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Book to expose religious spies working for U.S. government in World War II

A new book, tentatively titled “(Un)Holy Spies: Religion and Espionage in World War II” by Washington State University (WSU) history professor Matthew Sutton, will uncover the role of religious figures and clergy in secret U.S. government operations during the time of President Franklin Roosevelt. It will be published in 2019.

Matthew Avery Sutton
Matthew A. Sutton

The book has been granted a $50,000 Public Scholar Program grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities, part of the $79 million the agency granted for 290 humanities projects and programmes in the U.S.

Sutton has discovered never-before-seen archival materials that detail a “secret army” whose activities “laid the foundation for the development of the CIA and continue to influence U.S. policy today,” he said. The NEH grant will allow him to continue “doing cutting-edge research and making it accessible to the broader public,” he said.

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Christian Today
WSU News

Japan’s emperor indicates he wants to abdicate

Japanese Emperor Akihito addressed the nation on Monday, releasing a rare video message to the public in which the 82-year-old strongly suggested that he wished to abdicate but avoided using that word directly.

Noriko Kawamura
Noriko Kawamura

The emperor’s suggestion that Japanese politicians need to revise the Imperial Household Law may also be his way of slowing down a push to revise Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, said WSU professor of history Noriko Kawamura, author of “Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War.” » More …

Planning begins for Tendoy Interpretive Park

For the fourth year, the Daylight Creek Gathering near Virginia City, Mont., welcomed the Shoshone-Bannock people back to their ancestral homelands. Coordinator Leo Ariwite said, “Being up here we can see everything. These are the same mountains that our ancestors saw.”

Orlan Svingen
Orlan Svingen

Ariwite has been collaborating with Washington State University Professor of History Orlan Svingen to gather historical evidence and documentation of areas inhabited by the tribal people before white settlement. Their research uncovered a land cession document signed in 1870 which allowed Chief Tendoy’s people a land claim that the U.S. government never honored. Since the finding, Svingen and Ariwite have been trying to bring the truth to light.

With cooperation from the townsfolk of Virginia City, last year Tendoy Park, an eight-acre area was dedicated to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. This year proposed plans for a future Interpretive Park were presented by WSU students Alicia Woodard and Allison Bremmeyer, who were a part of a group of nine students who brainstormed ideas from the John and Janet Creighton Public History Field School. The discussion was meant as a public consultation with the tribal people and to gather their input.

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Sho-Ban News

Arts and Sciences honors outstanding achievement

Fourteen faculty, six staff and seven graduate students were honored for outstanding achievement at the fourth annual College of Arts and Sciences Appreciation and Recognition Social. » More …