David Maraniss on Father's Lost Statement on Being an American

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David Maraniss on writing a book about his father: "My father had been the commander of an all-black unit, World War II. I wanted to talk about what he felt it meant to be an American. They wouldn't let him read the statement unless he genuflected, apologized and named names, and he refused to do that. So, I thought that statement was lost forever. And when I started researching the book, I went to the National Archives downtown, and all of the other files had been opened. And in the file of the Detroit hearings was a file on my father, Elliott Marinus. And in the file was his statement, and my father was a hunt and peck typist, terrible typist. He was always acting things out and the keys would stick. And so, the first line is statement of Elliott Marinus. And the s in the statement jumped up a half space like typewriters would in that case. And it was at that moment when I saw that, that everything just washed over me about what it must have been like for my dad that, you know, the s