tion —both Southern and American.rnSouthern symbols are not anti-American;rnthey are the most visible and emotionallyrncharged oi American symbols. Shouldrnthey fall, what will be next?rnWe already have the answer. ThernNew Orleans School Board has changedrnthe names of 22 schools over the past fivernyears. Most recently, a public elementaryrnschool has been renamed after Dr.rnCharles Richard Drew, a black surgeon.rnPreviously, this school had been namedrnafter a prominent Southern slaveholderrn—George Washington. Welcome tornthe brave new world, in which the Fatherrnof our Country is consigned to thernmemory hole.rn-ScottP.RichertrnTHE CONGRESSIONAL MEDALrnof honor (GMH) is our nation’s highestrnaward for valor under fire. The criteriarnare stiff: a deed of such exceptional braveryrnthat failure to do it would draw norncriticism; two eye-witnesses; and, abovernall, the risk of life. In our nation’s history,rnwe have awarded only 3,427 suchrnmedals. Of those, 568 were awardedrnposthumously. In other words, if yournhave a CMH, you did something heroicrnand extraordinar)’ to get it, and there is arnone-in-seven chance that you died doingrnit. (If you were a Marine, the odds werernone-in-four.)rnUntil now.rnCongress has recently required thernArmy and the Navy to tap the World WarrnII honor rolls of our nation’s second highestrnaward for valor, the DistinguishedrnService Cross (DSC; in the sea services,rnthe Navy Cross), for candidates for anrnupgrade to the CMH. One catch, however:rnpotential upgradees must be ofrn”Asian-American or Native AmericanrnPacific Islander” descent.rnWliat started as a provision inserted byrnSenator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) into thernNational Defense Authorization Act ofrn1996, has become a full-blown researchrnproject—initiated last October—involvingrnthree full-time, professional historiansrnworking at the Presidio of Monterey.rnIt’s not easy to discover the justificationrnfor this latest experiment in affirmativernaction. Scott Welch, the project’srnspokesman, was eager to discuss thernteam’s findings to date (55 Filipinos, 53rnJapanese-Americans, one Korean-American,rnand one Chinese-American wonrnthe DSC in World War II), but he is eitherrnunwilling or not permitted to speculaternas to the underlying reason for thernproject. In fact, his boss. Dr. James C.rnMcNaughton, the project’s director,rnwould not even let him reveal thernamount of money that the taxpayers haverncoughed up for this project.rnThe Army’s public-affairs office wasrnonly slightly more forthcoming. They revealedrnthe size of their budget—over arnhalf-million dollars —but when askedrnwhy the project existed at all, a Lt.rnColonelette Tallon replied, “It’s the law.rnCongress directed it.”rnBut why did Congress direct it? ThernNavy’s spokesman for their parallel projectrn(also a woman) was more honest: “Irnhave no idea. Who am I to second-guessrnthe Congress of the United States? Butrnsometimes I see these things and justrnshake my head.” The Navy, out of somern3,500 Navy Crosses awarded, found onlyrnone possible candidate for upgrade underrnthe provision: a Hawaiian destroyerrncaptain, one of many ships’ captains whorngot the Navy Cross in World War II. Nornupgrade was recommended.rnJohn Tajami in Senator Akaka’s officernadmitted that the law originated in affirmativernaction: in essence, because wernwere at war with Japan, a climate of prejudicernmay have prevented jsian-Americanrnsoldiers from receiving due recognitionrnfor battlefield heroism. Might not arnsimilar climate have adversely affectedrnproper recognition of German-Americanrnwar heroes? Tajami thought thatrnwas possible, but, to his knowledge, nornone raised that question during considerationrnof die law. (In fact, Tajami couldrnnot remember any debate at all.)rnWe probably shouldn’t look to Akakarnto seek redress for under-recognizedrnGerman-American (or Italian-American,rnfor that matter) war heroes. As hisrnspokesman pointed out (as did Welch),rn15,000 German-Americans were not internedrnin camps during the war. (Nor, ofrncourse, did any German-Americans officiallyrnrenounce their citizenship duringrnthe war, as some 5,000 Japanese-Americansrndid.)rnWliat evidence is there tiiat the Armyrndiscriminated against Asians in awardingrnthe CMH? One test might be the numberrnof Medal of Honor recommendationsrnfor Asians that were downgradedrnto a DSC. All servicemen know thatrnzealous company-grade officers oftenrnrecommend awards for their troops onlyrnto have them downgraded at the battalionrnor regimental level. But those hopingrnto prove discrimination in the case ofrnAsian troops will find the data uncooperative:rnonly six of the 53 DSC’s awarded tornJapanese-American soldiers (the Asianrngroup toward which we might expect tornfind the most hostilit)’) were originallyrnrecommended as Medals of Honor.rnThis upgrade project has not receivedrnthe kind of attention that other militaryrnaffirmative action schemes have. Afterrnall, a half-million dollars is a drop in thernbucket of untold billions that the ArmedrnForces have spent tr’ing to make everyonernequal: everything from refittingrnheads on aircraft carriers to entrustingrnmultimillion dollar aircraft to the unqualified.rnNo lives will be lost as a directrnconsequence of upgrading a few medals.rnBut the bits of cloth, as Napoleon put it,rnfor which men are willing to sacrifice sornmuch may now be worth a bit less.rn— Christopher CheckrnC L Y D E A. SLUHAN’S death onrnNovember 6 deprived The Rockford Instituternof one of its most devoted and effectivernpatrons. One of the original directorsrnof the Institute, Clyde had servedrna term as Board Chairman, and at thernage of 85 was still an active member ofrnthe Institute’s Executive Committee.rnBorn in Cleveland, Clyde grew up inrnthe Lutheran Orphans’ Home of Toledornwhere, as reported by his son Elliott, arnprofound belief in God and a dedicationrnto service became central features of hisrnlife. The Campus Crusade for Christ,rnJews for Jesus, and the Gideons werernsome of the organizations that benefitedrnfrom his involvement and gifts.rnAfter graduating from Ohio WesleyanrnUniversity with a major in chemistry,rnClyde Sluhan worked in several manufacturingrnfirms. His chief concern wasrnhow to create a better water-solvent lubricating/rncooling fluid for high-speed metal-rnworking machines. In an interviewrnseveral years ago, he told how he laboredrn”night after night, three and a half years,rnthree and a half thousand tries,” until hernhit on the right formula for just such arnfluid.rnOnce satisfied with the product, hernfounded Master Chemical Corporationrnin 1951. It eventually became a priman’rnnational supplier for automotive, aeronautic,rnand other industries involved inrncutting and grinding metals. The successrnof the company in a competitivernfield was due to the high quality not onlyrnof the product but of the training programsrnin the sale and uses of the productrnFEBRUARY 1998/7rnrnrn