May 16, 2011
Dear Shig,
You asked about the impact of the letter writing campaign had on
redress legislation. I would say some at the margin, but not much.
Why?
First, we were swamped by letter writers opposing HR 442 by margins of 5 to 1 in Congress and 6 to 1 at the White House. Most of the letters came from Pacific War veterans and their families, plus VFW and American Legion Posts from all over the country. So if letter writing determined the outcome, our opponents should have won. They didn’t. We did.
Second, first-year interns who opened mail of those days were trained
to put all letters not coming from zip codes in a Representative’s district
into the round file. So all the letters sent from California zip codes to
434 Representatives (all of them except the letter writer’s own) weren’t
even opened, let alone read. As for letters coming from California to the
100 senators, all went into the same file except for Alan Cranston and
Pete Wilson, both of whom were solidly for us. Only letters from constituents mattered.
Third, proponents of the letter writing theory of redress should talk to
any political science professor to learn how letter writing affects
legislative success. They will find out that there are thousands of
lobbyists making huge dollars with offices on K Street in Washington.
They have direct, personal access. But why pay them when all you need
is a letter writing campaign, which is much easier and cheaper. Then the
professor will say watch out for post hoc propter hoc. Google it now.
All the best,
Grant
