Word: juda
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Wyatt talked. In simple words, with eloquent gestures, he told Juda and his people of the Bomb. Its power to kill all living things within many miles was beyond belief. But "the U.S. wants to turn this great destructive power into something good for mankind." The Bomb would be dropped on Bikini. For their protection, and for progress, would the islanders help by leaving their home, perhaps forever...
...Juda took counsel with the alaps (family heads). At length he gave his decision: "If the U.S. Government needs to use our houses for the goodness of mankind, then by the kindness of God we are willing to go." Thus began the first move in "Operation Crossroads," an operation whose ultimate move was now postponed. A U.S. officer called the transfer of the Bikinians "one hell of a good sales...
...Americans found the islanders' simple wants hard to understand. Through an interpreter, Commander Harold Grieve asked Chief Juda if timbers from Bikini's houses, for sentimental reasons, should not be transported to Rongerik. The interpreter answered: "He says, as the English would put it, 'Do you not think it would be like carrying coals to Newcastle...
...voyage from Bikini, Juda and his people ate K-rations with apparent relish. Progress chuckled over a victory. But as soon as they reached Rongerik, the islanders fell upon the coconuts and the sweet, tough pandanus fruit strewn about the beach...
...Questions of Man. Most puzzling for the Americans were Marshall Island politics. Juda and other Paramount Chiefs hold power through heredity on the maternal side. They alone own the land. They alone judge crimes (a little adultery, an occasional assault-&-battery). They are entitled to almost half their domain's annual crop of coconuts, which means half their people's income...