User:Geo Swan/Kenneth Ringle

Kenneth Ringle was an officer in the United States Navy, best known for the role he played in the Intelligence effort against Imperial Japan, prior to and during World War 2.

Naval career
Ringle graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1923. He served as a Naval Attache in Japan, from 1928 to 1931, and learned the Japanese language there.

Ringle lead a secret raid on the Japanese Consulate, in Hawaii, in the Spring of 1941. According to Andrea Pitzer, in addition to copying the consulates list of agents they used to spy on the American military, he copied documents that indicated Japanese officials didn't trust Nisei, American-born citizens whose parents were from Japan, making them unlikely to use them as agents, in future. She suggested that if Ringle's conclusion had received more attention, there may have been no internment of Japanese-Americans.

In late 1941 Ringle published a report recommending Japanese-Americans should not be routinely interned.

Ringle was a Lieutenant Commander at the beginning of World War 2, and retired as an Admiral.

The Ringle Report
Ringle completed a 10 page report that recommended Japanese-Americans should not be routinely interned. Even at the height of war-time prejudice against those of Japanese descent the report was extensively quoted by Harper's magazine. It was widely quoted, after the war, by those arguing security measures against Americans of Japanese descent were unfair.

Legacy
Japanese-American honored him with a wreath, at his funeral in 1963, to show they recognized the efforts he had made on their behalf, during World War 2.

Ringle is related to the Avery family, known for their long ownership of Avery Island, Louisiana. Ringle lived on the Island, for a time, and he was listed as one of the notable residents in an application to enter the island the USA's National Register of Historic Places.