Politics 88 : Bush Calls Payment of Reparations for Japanese-American Internees ‘Only Fair’

Winding up the last full day of California primary campaigning with his focus set firmly on November, Vice President George Bush reached out Monday to the state’s ethnic population by declaring his support for the payment of reparations to Japanese-Americans interned in prison camps during World War II.

“It is only fair,” Bush pronounced, “that our country provide apologies and reparations to those innocent Japanese-Americans who suffered as a result of their internment.”

The move put Bush out in front of President Reagan in announcing a position on a congressional reparations bill and placed him directly in conflict with the Justice Department, which has recommended a presidential veto.

Marking the second time in two days that Bush staked out a position contrary to a Reagan Administration agency, the vice president’s action came as he closed the lengthy primary season by indicating he will move, more and more, from under Reagan’s political shadow.

On the issue of reparations--and in his successful call Sunday for a delay in the Interior Department’s plan to lease an oil-drilling tract off the Northern California coast--Bush sought to assert his stewardship of the Republican Party, notwithstanding Reagan’s presence.

‘Here’s What Bush Feels’

“As I become the standard-bearer of this party, I’m going to be saying without regard for the current Administration’s position: Here’s what George Bush feels,” Bush said at a press conference in the Chaffey High School library here.

“I’ve been loyal and I’ve kept my counsel,” Bush added, “ . . . but as I see myself in a different position, I owe not only the voters but the party that I lead--will lead--my view.”

Bush’s decision to announce support for the reparations bill just a day before the state’s primary was tailored to appeal to California’s large ethnic population. Bush advisers here have made clear they need to stitch together Republicans, swing Democrats and ethnic voters such as Latinos and Asians in order to win in November.

“He felt it was important enough as a matter of real significance to Japanese-Americans in California that he wanted to speak out today,” said Bush’s vice presidential chief of staff, Craig Fuller.

In a short statement, Bush made no mention of the political repercussions but instead said the reparations were an appropriate way to redress violations of the civil rights of “loyal, hard-working Japanese-Americans.”

120,000 People Relocated

Overall, more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, most of them American citizens and most residing in California, were wrenched from their homes in the months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and sent to relocation camps.

The bill currently being considered by Congress would pay $20,000 to up to 60,000 surviving internees.

“During times of war, it is often difficult to resist succumbing to hysteria,” Bush declared. “However, we should always try to remember our basic purpose--to defend freedom and civil rights for all.”

Regarding his proposal a day earlier that Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel delay the sale of offshore oil-drilling tracts off the Mendocino coast, Bush bridled when told that his probable November opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, had criticized the suggestion as politically expedient.

“In offshore drilling we’re talking about an area that I have a good deal more information than Mr. Dukakis,” said Bush, who ran an oil-drilling concern before he took up politics.

Offshore Oil Plan Postponed

Hodel on Monday cited opposition raised both by Dukakis and Bush as he announced that the offshore oil plan, known as Lease Sale 91, would be postponed so the next Administration can decide what course to take with it.

Bush spent the day in Ontario, an area targeted by his advisers here because of its fast-growing, conservative-leaning nature. It was his first trip to the Inland Empire this spring.

He was briefed by school district officials on their drug abuse programs and play-acted as a teacher in a practice drug intervention session.

Later, over a cafeteria-catered lunch, he quizzed students about their drug use while aides scrambled to hold close to him boom microphones from a legion of television crews.

As a similar group did in New Jersey two weeks ago, the students painted a dire portrait of rampant drug abuse among their age group.

In a student assembly that followed the lunch, Bush exhorted the students and their classmates to take an active role in breaking their friends of drug habits.

He was greeted with enthusiastic applause--and a loud wolf whistle. “Anything to get out of class, I know,” he joked.

Bush closed his primary eve campaigning with a San Bernardino County Republican reception and dinner.

Bush will leave the state tonight a distinct underdog in the November race, a fact he alluded to in mid-day remarks to reporters.

“We’ve got a lot of fighting to do here,” he said.