Rising Star

by David J. Garrow

  15. Obama to Robert L. Sherman, 13 June 1962, Sherman to Obama, 21 June 1962, Betty Kirk to Emory Ross (AAI), 22 June 1962, Robert S. Laubach to Ross, 29 June 1962, Ross to Laubach, 9 July 1962, Ross to Kirk, 13 July 1962, Obama to Sherman, 14 July 1962, Obama, Phelps Stokes Fund Application, 14 July 1962, William Cullen Bryant II to Sherman, 18 July 1962, and Sherman to Kirk, 24 July 1962, PSFP Box 214; Maraniss, BOTS, p. 183 (quoting from the Kirks’ guestbook); Obama, “Certificate of Eligibility,” 10 August 1962, Obama, “Certificate by Nonimmigrant Student,” 17 August 1962, Obama, “Application to Extend Time of Temporary Stay,” 17 August 1962, Alien’s Change of Address Card, #A11 938 537, 26 September 1962, all Obama INS File; Obama Transcript, UH, 20 September 1962, PSFP Box 214; Stanley Ann Dunham Obama Transcript, University of Washington (showing a copy was sent to UH on 30 December 1962); Johnny Brannon, “Hawaii’s Imperfect Melting Pot a Big Influence on Young Obama,” HA, 10 February 2007; Will Hoover, “Obama’s Hawaii Boyhood Homes Drawing Gawkers,” HA, 9 November 2008; “President Barack Obama’s Many Dwellings Over the Years,” BergProperties.com, 4 February 2009; Neil Abercrombie in Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker, “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth,” CT, 25 March 2007, in Jon Meacham, “On His Own,” Newsweek, 1 September 2008, p. 26, on ABC’s 20/20, “A Childhood of Loss and Love,” 26 September 2008, in Dan Nakaso, “Army Veteran Grandfather Was Obama’s Boyhood Pal in Hawaii,” HA, 14 November 2008, in Gloria Borland and Kris Anderson, “An American Boyhood: Barack Obama in Hawaii,” 2008, and in Sharma, Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia, p. 28; Cindy Pratt Holtz in Maraniss, BOTS, p. 187; Yatushiro in Gloria Borland, “Barack Obama: Made in Hawaii,” Demo Reel, 2011, and in Claudine San Nicolas, “Retired Teachers on Maui Recall Young, ‘Cute’ Student Barry,” Maui News, 21 January 2009; and Barack Obama’s very rich and revealing 2001 interview with Julieanna Richardson.

  Obama has recalled witnessing the astronauts’ arrival in a 22 October 2008 statement on India’s lunar launch, archived at SpaceRef.com, in Remarks at the White House, 20 July 2009, Public Papers of the Presidents [Public Papers] 2009 Vol. II, p. 1133, and in Commencement Address at Miami Dade College, 29 April 2011, Public Papers 2011 Vol. I, p. 476. Obama has incorrectly said Apollo rather than Gemini, for a review of all Apollo and Gemini splashdowns reveals that only Gemini 8 astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott’s 18 March 1966 arrival could have been attended by Stanley and Barry. See AP Honolulu, “Spacemen on Way to Cape Kennedy,” LAT, 19 March 1966, p. 1. By the time of the Apollo 8 astronauts’ arrival in Hawaii on 27 December 1968, Obama was in Indonesia.

  On the political obstruction Borland encountered in attempting to complete her planned film “Barack Obama: Made in Hawaii,” see Emily Wax, “Obama’s Link to Hawaii Not Ignored by Islanders,” WP, 1 May 2013, and especially Stewart Lawrence, “Why Did Top Democrats Try to Kill a Pro-Obama Documentary?,” Daily Caller, 9 September 2013.

  16. Scott, A Singular Woman, pp. 97–100; Obama to Robert L. Sherman, 28 November 1962, Sherman to Obama, 30 November 1962, Sherman to Obama, 16 January [1963], Obama to Sherman, 2 April 1963, Gordon Hagberg to IIE, “Barack Obama,” 18 April 1963, Hagberg to Sherman, 19 April 1963, Sherman to Hagberg, 22 April 1963, Richard C. Raymond to Sherman, “Barack Obama,” 2 May 1963, Obama Transcript, Harvard University, 6 May 1963, Obama to Raymond, 13 May 1963, Elizabeth V. Murrell (IIE) to Obama, 20 May 1963, Sherman to Obama, 27 May 1963, PSFP Box 214; Stanley Ann D. Obama v. Barack H. Obama, Libel for Divorce, #57972, Domestic Relations Division, First Judicial Circuit Court, 20 January 1964; Jacobs, The Other Barack, pp. 135, 138–39, 144–61; Shachtman, Airlift to America, p. 221; Obama, “Application to Extend Time of Temporary Stay,” 6 June 1963 (approved 10 June 1963), Obama INS File; Obama to Sherman, 20 June 1963, Sherman to Obama, 23 July 1963, Obama to Sherman, 29 August 1963, Obama, “Partial Scholarship Program,” 30 August 1963, Obama, “Information Sheet,” n.d. (falsely asserting that “I passed my Cambridge School Certificate” at Maseno School), Hendrik S. Houthakker to Sherman, 30 August 1963, Edward S. Mason to Sherman, 3 September 1963 (Obama “has a lot of native intelligence . . . I find him an impressive fellow and I think he will go far”), Sherman to Obama, 16 September 1963 (with a handwritten “P.S. No more aid unless grades improve”), and Obama to Sherman, 16 September 1963, PSFP Box 214; Dana E. Klotzle, Associate Director, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, to INS, 21 January 1964, Inspector K. D. MacDonald to District Director J. A. Hamilton Jr., 31 January 1964, Obama INS File; Alice B. Hall to Sherman, 7 February 1964, and Sherman to Obama, 11 February 1964, PSFP Box 214; Hamilton (by Deputy District Director Robert L. Suddath) to American Consul, London, 2 March 1964, Obama, “Application to Extend Time of Temporary Stay,” 21 April 1064, M. F. McKeon, “Re: A11 938 537—Barack Hussein Obama,” 28 April 1964 and 19 May 1964, David D. Henry to Barack H. Obama, 27 May 1964, M. F. McKeon, “Re: A11 938 537—Barack Hussein Obama,” 8 June 1964, District Director to Barack H. Obama, 9 June 1964, Obama INS File; Sherman to Obama, 17 June 1964, PSFP Box 214; (FNU) Mulrean, “Memo for File: A11 938 537,” 18 June 1964, “Non-Citizen Departure Information,” Harvard University International Students Office, 21 July 1964, Joseph M. O’Connell, “Report of Investigation,” 22 July 1964, and “Arrival-Departure Record,” Obama INS File. See also Sally Jacobs, “The Trials of Omar, Obama’s Uncle,” BG, 8 January 2012. Jacobs also reports, per a subsequent Obama CV that she located in Nairobi, that his proposed dissertation was entitled “An Econometric Model of Staple Theory of Development,” The Other Barack, p. 160.

  Several second- or thirdhand witnesses remember hearing that Ann filed for divorce upon learning about Kezia and Obama’s first two Kenyan children. When Ann first learned of Kezia is unrecorded. By January 1964 Obama had been gone from Honolulu for over a year and a half; if any new knowledge came to Ann during that time, it too is unrecorded. See Arlene Payne in Scott, A Singular Woman, p. 92, and DJG interview with Jan-Michelle Lemon Kearney, who recalled her Harvard Law School classmate the younger Barack recounting that “when his mom found out about his father having this other family, that kind of ended it.” Ann’s subsequent UH graduate program mentor, Alice Dewey, recounted her understanding from a decade later of Ann’s earlier view: “When Barack Sr. goes off to Harvard, he promises to send funds to take care of her and Barry, and he doesn’t do it, and that’s why she’s angry. ‘I don’t care who he’s sleeping with, I want the money because I’m trying to feed the two of us,’” Dewey recounted to DJG.

  17. Dr. Tori Nishigawa, “To Whom It May Concern: Re: Mrs. Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro,” 29 April 1965, Frank R. Porter, “Officer’s Review and Action Sheet,” A14 128 294, 24 May and 7 June 1965, John F. O’Shea (INS District Director), “Deportation Docket Control Action Slip,” 7 June 1965, Gary Fujiwara to Travel Control, “Lolo Soetoro,” 30 June 1965, O’Shea to Mr. and Mrs. Lolo Soetoro, 6 July 1965, Robert Wooster to Robert Zumwinkle, “Visa Status of East-West Alumnus from Indonesia, Mr. Lolo Soetoro,” 7 July 1965, Zumwinkle to O’Shea, “Mr. Lolo Soetoro,” 13 July 1965, Lolo Soetoro, untitled statement, n.d., 3pp., Frank R. Potter, “Memo to File: A14 128 294,” 19 July 1965, Potter, “Operations Supervisory Review,” 21 July 1965, Robert Aitkin (EWC) to R. E. Soehardi (Indonesian Consulate, San Francisco), 17 September 1965, Aitkin to Soehardi, 27 September 1965, S. Ann Soetoro, “Affidavit,” 30 November 1965, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 7 December 1965, L. W. Gilman to Deputy Associate Commissioner, 14 December 1965, J. P. Sharon to District Director, Honolulu, 12 January 1966, and Robert R. Schultz, “Memorandum for File,” 22 November 1966, all Soetoro INS file.

  Throughout the first six months of 1965, superb New York Times correspondent Neil Sheehan filed dozens of stories from Indonesia reporting increased anti-Americanism on the part of Communist activists and allies there. See particularly “Indonesia Seizes Third U.S. Library,” NYT, 16 February 1965, p. 1, and “Moslems on Java Clash with Reds,” NYT, 17 March 1965, p. 18. For contemporaneous U.S. pr
ess coverage of the violence that commenced on 30 September, see Seth S. King, “Indonesia Says Plot to Depose Sukarno Is Foiled by Army Chief,” NYT, 2 October 1965, p. 1; Ian Stewart, “Army-Red Clash Stirs in Jakarta,” NYT, 6 October 1965, p. 1; Seth S. King, “Indonesian Army Battles Rebels in Key Java City,” NYT, 7 October 1965, p. 1; Max Frankel, “U.S. Is Heartened by Red Setback in Indonesia Coup,” NYT, 11 October 1965, p. 1; Seth S. King, “Indonesia Coup Is Still a Mystery,” NYT, 17 October 1965, p. 1; King, “Indonesia Orders Red Units Curbed,” NYT, 22 October 1965, p. 1; Stanley Karnow, “First Report on Horror in Indonesia,” WP, 17 April 1966, pp. 1, 20; King, “The Great Purge in Indonesia,” NYT Magazine, 8 May 1966, pp. 25ff.; and Seymour Topping, “Slaughter of Reds Gives Indonesia a Grim Legacy,” NYT, 24 August 1966, pp. 1, 16. Scholarly understanding of the mass killings was very slow to develop. See Robert Cribb, “Genocide in Indonesia,” Journal of Genocide Research 3 (2001): 219–39, esp. 231–37; Cribb, “Unresolved Problems in the Indonesian Killings of 1965–1966,” Asian Survey 42 (July–August 2002): 550–63; Mary S. Zurbuchen, “History, Memory, and the ‘1965 Incident’ in Indonesia,” Asian Survey 42 (July–August 2002): 564–81; John Roosa, “Violence and the Suharto Regime’s Wonderland,” Critical Asian Studies 35 (2003): 315–23; Roosa’s superbly rich and thoughtful Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup d’Etat in Indonesia (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), esp. pp. 31, 33, 91, 177, 207–8, 214, and 218; Roosa, “President Sukarno and the September 30th Movement,” Critical Asian Studies 40 (2008): 143–59; and Douglas Kammen and Katharine McGregor, eds., The Contours of Mass Violence in Indonesia, 1965–68 (University of Hawaii Press, 2012), esp. pp. 3–4 and 8.

  18. Untitled INS note, 31 October 1966, Robert R. Schultz, “Memorandum for File, 22 November 1966, John F. O’Shea to Lolo Soetoro, 13 December 1966, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 18 December 1966, L. W. Gilman to Deputy Associate Commissioner, 19 December 1966, Assistant Commissioner to Regional Commissioner, 5 January 1967, J. P. Sharon to District Director Honolulu, 13 January 1967, Robert R. Schultz, “Adjudicator’s Basis for Decision,” 24 May 1967, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 6 June 1967, Sharon to District Director Honolulu, 13 June 1967, all Soetoro INS file; Stanley Ann Soetoro, “Application for Amendment of Passport,” 29 June 1967, DOS FOIA Release 200807238; Assistant Commissioner to Regional Commissioner, 21 August 1967, Sharon to District Director Honolulu, 25 August 1967, W. I. Mix, “Memorandum to File,” 4 September 1967, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 25 September 1967, Gilman to Deputy Associate Commissioner, 29 September 1967, O’Shea to Chief, FSS, BECA, DOS, 6 October 1967, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 11 July 1968, E. J. Strapp to District Director Honolulu, 29 July 1968, O’Shea to Assistant Regional Commissioner, 1 August 1968, O’Shea to Ann D. Soetoro, 1 and 22 August 1968, all Soetoro INS file; Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, “Request by United States National for and Report of Exception to Section 53.1 . . . ,” 21 October 1971, DOS FOIA; Kelli Abe Trifonovitch, “Being Local, Barry and Bryan,” Hawaii Business, October 2008 (first publishing of Obama’s Noelani Elementary School kindergarten class photo); Barack Obama, Remarks in Tokyo, 14 November 2009, Public Papers 2009 Vol. II, p. 1675; Press Conference in Canberra and Remarks in Canberra, 16 November 2011, Public Papers 2011 Vol. II, pp. 1433, 1440; Jackie Calmes, “President Hits His Stride,” NYT, 21 November 2011. A photograph clearly picturing young Barry and Noelani classmate Scott Inoue, with apparent Christmas drawings in the background, is said to date from their third-grade year, i.e., December 1969. Ann Dunham, and Barry, may have returned to Honolulu several weeks prior to Christmas; Ann’s 1993 résumé states she was in Jakarta until December 1969, and then again from January 1970 forward—with an implicit interruption. See Pat Gee, “Third-Grade Photo Captures Obama’s Grin,” HSB, 28 December 2009, and Scott Inoue e-mails to DJG.

  19. Journalistic sources on Obama’s less than four years in Jakarta are very extensive, especially from 2007 to ’08, but almost always present memories of asserted playmates, neighbors, fellow students, and former teachers with no apparent hesitation about what clear recollections such individuals all had more than thirty-five years later. Sources critically reviewed and relied upon in this account include, in generally chronological order, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, Application for Passport Renewal, 13 August 1968, DOS FOIA (stating with regard to residing overseas “Indefinite—Married to an Indonesian Citizen”); Phil Mayer, “Ex-Islander Gets Prestigious Harvard Post,” HSB, 9 February 1990 (noting Obama’s attendance of first grade at Noelani Elementary School); Obama, DFMF, esp. pp. 29–31, 36–52; Christopher Wills (AP), “Obama Mixes Exotic Background with Street-Level Experience,” 16 October 2004; John Vause’s contributions to CNN broadcasts and CNN.com on 22 and 23 January 2007; Obama on The Early Show, CBS, 24 January 2007; Nedra Pickler (AP), “Obama Challenges Allegation About Islamic School,” 24 January 2007 (quoting Darmawan); Prodita Sabarini, “Impish Obama Couldn’t Sit Still, Says School Pal,” Jakarta Post, 31 January 2007; Paul Watson, “As a Child, Obama Crossed a Cultural Divide in Indonesia,” LAT, 15 March 2007; Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker, “The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth,” CT, 25 March 2007; Barker, “Obama Madrassa Myth Debunked,” CT, 25 March 2007; Haroon Siddiqui, “Obama’s Muslim Heritage,” Toronto Star, 14 June 2007; Trish Anderton, “Obama’s Jakarta Trail,” Jakarta Post, 26 June 2007; Kim Chipman and Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, “Obama’s Jakarta Friends Recall a Would-Be Leader,” Bloomberg, 31 December 2007; Muhammad Cohen, “The Indonesian Candidate,” Asia Times, 20 February 2008; “Obama’s Former School Friends Form Fan Club,” Jakarta Post, 2 March 2008; Ed Davies, “Indonesia Left Deep Imprint on Obama Family,” Reuters, 22 March 2008 (quoting Hendro); Richard Wolffe and Michael Hirsh, “A Man at Home in the World,” Newsweek, 12 April 2008; Devi Asmarani, “Indonesian Roots for Obama in U.S. Election,” Singapore Straits Times, 14 April 2008; Roger Cohen, “Obama’s Indonesian Lessons,” NYT, 14 April 2008, Ripley, “The Story of Barack Obama’s Mother,” Time, 21 April 2008, pp. 36ff.; Christine Oelrich, “Obama the ‘Curly-Haired’ One,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 29 April 2008 (quoting Darmawan saying the essay declared, “I will become president”); Obama on CNN, 13 July 2008; Margaret Conley, “Obama’s Early Days in Jakarta,” ABCNews. com, 25 September 2008 (Sinaga stating the paper was in Indonesian); Mark Forbes, “Obama, AKA Fat Little Barry, Remembered,” Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 2008; “Obama as We Knew Him,” Observer (UK), 26 October 2008, p. 4; Robin McDowell (AP), “Obama’s Childhood Home in Indonesia Up for Sale,” 28 October 2008; Obama in Richard Wolffe, Renegade: The Making of a President (Crown Publishers, 2009), p. 250; “Obama Family Rejects Liah’s Claims, Calls Her a Fraud,” Jakarta Post, 16 January 2009; Endy M. Bayuni, “Obama’s Indonesian Classroom,” NYT, 18 January 2009; Obama, Remarks to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 10 March 2009, Public Papers 2009 Vol. I, p. 208; Obama, Remarks to Wakefield High School Students and Faculty, 8 September 2009, Public Papers 2009 Vol. II, p. 1355; Chris Brummitt (AP), “Indonesia Remembers Young Obama,” 16 March 2010; “Childhood Photo of Barack Obama in Indonesia Found,” Telegraph (UK), 17 March 2010; Andrew Higgins, “Catholic School in Indonesia Seeks Recognition for Its Role in Obama’s Life,” WP, 9 April 2010, p. A1; Kelly Heffernan-Taylor, “Indonesia: Obama’s Childhood Friends and Teachers Share Memories,” CBSNews.com, 7 November 2010; Norimitsu Onishi, “Obama Visits a Nation That Knew Him as Barry,” NYT, 8 November 2010; Haryo “Pongky” Soetendro, Sonny Trisulo et al., A Gift from Your Family: For Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha on the Occasion of Your Visit to Indonesia During November 2010 (Saraswati Papers, 2010), esp. pp. 6, 9, 15; Obama, Remarks at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, 10 November 2010, Public Papers 2010 Vol. II, p. 1787, Obama, Remarks Honoring the 2011 National and State Teachers of the Year, 3 May 2011, Public Papers 2011 Vol. I, p. 488 (attending Noelani School for the outset of first grade); Scott, A Sin
gular Woman, pp. 113–16, 126–28; DJG interview with Bronwen and Garrett Solyom, “Obama’s Elementary School Teacher Passes Away,” Jakarta Post, 10 December 2011 (Israella Darmawan); Niniek Karmini (AP), “Obama’s Transgender Ex-Nanny Outcast,” 5 March 2012; Karmini (AP), “Obama’s Former Nanny Overwhelmed by New Celebrity,” 8 March 2012; and Maraniss, BOTS, pp. 213–24, 229–43, esp. p. 220 (“no reason not to trust”). Alone among all journalistic commentators, only one writer correctly doubted the unbelievable clarity and precision of the Jakarta teachers’ supposed recollections four decades later. See Amy Hollyfield, “Yep, Young Obama Had Big Goals. So?,” St. Petersburg Times, 7 December 2007, p. A1. Likewise, claims by one Menteng Dalam neighbor and one Matraman servant that Lolo on multiple occasions physically assaulted Ann, once leaving her bleeding, have been put in print by several journalists but are simply far too distant in time and uncorroborated to be accepted as part of a true historical record. See also Scott, A Singular Woman, p. 128. Also particularly meriting dismissal is the claim that “religion permeated Barry’s years in Indonesia,” made in Stephen Mansfield, The Faith of Barack Obama (Thomas Nelson, 2008), p. 19.