Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1964
On January 26th, at the office of the Consulate General of Japan in New York, Grant Ujifusa, Redress Strategy Chair of the Japanese American Citizens League, was given the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government for his role in securing a measure of redress for 110,000 Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. For the Japanese, the Order of the Rising Sun is the equivalent of a knighthood.

In addition to devising a justification for the redress bill that would appeal to both liberals and conservatives in Congress during the 1980s, Grant is best known for reversing Ronald Reagan’s public opposition to the bill, which the President signed on August 10, 1988.

Grant’s acceptance speech is presented here