FDR Signs Executive Order 9066 Creating World War Two Japanese Internment Camps

In an opinion piece in the LA Times attorney, W.H. Anderson argued that “A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched—so a Japanese American, born of Japanese parents—grows up to be a Japanese, not an American.” This was before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the war starting.

For many in America this was the attitude towards their Japanese neighbors even before the bombing, so the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, wasn’t met with massive protest at the time.

The infamous order though didn’t mention Japanese Americans specifically and said nothing about what would become of the people who would be evacuated. This was left up to the Department of War/Defense to decide.

So, with paranoia about the Japanese, reinforced by an existing prejudice the DOD rounded up about 122,000 Americans of Japanese descent and sent them to concentration camps. Many of their homes, businesses, and farms were confiscated.

Another factor that played into the decisions regarding the Nisei (Americans born to Japanese parents) many were farmers and there were competing economic interests that paid lobbyists to come to Washington and persuade congress to support the internment of the Japanese Americans.

The government made no charges against them, nor could they appeal their incarceration. All lost their personal liberties; although several Japanese Americans challenged the government’s actions in court cases, the Supreme Court upheld their legality. However, as incongruous as it sounds Nisei were encouraged to serve in the armed forces, and some were also drafted. Altogether, more than 30,000 Japanese Americans served with distinction during World War II in segregated units.

Realizing the total injustice of what happened to the Japanese Americans various individuals and groups sought compensation for those incarcerated after the war. The Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act of 1948, with amendments in 1951 and 1965, provided token payments for some property losses. More serious efforts to make amends took place in the early 1980s when the congressionally established Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians held investigations and found that total property loss was estimated at $1.3 billion, and net income loss at $2.7 billion (calculated in 1983 dollars). As a result, several bills were introduced in Congress from 1984 until 1988. In 1988, Public Law 100-383 acknowledged the injustice of incarceration, apologized for it, and provided partial restitution – a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was incarcerated.

Sources:

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9066