We fought the Navy and won : Guam's quest for democracy : a personal memoir / Doloris Coulter Cogan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cogan, Doloris Coulter.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Navy.

History.

Representative government and representation.

Democracy.

Politics and government.

Autonomy and independence movements.

Relations.

Guam--Relations--United States.

Guam.

United States--Relations--Guam.

United States.

Guam--History--Autonomy and independence movements.

Guam--Politics and government--20th century.

Democracy--Guam--History--20th century.

Representative government and representation--Guam--History--20th century.

United States. Navy--History--20th century.

Collier, John, 1884-1968.

Collier, John.

Cogan, Doloris Coulter.

Journalists--United States--Biography.

Journalists.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 244 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2008]

Summary:

We Fought the Navy and Won is a carefully documented yet impassioned recollection of Guam's struggle to liberate itself from the absolutist rule of the U.S. Navy. Doloris Cogan concentrates on five crucial years, 1945-1950, when, fresh out of journalism school, she had the good fortune to join the distinguished team of idealists at the newly formed Institute of Ethnic Affairs in Washington, D.C. Working as a writer/editor on the monthly Guam Echo under the leadership of the Institute's director, John Collier, Cogan witnessed and recorded the battle fought at the very top between Collier (assisted by former Secretary of the Interior Harry L. Ickes) and Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal as the people of Guam petitioned the U.S. Congress for civilian government under a constitution.

Part of the story centers around a young Chamorro named Carlos Taitano, who returned home to Guam in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific. Taitano joined his colleagues in the lower house and walked out of the Guam Congress in 1949 to protest the naval governor, who had refused their right to subpoena an American businessman suspected of illegal activity. The walkout was the catalyst that introduced the Organic Act of Guam, which was signed into law by President Truman in 1950. Many other Guamanians, including the men and women who testified before the U.S. Congress, were invloved in this historic struggle. We Fought the Navy and Won is the first book to tell their story and the first detailed look at the events surrounding Guam's elevation from possession to territory.

Contents:

Welcome to Guam

The Institute of Ethnic Affairs

Collier and Ickes kick off the battle

To be or not to be a strategic trusteeship

The Guam echo

The fight for civilian government

The press weighs in

The Navy versus the Guamanians

Rehabilitation of Guam begins

F.B. Leon Guerrero goes to Washington

Guam Assembly walkout spurs Congress

Connie Barrett goes to Washington

Truman decides by decree

Skinner becomes first civilian governor

The Organic Act becomes law

Mission accomplished.

Notes:

"A Latitude 20 book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780824830892

082483089X

9780824832162

0824832167

OCLC:

191732272