Editor's Note: Horst Cerni is a frequent contributor to News & Views of articles, reviews, and photos. Click here to see some of his many earlier contributions. We have divided Horst's latest book reviews into two articles. The first, a review of Doug Mack's The Not-Quite States of America is included this week. The second, a review of Simon Winchester's Outposts will appear next week. Horst's own book, "Journeying to Paradise and its German version Auf Suche nach einer neuen Heimat appeared in our past editions, along with our review of the English version. We were also pleased to announce in February Isabel Belardo-Cerni's book, Donkey Years Ago and to chat with Horst and Isabel in May this year.
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Islands have a magical attraction for me. As a teenager I used to live in Cuxhaven at the North Sea, and traveling to Helgoland or walking to the island of Neuwerk were the top adventures. And as fate would have it, on the big island of Manhattan, I met the woman of my dreams - an island girl from St.Croix. We got married and settled there upon retirement.
Islands are mysterious with exotic histories and culture. Particularly interesting, and among my favorite books are James Micherner’s “Hawaii” and “Tales of the South Pacific”. Thor Heyerdahl’s “Fatu Hiva” and “Aku-Aku - The Secret of Easter Island”, Isabella Bird’s “Six Months in the Sandwich Islands”, and Herman Wouk’s “Don’t Stop the Carnival” (- a Virgin Island story), to name a few.
Since I retired in the US Virgin Islands, I am particularly intrigued by the legal status of this US “territory”. For many (including commercial companies and even some immigration officers), it’s considered a foreign country (- the UN grouped it as a colony), yet its citizens are Americans, pay taxes to the IRS and serve in the American military. But they cannot vote for presidential candidates.
There are many inconsistencies concerning adherence to the US Constitution, and the entire question of why the USA wanted additional territories is unclear. Hawaii and Alaska became States, but the other territories are in limbo. In the late 1800's there seems to have been a general interest to equal other world powers and become an “Empire”. In any case, there were also commercial interests and eventually military strategic ones. Unfortunately, islands were simply taken over without much concern about the well-being or interests of the residents.
Two books I recently read examine these issues and provide fascinating anecdotes. Some of the information is dated, but the overall observations are valid.
The authors of the books had to do a lot of research and generally only found limited information about the legal status of the remaining colonies - or territories, as they are now called. The only way to properly understand the status of these far-flung islands was to go there - traveling thousands of miles, mostly by boat. They had many adventures and vividly describe the challenges they faced. Exploring the history, the politics and the aspirations and concerns of the residents provides very enjoyable reading.
Horst Cerni
(US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Tinian, Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll, Puerto Rico and Vieques)
“The Not-Quite States of America”
Dispatches from the Territories and other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
by Doug Mack(US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Tinian, Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll, Puerto Rico and Vieques)
Available from Amazon and other book sellers
Doug Mack (DM), the author of “The not-quite States of America”. started his investigative journey in the US Virgin Islands. On his first stop in St.Thomas, he was confused by the similarities with American life, but also by obvious differences. Next to the American flag was often a Danish flag flying, Danish colonial buildings and a Fort were prominent features, street names were Danish and the traffic was on the left side of the street.
The Virgin Islands belonged to Denmark until 1917 when the US bought them. But after more than a hundred years as a US territory, shouldn’t the islands have become a US State?
DM raises this question for each of the territories and got mixed answers, some wondered why they even belong to the US. The answer usually is strategic location. The US finally bought the islands in 1917 because WWI highlighted the possibility of Germany capturing them. The US Navy was put in charge, and eventually a civilian governor was appointed and later elected. But to qualify for statehood, a territory has to be “organized and incorporated” which means the residents have to agree on a constitution. And this may not necessarily guarantee statehood, either. The issues are complex and the people may prefer to keep their cultural identity rather than import American lifestyle. Life hasn’t changed that much under US administration, and Alexander Hamilton would probably feel quite at home, if he were to visit Christiansted now, some 350 years after he had lived on St.Croix,
1809 was a pivotal year for American expansion. The US annexed Hawaii, and then claimed Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. In 1900, American Samoa was added. Three nations - the US, Britain and Germany - were all interested to take the islands. A civil war was brewing and the US and Germany were supporting opposing groups. All seemed ready for battle when a strong hurricane sank two German and one American warship. Then Germany and the US came to a sharing agreement and Britain got German areas in the Pacific and West Africa.
West Samoa became independent. American Samoa is a US territory and its residents are US nationals but not citizens. They still need to be naturalized to be able to work and to vote on the mainland. But they love being Samoan as well as American.
From the Caribbean to the Pacific, from the Easternmost part on St.Croix to the Westermost on Guam, somewhat suggested that the USA was an empire where the sun was always shining.
Guam was of strategic importance for the US in the Pacific. In 1917, the first American shots in WWI were fired in Guam. The Germans surrendered, but detonated their ship rather than handing it over. Hours after attacking Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked and conquered Guam. It was the only US territory to fall to the Axis forces. In July of 1944 the US launched a major attack with 55,000 soldiers and recaptured the island. Thousands of Japanese fled into the jungle (one survived for 28 years), and 15,000 died. Americans lost 1,700. Including 1200 islanders, and ¾ of all houses were destroyed. The US rebuilt, mostly military barracks and airfields, and in 1950 declared Guam a military base. No one was allowed to enter or leave without a security clearance. This ban was lifted in 1962, but ⅓ of Guam belongs to the military, and more troops are expected to move there from Okinawa, overwhelming the one hospital, the schools and the infrastructure. A bombing range was to replace a historic village, but because of protests the military decided to consider a wild life reserve instead… Residents are grateful to the US for liberating them from the Japanese, but they would like to get more autonomy. On one hand, Guam is a strategic base for the B-52 bombers to reach China, Japan, Russia. On the other hand the island wants to attract tourists from these countries.
Just 140 miles North is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). During the Spanish-American war, the US took Guam while Germany took the Mariana Islands. When Germany was losing in WWII, Japan seized the islands. In 1944, there were 42,000 civiliams and 30,000 troops stationed there. But the US launched a major assault in 1944. It was the bloodiest US battleground. The Japanese military told the population that the Americans will torture and kill them, and therefore they should all commit suicide. Thousands jumped to their death from a high cliff now called Suicide Cliff (which has become a tourist attraction).
The US recaptured the Mariana Islands, including Tinian. The Americans started naming the streets after Manhattan - Broadway, Wall street, Canal etc. They built six runways there and it became the busiest airfield in the world. At one runway there were two pits for two big bombs, and on August 6, 1945, a B-29 long range superfortress took one - named “Little Boy”- and dropped it on Hiroshima.
150,000 innocent civilians were killed. Three days later the second atomic bomb called “Fat Man” was removed from its pit and delivered to Nagasaki, killing another 80,000 people. Japan surrendered the next day, August 10, 1945. According to the American military narrative “The tiny island of Tinian helped end the war.”
The two pits are at the abandoned Able airstrip and have glass pyramids on top. To me it’s a reverse grave. Giant monsters emerged to kill 230,00 people. Tinian is a very eerie place. 40,000 people used to live there, now only 3,000.
The capital Saipan is an idyllic place, but it has seen better days. In the 1990, 36 garment factories employed 20,000 to 30,000 workers - mostly young Chinese women.- who worked there 50-70 hours a week at very low wages and produced most of the brand-name clothing for the US market. When Congress dictated that wages need to be raised, coupled with a reduction of tax incentives and rising competition, the factories started to close down. Now many buildings are broken-down and partly abandoned. And tourism also diminished.
While the Northern Mariana Islands became part of the US as a Commonwealth in 1976 and residents became US citizens in 1986, the other Trust Territories in the Pacific region opted to become independent - the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, each having their own seat in the UN,. They continue to have a strong relationship to the US and their residents don’t need a visa to live and work on the mainland, and they serve in the military. The Marshall Islands belonged to Japan and in 1944 the US bombed it and sank many ships. According to the NY Times ït became the “biggest graveyard of ships in the world.” In the capitol Majuro is also the town hall for the Bikini Atoll, although the island is 500 miles away.
The history of the Bikini Atoll is another sad story. In 1946, the US Navy forced all residents, including from smaller neighboring islands, to abandon their homes and resettle in the Marshall Islands. The objective was to make room for nuclear testing “for the good of mankind and to end all wars”. Over the course of 12 years there were 67 atomic explosions, equalling some 1.6 “Little Boys” every day. The radiation fall-out badly affected the Marshall Islanders, and the US Government had to provide medical care and financial assistance. The economy was also suffering, 40% were unemployed and the minimum wage was $ 2, Many people left and a third of the population lives in the USA. In addition to the health and economic issues, the Marshall Islands face flooding because of seawater rise due to global warming.,
DM asks ”are territories the lands of opportunity or disappointment?” There is a feeling in Congress that the residents in the territories are not real Americans, they are different. Even the Supreme Court in several “Insular Cases” ruled that the territories belong to the USA, but are not really part of it.
The largest territory under US control is Puerto Rico. Ever since the Americans won the island after the Spanish American War in 1898, the islanders have struggled with the options of becoming a State, or Independence or a Commonwealth and free association with the US. This question is again in Congress asking for a binding vote in 2023.
Several violent and deadly rallies for independence took place between 1930 and 1985, but the majority of the population wanted Statehood. In 1952 the Commonwealth was set up and granted more autonomy. But little changed and the economic situation deteriorated due to “ineptitude and mismanagement at federal and local levels.” The repeal of the tax breaks, the great recession in 2008 and disastrous hurricanes caused Puerto Rico’s debt to double and basic services were cut. A quarter of the population left for the US mainland. And there, especially in the New York area, they set up their ‘Barrios’, and communicated mostly in Spanish (or ‘Spanglish’).
Part of the Commonwealth is also the island of Vieques. The US Navy took it over in 1941 and later on expelled inhabitants and made part of the island a bombing range. In 1999 a civilian got killed, and the international outcry made the Navy to stop the bombing in 2003. Since then, the bombing range has been dismantled and the affected areas cleaned up. A resort and hotel have been built and tourists are starting to discover the natural beauty of the island.
The territories are hardly in the news and not of much concern to Congress, except Puerto Rico. If this Commonwealth becomes a State, it would get five representatives in the House and two senators, and thus seven electoral votes. Since the majority of Puerto Ricans seem to vote Democratic, this would be difficult for the Republicans to agree to.
Finally, the author points out that there are other US territories with significant history, like the Midway Atoll which had seen heavy fighting during WWII, Wake Island (which was declared a kingdom by a scammer), Johnston Atoll (where leaky Agent Orange is stored) and Guantanamo in Cuba.
Doug Mack (DM), the author of “The not-quite States of America”. started his investigative journey in the US Virgin Islands. On his first stop in St.Thomas, he was confused by the similarities with American life, but also by obvious differences. Next to the American flag was often a Danish flag flying, Danish colonial buildings and a Fort were prominent features, street names were Danish and the traffic was on the left side of the street.
The Virgin Islands belonged to Denmark until 1917 when the US bought them. But after more than a hundred years as a US territory, shouldn’t the islands have become a US State?
DM raises this question for each of the territories and got mixed answers, some wondered why they even belong to the US. The answer usually is strategic location. The US finally bought the islands in 1917 because WWI highlighted the possibility of Germany capturing them. The US Navy was put in charge, and eventually a civilian governor was appointed and later elected. But to qualify for statehood, a territory has to be “organized and incorporated” which means the residents have to agree on a constitution. And this may not necessarily guarantee statehood, either. The issues are complex and the people may prefer to keep their cultural identity rather than import American lifestyle. Life hasn’t changed that much under US administration, and Alexander Hamilton would probably feel quite at home, if he were to visit Christiansted now, some 350 years after he had lived on St.Croix,
1809 was a pivotal year for American expansion. The US annexed Hawaii, and then claimed Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam. In 1900, American Samoa was added. Three nations - the US, Britain and Germany - were all interested to take the islands. A civil war was brewing and the US and Germany were supporting opposing groups. All seemed ready for battle when a strong hurricane sank two German and one American warship. Then Germany and the US came to a sharing agreement and Britain got German areas in the Pacific and West Africa.
West Samoa became independent. American Samoa is a US territory and its residents are US nationals but not citizens. They still need to be naturalized to be able to work and to vote on the mainland. But they love being Samoan as well as American.
From the Caribbean to the Pacific, from the Easternmost part on St.Croix to the Westermost on Guam, somewhat suggested that the USA was an empire where the sun was always shining.
Guam was of strategic importance for the US in the Pacific. In 1917, the first American shots in WWI were fired in Guam. The Germans surrendered, but detonated their ship rather than handing it over. Hours after attacking Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked and conquered Guam. It was the only US territory to fall to the Axis forces. In July of 1944 the US launched a major attack with 55,000 soldiers and recaptured the island. Thousands of Japanese fled into the jungle (one survived for 28 years), and 15,000 died. Americans lost 1,700. Including 1200 islanders, and ¾ of all houses were destroyed. The US rebuilt, mostly military barracks and airfields, and in 1950 declared Guam a military base. No one was allowed to enter or leave without a security clearance. This ban was lifted in 1962, but ⅓ of Guam belongs to the military, and more troops are expected to move there from Okinawa, overwhelming the one hospital, the schools and the infrastructure. A bombing range was to replace a historic village, but because of protests the military decided to consider a wild life reserve instead… Residents are grateful to the US for liberating them from the Japanese, but they would like to get more autonomy. On one hand, Guam is a strategic base for the B-52 bombers to reach China, Japan, Russia. On the other hand the island wants to attract tourists from these countries.
Just 140 miles North is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). During the Spanish-American war, the US took Guam while Germany took the Mariana Islands. When Germany was losing in WWII, Japan seized the islands. In 1944, there were 42,000 civiliams and 30,000 troops stationed there. But the US launched a major assault in 1944. It was the bloodiest US battleground. The Japanese military told the population that the Americans will torture and kill them, and therefore they should all commit suicide. Thousands jumped to their death from a high cliff now called Suicide Cliff (which has become a tourist attraction).
The US recaptured the Mariana Islands, including Tinian. The Americans started naming the streets after Manhattan - Broadway, Wall street, Canal etc. They built six runways there and it became the busiest airfield in the world. At one runway there were two pits for two big bombs, and on August 6, 1945, a B-29 long range superfortress took one - named “Little Boy”- and dropped it on Hiroshima.
150,000 innocent civilians were killed. Three days later the second atomic bomb called “Fat Man” was removed from its pit and delivered to Nagasaki, killing another 80,000 people. Japan surrendered the next day, August 10, 1945. According to the American military narrative “The tiny island of Tinian helped end the war.”
The two pits are at the abandoned Able airstrip and have glass pyramids on top. To me it’s a reverse grave. Giant monsters emerged to kill 230,00 people. Tinian is a very eerie place. 40,000 people used to live there, now only 3,000.
The capital Saipan is an idyllic place, but it has seen better days. In the 1990, 36 garment factories employed 20,000 to 30,000 workers - mostly young Chinese women.- who worked there 50-70 hours a week at very low wages and produced most of the brand-name clothing for the US market. When Congress dictated that wages need to be raised, coupled with a reduction of tax incentives and rising competition, the factories started to close down. Now many buildings are broken-down and partly abandoned. And tourism also diminished.
While the Northern Mariana Islands became part of the US as a Commonwealth in 1976 and residents became US citizens in 1986, the other Trust Territories in the Pacific region opted to become independent - the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, each having their own seat in the UN,. They continue to have a strong relationship to the US and their residents don’t need a visa to live and work on the mainland, and they serve in the military. The Marshall Islands belonged to Japan and in 1944 the US bombed it and sank many ships. According to the NY Times ït became the “biggest graveyard of ships in the world.” In the capitol Majuro is also the town hall for the Bikini Atoll, although the island is 500 miles away.
The history of the Bikini Atoll is another sad story. In 1946, the US Navy forced all residents, including from smaller neighboring islands, to abandon their homes and resettle in the Marshall Islands. The objective was to make room for nuclear testing “for the good of mankind and to end all wars”. Over the course of 12 years there were 67 atomic explosions, equalling some 1.6 “Little Boys” every day. The radiation fall-out badly affected the Marshall Islanders, and the US Government had to provide medical care and financial assistance. The economy was also suffering, 40% were unemployed and the minimum wage was $ 2, Many people left and a third of the population lives in the USA. In addition to the health and economic issues, the Marshall Islands face flooding because of seawater rise due to global warming.,
DM asks ”are territories the lands of opportunity or disappointment?” There is a feeling in Congress that the residents in the territories are not real Americans, they are different. Even the Supreme Court in several “Insular Cases” ruled that the territories belong to the USA, but are not really part of it.
The largest territory under US control is Puerto Rico. Ever since the Americans won the island after the Spanish American War in 1898, the islanders have struggled with the options of becoming a State, or Independence or a Commonwealth and free association with the US. This question is again in Congress asking for a binding vote in 2023.
Several violent and deadly rallies for independence took place between 1930 and 1985, but the majority of the population wanted Statehood. In 1952 the Commonwealth was set up and granted more autonomy. But little changed and the economic situation deteriorated due to “ineptitude and mismanagement at federal and local levels.” The repeal of the tax breaks, the great recession in 2008 and disastrous hurricanes caused Puerto Rico’s debt to double and basic services were cut. A quarter of the population left for the US mainland. And there, especially in the New York area, they set up their ‘Barrios’, and communicated mostly in Spanish (or ‘Spanglish’).
Part of the Commonwealth is also the island of Vieques. The US Navy took it over in 1941 and later on expelled inhabitants and made part of the island a bombing range. In 1999 a civilian got killed, and the international outcry made the Navy to stop the bombing in 2003. Since then, the bombing range has been dismantled and the affected areas cleaned up. A resort and hotel have been built and tourists are starting to discover the natural beauty of the island.
The territories are hardly in the news and not of much concern to Congress, except Puerto Rico. If this Commonwealth becomes a State, it would get five representatives in the House and two senators, and thus seven electoral votes. Since the majority of Puerto Ricans seem to vote Democratic, this would be difficult for the Republicans to agree to.
Finally, the author points out that there are other US territories with significant history, like the Midway Atoll which had seen heavy fighting during WWII, Wake Island (which was declared a kingdom by a scammer), Johnston Atoll (where leaky Agent Orange is stored) and Guantanamo in Cuba.
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