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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/06

HB

SHORT TITLE

NAVAJO CODE TALKER DOCUMENTARY FILM

SB 336

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$250.0

Non-Rec

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Indian Affairs Department (IAD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 336 appropriates $250 thousand from the general fund to the Indian Affairs

Department for the purpose of producing a documentary on Navajo code talkers that notes the

code talker’s contribution during World War II. The funds may be expended in FY06 and FY07.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $250 thousand contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the

general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall

revert to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Indian Affairs Department documents the following:

The United States was at war in Europe, and on December 7, 1941, were faced with a second

front as the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor.

One of the intelligence weapons the Japanese military possessed was an elite group of well

trained English speaking soldiers, used to intercept U.S. communications, then sabotage the

message or issue false commands to ambush American troops. Military code became more and

Senate Bill 336 – Page 2

more complex – at Guadalcanal, military leaders complained that it took two and one half hours

to send and decode a single message.

After being convinced of the possibility of success by the son of a missionary who was raised on

the Navajo reservation, the Marine Corps called upon the Navajo Nation to support the military

effort by recruiting and enlisting Navajo men to serve as Marine Corps Radio Operators. These

Navajo Marines, who became known as the Navajo Code Talkers, used the Navajo language to

develop a unique code to communicate military messages in the South Pacific. The code

developed by these Native Americans proved unbreakable and was used throughout the Pacific

theater.

Their accomplishment was even more heroic given the cultural context in which they were

operating. Subjected to alienation in their own homeland and discouraged from speaking their

own language, they still stepped forward and developed the most significant and successful

military code of the time. The Code was so successful that military commanders credited it with

saving the lives of countless American soldiers and the successful engagements of the U.S. in the

battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard

Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines

would never have taken Iwo Jima." Major Connor had six Navajo Code Talkers working around

the clock during the first 48hours of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages,

all without error.

In fact, the code was so successful that the Department of Defense kept the Code secret for 23

years after the end of World War II, when it was finally declassified in 1968 – and there lies the

foundation of the problem. If their achievements had been hailed at the conclusion of the war,

proper honors would have been bestowed at that time. But the Code Talkers were sworn to

secrecy, an oath they kept and honored, but at the same time, one that robbed them of the very

accolades and place in history they so rightly deserved. Their ranks include veterans of

Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; they gave their lives at New Britain, Bougainville,

Guam, and Peleliu. But, at the end of the war, these unsung heroes returned to their homes on

buses – no parades, no fanfare, no special recognition for what they had truly accomplished –

because while the war was over, their duty – their oath of secrecy – continued. When the

secrecy surrounding the code was finally declassified, only then did a realization of the sacrifice

and valor of these brave Native Americans begin to emerge. (www.bingaman.senate.gov).

The Navajo Code Talkers each received gold and silver Congressional Medals after introduction

of federal legislation, Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers Act” (P.L. 106-554), by New Mexico

Senator Jeff Bingaman in 2000. These medals are express recognition by the United States of

America and its citizens of the Navajo Code Talkers who distinguished themselves in performing

a unique, highly successful communications operation that greatly assisted in saving countless

lives and in hastening the end of World War II in the Pacific theater.

(www.bingaman.senate.gov).

This bill would document the contributions and achievements of the Navajo Code Talkers. Part

of this effort would involve the State partnering with the Navajo Nation, with the Navajo Code

Talkers Association and the remaining Navajo Code Talkers still alive to tell their stories,

especially in the history of the Navajo Nation before and after World War II.

MW/nt