George Knox Roth:

The Price of Integrity

 

Summary:

At the outbreak of WWII, social justice advocate George Knox Roth was

working as a Department of Agriculture chemist at the Los Angeles
Wholesale Market (produce and flowers). At the time, Japanese American

farmers grew 40% of  California's produce. Inj the aftermath of Pearl Harbor,
some white farmers saw an opportunity to destroy their competition, and began

calling for mass incarceration.

 

ion response, Roth and the Japanese American Citizens League raised funds 
from prosperous Nisei businessmen to broadcast  radio shows opposing it. Roth
also testified before the Tolan Committee on Nisei loyalty, and applied for a writ

of habeas corpus to force the government to show cause for mass arrests. For these

actions, he was subpoenad by the California State Legislature's Un-American Activities Committee, headed by state senator Jack B. Tenney, later known as "California’s McCarthy.’' Knox was found guilty of contempt of court.

He paid a $200 fine and served 30 days in jail in 1942. Unfortunately he was caught in the intersection of hatreds arising from World War II and from the Cold War. His association with Japanese Americans, along with the unproven allegation that he was a Communist ruined his career.

 

In a 1977 letter, Masamori Kojima, then executive assistant to the mayor of Los Angeles, wrote that  Roth “was forthright, courageous and an advisor in what we believed to be the worst of times. He gave us his heart and mind when we needed it most.” His wife Irma stated that “It was this determination to stand up for his values that drove him to stand up for Japanese Americans in a time where it was unsafe to do so and to ultimately pay the price for doing what was right."

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Key Concepts

• Communism

• The Red Scare

• McCarthyism

• Free speech

• Allyship

• Co-conspirator