Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to 'relocation centers' further inland—resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans." Two-thirds of the 125,000 people displaced were U.S. citizens.
Notably, far more Americans of Asian descent were forcibly interned than Americans of European descent, both in total and as a share of their relative populations. German and Italian Americans who were sent to internment camps during the war were sent under the provisions of Presidential Proclamation 2526 and the Alien Enemy Act, part of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798.
Transcript of Executive Order 9066
The text of Executive Order 9066 was as follows:Background to the Order
Originating from a proclamation of war that was signed on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941, and given the rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States, Executive Order 9066 was later enacted on February 19, 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to strictly regulate the actions of Japanese Americans in the United States. At this point, Japanese Americans were barred from attaining American citizenship, despite having lived in the United States for generations. This proclamation would eventually lead to strict travel restrictions in the form of curfews for all people of Japanese ancestry, regardless of citizenship status, something which uniquely applied to Japanese Americans.The Order was consistent with Roosevelt's long-time racial views toward Japanese Americans. During the 1920s, for example, he had written articles in the Macon Telegraph opposing white-Japanese intermarriage for fostering "the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood" and praising California's ban on land ownership by the first-generation Japanese. In 1936, while president he privately wrote that, in regard to contacts between Japanese sailors and the local Japanese American population in the event of war, "every Japanese citizen or non-citizen on the Island of Oahu who meets these Japanese ships or has any connection with their officers or men should be secretly but definitely identified and his or her name placed on a special list of those who would be the first to be placed in a concentration camp." In addition, during the crucial period after Pearl Harbor the president had failed to speak out for the rights of Japanese Americans despite the urgings of advisors such as John Franklin Carter. During the same period, Roosevelt rejected the recommendations of Attorney General Francis Biddle and other top advisors, who opposed the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Exclusion under the Order
The text of Roosevelt's order did not use the terms "Japanese" or "Japanese Americans," instead giving officials broad power to exclude "any or all persons" from a designated area. Nevertheless, EO 9066 was intended to be applied almost solely to persons of Japanese descent. Notably, in a 1943 letter, Attorney General Francis Biddle reminded Roosevelt that "You signed the original Executive Order permitting the exclusions so the Army could handle the Japs. It was never intended to apply to Italians and Germans."Public Law 77-503 was approved in order to provide for the enforcement of the executive order. Authored by War Department official Karl Bendetsen—who would later be promoted to Director of the Wartime Civilian Control Administration and oversee the incarceration of Japanese Americans—the law made violations of military orders a misdemeanor punishable by up to $5,000 in fines and one year in prison.
Using a broad interpretation of EO 9066, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt issued orders declaring certain areas of the western United States as zones of exclusion under the Executive Order. In contrast to EO 9066, the text of these orders specified "all people of Japanese ancestry." As a result, approximately 112,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were evicted from the West Coast of the continental United States and held in American relocation camps and other confinement sites across the country.
Roosevelt hoped to establish concentration camps for Japanese Americans in Hawaii even after he signed Executive Order 9066. On February 26, 1942, he informed Secretary of the Navy Knox that he had "long felt most of the Japanese should be removed from Oahu to one of the other islands." Nevertheless, the tremendous cost, including the diversion of ships from the front lines, as well as the quiet resistance of the local military commander General Delos Emmons, made this proposal impractical, resulting in Japanese Americans in Hawaii never being incarcerated en masse. Although the Japanese-American population in Hawaii was nearly 40% of the population of the territory and Hawaii would have been first in line for a Japanese attack, only a few thousand people were temporarily detained there. This fact supported the government's eventual conclusion that the mass removal of ethnic Japanese from the West Coast was motivated by reasons other than "military necessity."
Japanese Americans and other Asians in the U.S. had suffered for decades from prejudice and racially motivated fears. Racially discriminatory laws prevented Asian Americans from owning land, voting, testifying against whites in court, and set up other restrictions. Additionally, the FBI, Office of Naval Intelligence and Military Intelligence Division had been conducting surveillance on Japanese-American communities in Hawaii and the continental U.S. from the early 1930s. In early 1941, President Roosevelt secretly commissioned a study to assess the possibility that Japanese Americans would pose a threat to U.S. security. The report, submitted one month before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, predicted that in the event of war, "There will be no armed uprising of Japanese" in the United States. "For the most part," the Munson Report said, "the local Japanese are loyal to the United States or, at worst, hope that by remaining quiet they can avoid concentration camps or irresponsible mobs." A second investigation started in 1940, written by Naval Intelligence officer Kenneth Ringle and submitted in January 1942, likewise found no evidence of fifth column activity and urged against mass incarceration. Both were ignored by military and political leaders.
Over two-thirds of the people of Japanese ethnicity who were incarcerated were American citizens; many of the rest had lived in the country between 20 and 40 years. As a result, most Japanese Americans, particularly the first generation born in the United States, identified as loyal to the United States of America. In addition, no Japanese-American citizen or Japanese national residing in the United States was ever found guilty of sabotage or espionage.
There were 10 of these internment camps across the United States, euphemistically called "relocation centers". There were two in Arkansas, two in Arizona, two in California, one in Idaho, one in Utah, one in Wyoming, and one in Colorado.
World War II camps under the Order
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was responsible for assisting relocated people with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations and delegated Colonel Karl Bendetsen to administer the removal of West Coast Japanese. Over the spring of 1942, General John L. DeWitt issued Western Defense Command orders for Japanese Americans to present themselves for removal. The "evacuees" were taken first to temporary assembly centers, requisitioned fairgrounds and horse racing tracks where living quarters were often converted livestock stalls. As construction on the more permanent and isolated War Relocation Authority camps was completed, the population was transferred by truck or train. These accommodations consisted of tar paper-walled frame buildings in parts of the country with bitter winters and often hot summers. The camps were guarded by armed soldiers and fenced with barbed wire. Camps held up to 18,000 people, and were small cities, with medical care, food, and education provided by the government. Adults were offered "camp jobs" with wages of $12 to $19 per month, and many camp services such as medical care and education were provided by the camp inmates themselves.Not only was there limited room for living but, "Living in cramped barracks with minimal privacy and inadequate facilities. The camp's location in Utah's desert meant extreme temperatures and harsh weather, making daily life even more challenging." Based on the evidence listed, it is proven that these camps held poor living conditions for those relocated. On top of that children had to undergo education in these barracks as well as buildings for religion, all of these conditions add to the unpleasant way of life.
Opposition
According to a poll conducted in March 1942, majorities of Americans believed that the internment of Japanese Americans, regardless of citizenship, was appropriate. Because of the widespread support for the order, public opposition to it was minimal. Still, there were efforts made by prominent individuals to either stop or mitigate the effects of the order.Norman Thomas, chairman of the Socialist Party of America, was a vocal critic of the order and worked to defend the rights of Japanese Americans. During the period of internment, he remained in contact with people in the camps, as well as various people and organizations involved in preserving the civil rights of Japanese Americans. In July 1942, Thomas published Democracy and Japanese Americans, discussing the conditions inside the camps and the legality of the order. In late 1943, Thomas stated of the Japanese internment that "Congress and the President have created a dangerous precedent by adopting wholesale the totalitarian theories of justice by discrimination on the basis of racial affiliation."
Eleanor Roosevelt, who publicly stood behind the president, expressed concern in private about the necessity of the camps. She generally advocated for a more moderate approach to interring spies, and publicly stated the laws of the United States should apply equally to all citizens, regardless of race or nationality.