I am sorry to report that Grant Ujifusa, my lifelong co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, died last quarter after a long and painful condition. His efforts to pass legislation that would allow Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in detention camps during World War II to receive the best of praise in Trip Gabriel’s obituaries in the New York Times. He lobbied for members of Congress on one topic, and he was instrumental in achieving a desirable policy result.
Since the internment order only applied to Japanese Americans in the three West Coast says, neither he nor his household people were ready for redress payment. Grant grew up in Worland, Wyoming, on his parents ‘ sugar beet plantation. He cherished Worland, where he had a stellar academic record and played player for the high school football squad. Two years older and from local Casper ( which is close by Wyoming standards because of their distance of 163 yards off ), Dick Cheney has repeatedly told me that he remembers Grant from the time they played against one another.
In his article in the Pacific Citizen, the Asian American Citizens League’s national newspaper, Grant referred to his work as the coronation achievement of his existence and the honors he received for it. His contribution to the publication of The Almanac of American Politics, which first appeared every two years in November 1971, was fairly lower on the list, but it was also significant in my opinion and, I believe, numerous others. The initial goal of Grant was to write a guide for individuals who were fighting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia in May 1970 that included data and written descriptions of each Congressmember and state and congressional district.
He asked me to visit him because when we had met as people of the Harvard Crimson in 1963, he had told me he was from Worland, Wyoming, and I had replied, exactly at the time, that that was the northern terminus of U. S. 16. As it happened, at time 12 or 13, I got hold of a detailed image of the U. S. range bridges and made a list of the ends of each one from U. S. 1 to U. S. 101. U. S. 16’s northeast station was at the edge of Woodward and Grand River, across the street from the J. L. Hudson’s office business, in my town of Detroit. Grant came to the conclusion that I would be as good in writing status and city information as I did for going on 40 years because no one else at Harvard had always heard of Worland and that many people had not heard of Wyoming.
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We quickly realized, along with our second initial co-author, Douglas Matthews, that a book like this would be helpful for people engaged in American politics of all kinds, and we tried, with increasing success, to do so. Doug’s and Grant’s engagement with the Almanac ended in day, and for most of the next 18 years, my participation has been limited to writing an undergraduate article. However, it continues, with Richard Cohen and Charlie Cook co-authoring it most just, and also includes some of my language at least in some historical information. The paperback is slightly more expensive than the original$ 4.95, which is close to the$ 140 I paid for my first pocket electronic calculator, which I purchased with my first piece of high-tech equipment, a Smith Corona portable electric typewriter.
And thus Grant Ujifusa altered my career, for the better, and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had over the past 50 years for many more things, just as the many thousands of readers of The Almanac of American Politics have credited him with making The Almanac a valuable resource of information that is on par with his list of lifetime accomplishments, but not at the top of it. Owing, Grant.
