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11 Andriano’s Ordeal Exclusion and Exile As you know, this case has attracted a great deal of attention and the Bureau may be subjected to criticism should we fail to fulfill our investigative responsibilities in connection with it. —J. Edgar Hoover to Special Agent in Charge Nat J. L. Pieper, November 21, 1942 The Andriano exclusion order was issued by General DeWitt, in charge of the Western Defense Command. The quality of his judgment may be gauged by his recent statement: “A Jap’s a Jap. It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen or not.” —Attorney General Francis Biddle, “Memorandum for the President,” April 17, 1943 R eaders of the May 27, 1942, New York Times article on the Tenney Committee hearings discovered that in response to Carmelo Zito’s testimony, Mayor Angelo Rossi “denied ever having given the Fascist salute,” and that the mayor condemned both Zito (“he is editor of a paper that is always attacking me”) and Antonio Cogliandro (“a political rogue”). The Times coverage dramatized to a national readership the long-time political and religious rivalries between Catholics and anti-Catholics in the Italian American community and between Catholic anti-Communists and their Communist Party competitors which had been a fact of life in San Francisco political culture for decades, especially since 1934. The hearings did not bring these rivalries to an end but merely signaled the beginning of an even more dramatic phase of the contest, marked by heightened concerns about national security in a time of war.1 ANDRIANO’S ORDEAL: EXCLUSION AND EXILE 147 One theme in the statement that Mayor Rossi made at the Tenney hearings pertained to “the damnable lies of irresponsible people, which are creating religious and racial bigotry in a city world famed for its tolerance” and “creating discord and suspicion among the people of this seaport.” Archbishop Mitty developed this theme further the day after the mayor’s appearance, in a letter to Monsignor Michael J. Ready of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, a letter in which Mitty asked Ready to “use your good offices, should it be possible for you to do so, in preventing the dismissal of Mr. Andriano from his draft board.” Mitty described how Rossi and Andriano “were subjected to a ‘smear’ campaign on the part of the members of the committee” and described “the principal witness against them” as “an anti-clerical, a Mason, and probably a Communist.”2 The archbishop described to Ready how members of the local Mazzini Society (“who are for the most part anti-clerical and Communistic ”) had successfully lobbied the committee to return to San Francisco, this time for highly publicized public hearings. Mitty filled in the background: For the past few years this Society has been trying to get the rank and file of the Italian people here in San Francisco, of whom there are forty thousand or more, to affiliate themselves with the Society. They have had little success, since the character of the Society is known to the Italian population. This hearing apparently is an attempt to intimidate and terrify the Italian element into following the lead of the Society, on the grounds that they will be judged un-American and pro-Fascist should they not do so. Should credence be given to any report of this State Committee, it will cause a rift here that will take years to heal.3 According to Mitty, “The decent element of the city of San Francisco all realize that the hearings constitute an attempt to smear some of our prominent Catholics, that they are motivated by unAmerican , anti-Catholic and Communistic prejudices.” In the case of Andriano, “Mr. Andriano is known as a fearless, intelligent and 148 CHAPTER 11 completely honest gentleman and has been entirely impartial in his Draft Board decisions; otherwise the F.B.I. would have had him dismissed many months ago. Should the President act on this telegram , it appears to me that it will discredit the F.B.I. here, as well as give some substance to the findings of this committee, which would be fraught with grave consequences.”4 While Mitty was appealing to Monsignor Ready to do what he could to discredit the Tenney Committee’s legitimacy and block its call for Andriano’s removal from the draft board, the editors of the People’s World and Il Corriere del Popolo were gloating over the apparent success of their offensive against Andriano and Rossi. The CP...

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