Code Talker
APUSH Book Analysis-Code Talker
I. Chester Nez, an original Navajo Code Talker and the last surviving of the original 29, was born in a shack at a place currently called Oak Canyon. Nez does not know exactly when he was born, but roughly around 1921, which makes him currently 92 years old. Nez was only 18 years old when the United States Marines came to his school in Arizona one day in 1942 to recruit him as a Navajo Code Talker. Nez is perfect to write this piece, because Nez experienced being a Navajo Code Talker first-handedly, which makes this book a direct primary source. Nez wrote this book because he felt that there was a need to express and show how helpful the Navajo Code Talkers were at interpreting the unbreakable code.
II.
III. a. The Marines decided it was best to test the code out before they entrust their lives with the Code Talkers. A lieutenant tested the Code Talkers’ skills by giving a test message that they had to translate and then retranslate. They did so within two and a half minutes. But many observers believed that the Code Talkers were “cheating”. Chester Nez mentions, “Some observers even thought that the code was so accurate-word for word and punctuation mark for punctuation mark-that we must be cheating somehow” (Pg. 113). Chester Nez mentions how this insulted him that the officers wouldn’t trust them. He believes there is no point in cheating, as the Code Talkers wanted this code to work just as much as the Marines wanted it to, even maybe more. To test if they really were cheating or not, the officers “separated the men transmitting from the ones receiving so they could not see each other, then also had guards posted up by each…” (Pg. 113). They still translated accurately and quickly, which left the officers no choice but to trust them. b. The Great Livestock Massacre affected Chester Nez’s family terribly. The Great Livestock Massacre had BIA men going to Chester Nez’s grandparents’ farm and digging a
I. Chester Nez, an original Navajo Code Talker and the last surviving of the original 29, was born in a shack at a place currently called Oak Canyon. Nez does not know exactly when he was born, but roughly around 1921, which makes him currently 92 years old. Nez was only 18 years old when the United States Marines came to his school in Arizona one day in 1942 to recruit him as a Navajo Code Talker. Nez is perfect to write this piece, because Nez experienced being a Navajo Code Talker first-handedly, which makes this book a direct primary source. Nez wrote this book because he felt that there was a need to express and show how helpful the Navajo Code Talkers were at interpreting the unbreakable code.
II.
III. a. The Marines decided it was best to test the code out before they entrust their lives with the Code Talkers. A lieutenant tested the Code Talkers’ skills by giving a test message that they had to translate and then retranslate. They did so within two and a half minutes. But many observers believed that the Code Talkers were “cheating”. Chester Nez mentions, “Some observers even thought that the code was so accurate-word for word and punctuation mark for punctuation mark-that we must be cheating somehow” (Pg. 113). Chester Nez mentions how this insulted him that the officers wouldn’t trust them. He believes there is no point in cheating, as the Code Talkers wanted this code to work just as much as the Marines wanted it to, even maybe more. To test if they really were cheating or not, the officers “separated the men transmitting from the ones receiving so they could not see each other, then also had guards posted up by each…” (Pg. 113). They still translated accurately and quickly, which left the officers no choice but to trust them. b. The Great Livestock Massacre affected Chester Nez’s family terribly. The Great Livestock Massacre had BIA men going to Chester Nez’s grandparents’ farm and digging a