STATE: After the internment camp was established at Heart Mtn., the reaction from the state was mixed. The majority were unfavorable to the detainees, they subscribed to the adage that “A Jap Is A Jap;” failing to distinguish between the loyal Japanese American citizens and aliens living in the United States, and the Japanese with whom we were at war. Gov. Nels Smith and many others feared that the West Coast Japanese Americans detained in Wyoming would stay in Wyoming permanently and thus, deprive Wyoming citizens of jobs. Quotes from J.B. Griffith WY Republican Party, and Editor L.L. Newton of the Lander Wyoming State Journal. In 1942 at the request of Mr. S.A. Nicholson, Director of the F.B.I. at Denver, Gov. Nels Smith gathered a list of all alien Japanese registered by the sheriffs of all counties in the state. “The cooperation of your city police will be greatly appreciated and highly valuable in this emergency,” wrote the governor. The sheriff’s reports indicated that many of the Japanese aliens living in Wyoming at the time were pioneers in the state and were now working on the railroads or ranches. Of interest is the note from Frank Blackburn, Sheriff of Park County, who added to his report of Japanese aliens to the governor; “you did not mention a check on the Alien German, and I am wondering if anything is being done in this respect.” In Fremont County, the dairyman’s co-operative refused to sell milk to the Army until officials promised it would go only to the American soldiers at the Casper Air Base and not to the “Japs” at Heart Mountain. Party politics also played out at Heart Mountain. Democrats were in control in Washington, D.C. so it is not surprising that the WRA had appointed Democrats. Republicans, then attacked the WRA; hence, the administration at Heart Mountain. Allegations came from Washington senator’s suggestion that the internees were living in luxury with nice living quarters and bathrooms and were feasting on plenty of rationed foods. Cody’s newly elected Rep. U.S. Senator, Edward V. Robertson, jumped of the band wagon. He announced on the Senate floor in Feb. 1943 that the administration was “pampering” the residents of Heart Mountain. The senator never visited the center, despite being invited several times. It is perhaps interesting to note, that Mr. Robertson was foreign born. WY Congressman Frank Barrett, also a Rep., told the U.S. House of Representatives on May 3, 1943: “Without question these Japs are being coddled and pampered and treated better than the people of my State...Mr. Speaker, the people of Wyoming are up in arms about the matter.” GOV. LESTER C. HUNT. Unlike Senator Robertson, Gov. Hunt visited the detention camp. He found that “their living standard was, to my way of thinking, rather disgraceful.” Hunt also stated “...the Japanese Relocation Center in Wyoming has given civilian authorities no trouble and very little concern.” He favored internee Army drafting and having them leave for civilian work, except those who are disloyal, who should be put into concentration camps. THE WYOMING STATE LEGISLATURE. When Wyoming’s law-making body met for the first time after the Japanese American Internment Camp was established in Park County, in Jan. 1943, the legislators almost immediately considered legislation relative to the detainees. On Jan. 18, Rep. State Senator George Burke of Powell introduced a bill “frankly aimed at Heart Mtn. residents: according to the Cody Enterprise, Jan. 20, 1943. The measure specifically denied the right to vote in state elections to “any citizen of the United State who has or is hereafter brought, or caused to be brought, into the State of Wyoming by the War Relocation Authority, or other similar agency, and who is now or hereafter interned in a relocation center or concentration camp or any other similar governmental facility established in Wyoming.” The bill received perfunctory debate and passed both the Senate and the House unanimously. It became law with Gov. Hunt’s signature on Feb. 5. While the anti-voting bill was being considered, Sen. Burke introduced a second anti-Japanese measure, an alien land law barring land ownership to “aliens ineligible to citizenship under the laws of the United States.” The measure specifically exempted Chinese nationals and thus applied only to Japanese born outside the United States. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and without debate. In the House an effort was made to kill the Chinese exemption, but the amendment failed. The original bill then passed, 54 to 2, and became law on Feb. 10, 1943. “Both the anti-voting and the land bill violated the basic rights of citizens and aliens as guaranteed in the Wyoming state constitution. But, like so much of the wartime treatment of the Japanese American, this abridgment of constitutional rights aroused little notice and no concern.” (Doug Nelson, Heart Mountain; The History of an American Concentration Camp). PARK COUNTY. The reaction to the Japanese American detainees at Heart Mtn. from the residents of Park County, as with the rest of the state, varied greatly. Rumors suggesting that the Japanese Americans were dangerous treats were common, particularly when they first arrive. After the detainees proved they were “good neighbors,” the attitudes lightened toward them. Indeed, some Park County residents developed friendly relationships with the Japanese Americans, particularly those who worked with them. The county newspapers often wrote favorably of the detainees, particularly in reference to their agricultural work. Some local merchant appreciated the detainee patronage, though “NO JAPS” signs appeared in both towns, particularly in Cody. Etc. Quotes from Mayor O.E. Bever: also found in Addendums 14-17. The Powell Chapter of American War Dads circulated a petition, and obtained the signatures of 807 men and women for it: “We, the people of the Shoshone Irrigation Project of Park County, Wyoming, respectfully request that the Heart Mountain Japanese Relocation Center be entirely evacuated of Japanese at an early date after the conclusion of the war and that at this time the WRA be requested to make a positive statement in writing to the Governor of the State that this Relocation Center will be entirely evacuated of Japanese and that until such positive assurance is made, all Japanese be confined to with the boundaries of the Center, which was the understanding under which the Japanese was accepted into the community.” The petition was submitted to Gov. Hunt, the Congressional delegation, and the national director of WRA, Dillon S. Myer, in July 1945. Myer replied: “In accordance with the decision of the Supreme Court in the Endo case, we have, of course, no authority whatever to decide where these people shall take up residence. Those evacuees who have been cleared by the military authorities are as free as other citizens and law-aiding aliens to live in any part of the country they may choose. Neither do we have any authority to see that the evacuees still residing in Heart Mtn. are confine within the boundaries of the center.”