Alhambra   1942-1943

All during this time World War II was becoming more and more intense and the United States was trying hard to stay out of it. Early in December, 1941, I received a letter from Washington telling me that there was to be a conference of all enforcement personnel of the I.C.C. in Washington commencing on December 8. Some of the fellows from San Francisco were going and so we decided to all go on the same train. I recall that we had a stopover in Chicago of several hours and that we all went to the show. About 3 in the afternoon of the 7th of December we all boarded the Capital Limited for the trip to Washington. We had not been on the train long when the rumor started to circulate that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. At first I thought that it was propaganda. Then we stopped at some town on route and we bought newspapers giving accounts of the bombing. I was really stunned. The next morning we arrived in Washington and found things really in turmoil. That day the United States declared war on Japan and Germany and we were in it up to our necks and beyond. The conference was interrupted with discussions of what roll the I.C.C. would play in the war, etc. and we actually did not accomplish too much.

Shortly after I returned to Los Angeles, the Office of Defense Transportation was organized and Jack Scott, the Chief of Law and Enforcement in the I.C.C. was made General Counsel. One of the District Supervisors assigned to Los Angeles, Ellis Longenecker, was called back to Washington to work for O.D.T., and I was offered his job as a District Supervisor on a temporary until the war was over. It paid $4,000 a year as compared to the $3200 I was making, so I decided to accept. The work was strictly administrative and after working at it for a while I began to regret that I had stepped out of the field for which I had prepared myself.


YEAR (FILE ) SUBJECT
---- ------- ---------------------------------
1941 (7003) John Griffin feeding Paul
1942 (7001) Griffin Family
1942 (7004) John and Paul Griffin
1942 (7002) Paul Griffin

LETTERS
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(L420901) Dorothy Griffin to Maude / Alhambra, CA
(L420911) Dorothy Griffin to Maude / Alhambra, CA

The more I thought of this, the more concerned I became and so I decided to write to Scott and ask him if there were any attorney positions in Washington at the same salary I was making, with O.D.T. In reply Scott told me that he could offer me an attorney positon but that I would have to pay my own transportation costs to Washington and also pay to have my furniture shipped back. He further told me that I would have to pass the attorneys exam before the Civil Service Commission's Board of Legal Examiners. After talking over the matter with Dot I decided to make the move.

I filed my papers with the Board of Legal Examiners and was told that I had passed the written part of the exam and would be interviewed in Washington upon my arrival. Then I commenced making plans to ship my furniture. I found that I could ship it quite reasonably (for about $150) by freight forwarder if I did my own packing. I got barrels and boxes and started to work. I packed all of the furniture in three large boxes and the dishes, etc. in four barrels. It was a real job but everything arrived without breakage.

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