Leader of Opposition - Mayor Herbert Dyer

Parkville City Hall represents the main proponent of Nisei opposition: Mayor Herbert A. Dyer. His vocal disproval of Nisei admission permeated the Parkville community, leading to the "Battle of Parkville," or the "Parkville Controversy" in 1942.

Word of Young’s plan to bring Japanese American students to the College spread throughout the tight-knit community of Parkville, leading to an abundance of both backlash and support. While white students mostly accepted the Nisei students, the community at large had a range of reactions. As Leslie Ito found, Young warned the Nisei students

"that the townspeople were not pleased with the Japanese American Students’ arrival and that threats of lynching had even been made" (Ito 9).

Such hostile attitudes began with the “Battle of Parkville,” or the “Parkville Controversy,” where residents of Platte County, Missouri, attempted to bar Nisei students from attending Park College (Ito 10). Dr. Young, students at Park College, and supporters throughout the community worked diligently to quell the threat to Japanese American students to ensure their safety and ability to attend the College. However, it proved to be a highly visible and time-consuming endeavor. The man at the forefront of the opposition was the mayor of Parkville at the time, Herbert A. Dyer.

Protests occurred on both sides of the debate: against the introduction of Nisei students within Parkville, and for their admission by students on campus. The protests within the Parkville community were led by its mayor, Herbert A. Dyer. As an editorial in the St. Louis Star Times explained,

"the opposition is led by Mayor Herbert A. Dyer of Parkville, who is set in his conviction that young men with enemy names should not be allowed the freedom of the town... He is supported by the American Legion and the American War Mothers" (St. Louis Star Times).

The emphasis placed on the mayor’s refusal to accept those with enemy names within the editorial reflects wartime racial “othering” that occurred. The mayor issued a hollow threat of federal court action against Dr. Young if three male Japanese American students were admitted, although the federal government had already cleared the students for admission. In Mayor Dyer’s letter to Dr. Young, he expressed that: 

"In view of the fact that you have brought Japanese males to the City contrary to the ruling of the government and the request of the city authorities, and the wishes of the citizens, you are hereby notified that unless they are removed from within the city limits of Parkville before September 1st, 1942, legal action will be taken in the Federal Court to remove them" (Letter from Mayor Dyer to Dr. Young, Aug. 21, 1942).

The actions of Park College and the Mayor of Parkville extended past local news coverage, and even past Missouri-based news outlets, reaching states throughout the country. Dr. Young received hundreds of letters, telegrams, and other correspondence from Americans voicing their thoughts on the matter throughout the duration of the “Parkville Controversy.” 

“Editorial published in the St. Louis Star Times.” Aug. 27. 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.872. 

Ito, Leslie A. “Japanese American Women and the Student Relocation Movement, 1942-1945.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 21, no. 3 (2000): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/3347107. 

Kim, Heidi. “From Camp to Chapel Hill: UNC’s Fight to Admit Japanese American Students during World War II.” North Carolina Historical Review 96, no. 2 (April 2019): 182–205. 

“Mayor Dyer threatens the College,” letter from Mayor H.A. Dyer to Dr. W.L. Young, Aug. 21, 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.254. 

Okihiro, Gary Y. Storied Lives: Japanese American Students and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.