John Aiso and Herbert Wenig board a train heading for Washington to compete in a national oratory competition, Los Angeles, 1926

Item Overview

Title

John Aiso and Herbert Wenig board a train heading for Washington to compete in a national oratory competition, Los Angeles, 1926

Date Created

May 29, 1926

Publisher

Los Angeles Times

Language

No linguistic content

Collection

Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection

Notes

Description

John Aiso, a first generation Japanese American, won the Hollywood High School oratorical contest in 1925, (Herbert Wenig came in 2nd), but then withdrew from the state competition to coach Wenig. Aiso went to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he advanced from private to lieutenant colonel. After the war Aiso became a lawyer and then became the first Nisei to hold a U.S. judicial post, ending up as a justice on California's 2nd District Court of Appeals. He died after being attacked by a transient while pumping gas at a gas station.
This photograph [cropped] appears with the article, "Boy Orator on Way East; Herbert Wenig, Pacific Southwest Champion, Leaves to Compete in National Finals," 30 May 1926: 4.
Hollywood high school students John Aiso and Herbert Wenig wave to supporters as they prepare to board a train headed to Washington D.C., where Wenig would compete in the National Oratorical Contest. Herbert Wenig won the national competition.

Caption

Text from newspaper caption: Boy Orator on Way East.
Text from negative sleeve: Wenig, HerbertOratorical Contest, 1928 [sic]
Handwritten on negative: Herbert Wenig, John Aiso

Physical Description

Extent

1 photograph

Medium

b&w nitrate negative

Keywords

Genre

cellulose nitrate film
news photographs

Subjects

Arrivals & departures--American--California--Los Angeles
Public speaking

Names

Wenig, Herbert, 1908-1978
Aiso, John Fujio, 1909-1987

Location

Los Angeles (Calif.)

Resource type

still image