David Lowman (intelligence official) facts for kids
David Daniel Lowman (1921-1999) worked for the National Security Agency (NSA). This is a U.S. government group that gathers secret information to protect the country. He was also an expert in a court case that changed a past decision about Hirabayashi v. United States. Lowman also wrote a book called MAGIC: The Untold Story of U.S. Intelligence and the Evacuation of Japanese Residents from the West Coast during World War II. This book was published after he died.
About David Lowman
David Lowman spent his career working for the NSA. In the 1970s, he helped to make secret documents from World War II public. These documents included Japanese messages that the U.S. had secretly read using a program called Magic.
Lowman studied these messages. He disagreed with a group called the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. This group had said there was "no military necessity" to move Japanese-Americans into special camps during the war.
In 1985, a man named Gordon Hirabayashi went to court. He wanted to clear his name after being found guilty during the war for not moving to a camp. Lowman testified in this case. He said that the U.S. government had found secret Japanese messages. These messages seemed to show Japan telling its officials in the U.S. to set up spy networks using Japanese-Americans. The court later decided in favor of Hirabayashi. Lowman passed away in April 1999.
His Book: MAGIC
Lowman's book, MAGIC: The Untold Story of U.S. Intelligence and the Evacuation of Japanese Residents from the West Coast during World War II, came out in 2001. In the book, Lowman argued that putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps was necessary. He believed this because of the secret messages the U.S. had read. These messages, he said, showed a spy network working on the American West Coast.
A retired Army officer named Lee Allen helped publish the book. Allen also wrote the book's introduction. In it, he claimed that moving to government camps helped Japanese-Americans. He said it gave them "much needed relief from trials and threats they faced on the West Coast." The book also criticized the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This law offered money to Japanese-Americans who had been in the camps.
Many people reviewed Magic. Richard Milligan wrote for Military Review. He said the book "refutes the accepted history" that the camps were only due to racism or fear. Publishers Weekly also agreed that the book showed how U.S. leaders believed the secret messages. This belief, they said, helped the government decide to create the camps. However, Publishers Weekly also noted that the book didn't really argue against claims of racism. Instead, it focused on technical details and criticized the 1988 law.
Jonathan Kirsch of the Los Angeles Times praised the book. He said it was "intellectually honest enough" to let readers make their own decisions. He liked that it included a response from someone who worked for the Commission on Wartime Relocation. But Kirsch also suggested that someone could read the same secret messages and think differently about the evidence.
