Margaret and Kenneth on Shio's Party the Night Before Pearl Harbor

Margaret and Kenneth on Shio's Party the Night Before Pearl Harbor

Poleman, H. I. (Horace Irvin), 1905- Sakanishi, Shiho, 1896-1976 Pearl Harbor

In 1941 Kenneth Landon kept an office in the Library of Congress, where he enlisted the help of Shio Sakanishi, a Tokyo-born Japanese expert working in the Division of Orientalia. Horace Poleman, who became one of Landon’s best friends, worked with Landon, too. On the evening of 6 December, these three–Landon, Poleman, and Sakanishi–with a dozen or so others, including Margaret Landon, met for a party at Sakanishi’s apartment near the Japanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in D.C. They noticed, as they had before, smoke curling up from the building. Papers were being destroyed. The party ended around midnight, and within hours, the Japanese began their attack on Pearl Harbor.

Landon, Margaret (1903-1993) Landon, Kenneth (1903-1993)

December 6, 1941

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LC65-05

Over a course of 13 years Kip Landon (Kenneth Landon Jr.) began recording stories from his parents, Margaret and Kenneth Landon, resulting in 95 hours of recordings. Beginning on July 20, 1976, recording finished in June, 1978. The project resumed again in 1982 for a few months. After a long break, the third recording period began in 1988 and concluded in March 1989.

Kenneth and Margaret Landon

5:14

Margaret and Kenneth P. Landon Papers, 1824-2000

Hour 65, clip 5

Sub-Series 8: Audio and Video

Series 1: Biographical