who didn’t move away, tried again and many of them were able to succeed on the second chance and came out successful. But I should say, it was a very traumatic period where people were hurt considerably.
During the Great Depression, what did you think of Roosevelt as a leader?
I think…I, as most people, we were ready for change because we were in such a bad place. Some of them felt that the government shouldn’t be in a position of handouts, if you will...others were so sick of the situation that they welcomed it. So, you had a mix. And I think that mix still exists in politics today. The Democratic party is largely one where the government is expected to back up the economy and the Republican is based on the idea that people if given the chance will earn what they get. So, you know the thing is it’s hung on and the country survived through a very tough period and I remember what it was like to be a kid in those days. Actually, kids were faced with a mixed bag. Most kids had limited resources but there were some whose families were professionals and they were doing fairly well. So in a classroom you had all levels of economic strata like one of the things that stuck with me was when I was small I didn’t have--in the summer, I didn’t wear shoes. So I didn’t - when my neighbor said, come and go fishing with us, I was very excited but I had to wear shoes and I had no shoes. My mother made me resourceful looking for it and found that my sister had a pair of shoes that I put on and I never recovered from the humiliation [laughter]. It was hard but there were some things in school that I could not afford to do, this is simple but we had to [unclear] for PE and I didn’t have [unclear] so I didn’t take PE. And in junior high I was asked to play a basketball game. I didn’t have any shorts so I wore my long corduroy pants and that hurt because I was the only one on the team who was not in uniform and I felt bad about that but I’d have to say, I didn’t want for food or we did have some commodities that were available for free from the government that helped a lot of people. So you know this raises a question that you ladies can think about and consider—what was the best role for government in a situation like that? Is it better to make government resources available so people couldn’t go hungry or is it better to allow them to figure out a way themselves? I think that’s an important argument.
Roosevelt is widely known as the first president to have used the radio to communicate with the people through his weekly fireside chats. Do you remember them? Did you ever listen to them? How did you feel?
Yes, oh yeah. He was...he had a very pleasant voice and he knew how to use it. He knew what people were feeling and he tried to comfort them and you could argue, I suppose, that that’s above and beyond the role of the President but those times were when people needed to be comforted and reassured. They were tough days but he had the ability to just touch people with his voice and assure them that things were gonna get better.
A lot of people consider him to be one of America’s favorite presidents. Do you consider him to be one of your favorite presidents?
Well, I have to. He had...just like any man, he had his shortcomings but when you consider the circumstances and how he analyzed them and came up with solutions that worked, he was very courageous. And has to go down as one of the most life-changing presidents that we’ve ever had.
I wrote all this [hands interviewers boook]...this is my story and…that’s why I am now helping others do the same thing.
Where were you when the Depression was going on?
I was in the state of Nebraska. Nebraska is an agricultural state and I was born on a farm, my parents were farmers and I lived in the agricultural community for about the first ten years of my life. Then the plot thickens. I was…I need to talk about the general economic conditions. Things were quite bad economically and because of several things, one being the financial system of banking that seems to have failed, and many people who had some savings lost their savings because of that. Another factor was just related to the economy. There weren’t as many jobs as there might have been. And so, many people were unable to find work. Since this community that I lived in was farming, many of the farmers suffered because they couldn’t get an adequate price for their goods, but the climate was such that it was very dry and the soil is interrupted so…much soil was blown across the land and almost drifted like so…and that soil was the nutritious topsoil that would normally raise corn. So, the farmers...many couldn’t succeed at farming. And so from that began the migration of people away from the farming country. Many left because there was not sufficient income for them to feed their families. So we were in the group who lost the ability to farm. And my parents moved myself, my brother, and sister off the farm into a small town. And that was fine except there weren’t many jobs in the small town either. I remember that hunt for work was a demanding thing and my father didn’t have skills other than the farming and so it was hard for him to find any work. And when he did find a job, we were all happy but the job only paid $9 for a week’s work and so that was hardly enough to live on. So, as time went on, people began to look for ways to get away and if you ever have an opportunity to look at the film “Grapes of Wrath” this is a film that described that migration from these towns and farms to mostly the West coast, many of them went to California and the other western states. Much of the fruit crop survived in California and Washington and Oregon and these people began to find jobs picking the fruit that was the limited and temporary situation because even at best it was poor crops. We were loaded into a truck. My father had a truck from the farm and we were loaded in the truck, my brother and I in the back of the truck and my sister and mom and dad in the cab and we came cross country that way camping as we went and landed in Seattle.
So that was the story of our migration and it goes on from there, I suppose I should back up and say that the government was trying to do many things to change the circumstances starting under Hoover and then, when Roosevelt came, he had some grandiose ideas that had never been tried in government before. Things were so depressed that I guess the people were more or less welcoming change without really knowing what that meant. But change came and change came in some pretty dramatic ways with a number of programs that had not been seen in governments before. One of which you might particularly look into: there was the CCC, those were camps for young men and they were run pretty much like army camps and they learned to cook for themselves and organize their lives pretty much and in response to that contribution they did many good works for people, for the public. Particularly in national parks and some of the parks and so on. It was a marvelous program because it gave these young fellas a very tangible place to live on, sort of and also gave them the opportunity to learn skills, many…there were not many opportunities to learn to do skilled work. So there’s only limited unskilled work, such as picking fruit, so doing maintenance on a park or building facilities like restrooms in a park was terrific. Some of these projects are still standing today, still in use. So they were great programs, and not without some political questions being raised. You might say the conservative politicians were not on board for all that because it was giving from the government to the people and their philosophy was to give only if they’ve earned it, and when there are such limited opportunities to earn and to learn it was an unhappy circumstance. I at that time, then went to work in the shipyard at Bremerton. I took an examination and was called to work. That was a big step because I developed skills that my father never had and otherwise I would never have had it if there hadn’t been the particular program so I was fortunate. And I learned how to be a marine electrician, I learned to do electrical work on these Navy ships and so that was the foundation of my education-- well, I should say I finished high school in Bremerton and I got into this apprentice thing and finished that and became qualified as a marine electrician. And so that kind of activity preceded the preparation for war because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 on December 7th. And by that time the economy had begun to pick up and there were jobs and so President Roosevelt came to visit in the shipyard where I worked. I remember that.
Did you meet him?
No. I was just a little guy [laughter] and I mean, unimportant. But I remember those things and I remember how the breaking out of the war impacted us because we received ships that had been bombed and that sort of thing and pretty shocking. And so, then I went into the Navy as a military person. And I was trained as an electronics person, I went to I think four different places in the United States where I was given training...so after that was finished I was sent to the Philippines and I was there when the war ended and just a sidelight on all of this was believe it or not I was in 1945 and in my discharge papers from the Navy, I was given–qualified for four medals and I got three of them. I never got the fourth one until a couple of weeks ago after all these years and I got a Philippine Liberation Medal so that connected me with the war. I should backtrack and say, a few people made up their minds that they wouldn’t leave what they called the Dust Bowl and at the same time, farming practices changed because of Roosevelt and his desire to institute some agricultural changes. Primary one was the way they plowed or tilled the earth so it didn’t turn to dust and didn’t pulverize it and leave it loose to blow over to the next county. So they began to plant rows of trees as windbreaks to keep the wind from bursting and they planted certain grasses so the erosion was reduced considerably. And the climate also changed some so that the farming soil was more stable and the farmers, some who didn’t move away, tried again and many of them were able to succeed on the second chance and came out successful. But I should say, it was a very traumatic period where people were hurt considerably.
During the Great Depression, what did you think of Roosevelt as a leader?
I think…I, as most people, we were ready for change because we were in such a bad place. Some of them felt that the government shouldn’t be in a position of handouts, if you will...others were so sick of the situation that they welcomed it. So, you had a mix. And I think that mix still exists in politics today. The Democratic party is largely one where the government is expected to back up the economy and the Republican is based on the idea that people if given the chance will earn what they get. So, you know the thing is it’s hung on and the country survived through a very tough period and I remember what it was like to be a kid in those days. Actually, kids were faced with a mixed bag. Most kids had limited resources but there were some whose families were professionals and they were doing fairly well. So in a classroom you had all levels of economic strata like one of the things that stuck with me was when I was small I didn’t have--in the summer, I didn’t wear shoes. So I didn’t - when my neighbor said, come and go fishing with us, I was very excited but I had to wear shoes and I had no shoes. My mother made me resourceful looking for it and found that my sister had a pair of shoes that I put on and I never recovered from the humiliation [laughter]. It was hard but there were some things in school that I could not afford to do, this is simple but we had to [unclear] for PE and I didn’t have [unclear] so I didn’t take PE. And in junior high I was asked to play a basketball game. I didn’t have any shorts so I wore my long corduroy pants and that hurt because I was the only one on the team who was not in uniform and I felt bad about that but I’d have to say, I didn’t want for food or we did have some commodities that were available for free from the government that helped a lot of people. So you know this raises a question that you ladies can think about and consider—what was the best role for government in a situation like that? Is it better to make government resources available so people couldn’t go hungry or is it better to allow them to figure out a way themselves? I think that’s an important argument.
Roosevelt is widely known as the first president to have used the radio to communicate with the people through his weekly fireside chats. Do you remember them? Did you ever listen to them? How did you feel?
Yes, oh yeah. He was...he had a very pleasant voice and he knew how to use it. He knew what people were feeling and he tried to comfort them and you could argue, I suppose, that that’s above and beyond the role of the President but those times were when people needed to be comforted and reassured. They were tough days but he had the ability to just touch people with his voice and assure them that things were gonna get better.
A lot of people consider him to be one of America’s favorite presidents. Do you consider him to be one of your favorite presidents?
Well, I have to. He had...just like any man, he had his shortcomings but when you consider the circumstances and how he analyzed them and came up with solutions that worked, he was very courageous. And has to go down as one of the most life-changing presidents that we’ve ever had.