HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

excepted & revised from Teachers Guide: Bill of Rights and the Japanese American WWII Experience

n February 19, 1942, President Franklin min industries. Some could only send their ORoosevelt signed children to segregated schools, and in 1924, im- which set into motion the exclusion from certain migration from Japan was halted altogether. areas, the restriction of movement by cur- Like many people few, and the entering the United eventual mobiliza- States, Japanese im- tion for mass migrants faced poverty incarceration of and hardship. In addi- 120,000 persons tion, they encountered only of Japanese an- racial hostility. How- cestry on the West ever, through hard work Coast, two -thirds of and co-operation within them U.S. citizens. their ethnic group, most This represented the persevered and gained a single most foothold in America. traumatic episode in their collective lives. Japanese American store. Oakland, CA 1942. By the 1930's, Dorothea Lange photo. National Archives. Japanese com- Almost forty years later, in 1981 a government munities on the commission investigated the causes which led to West Coast grew the exclusion and eventual removal, and found especially in cities that the incareceration was not justified by "military like Los Angeles, necessity." The decisions were stated as "race San Francisco, prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political Seattle, and Portland. Fanning areas had their own leadership." In 1991, based on the commission's "community centers," some with grocery stores, recommendations, the U.S. government issued an bookshops, barber shops, hotels, and language apology for the injustice and monetary restitution schools, owned by Issei (first generation Japanese im- to the surviving former internees. migrants). Because of housing and employment restrictions, the Japanese in these cities formed The incarceration had been the culmination of a small communities of their own, developing a history of racial discrimination against Asians social and economic interdependence which begun in the mid-1800's, when the Chinese first enabled the Japanese population to survive and immigrated to the U.S. Like the Chinese, the prosper. Japanese had been welcomed at first as a source of cheap labor, but shortly thereafter, became tar- Japanese farmers clustered in rural areas con- gets of anti-Asian campaigns, maligned as the sidered marginal land for farming. Through their "yellow peril." They inherited much of the new skill and hard work they transformed these lands prejudice directed previously against the Chinese, into fertile fields, and by 1941 they raised 40% of especially as the Japanese moved from itinerant California's truck crops. They also aided in the farm laborers to become owners of farms and development of the floral and fishing industries as small businesses. well as an extensive distribution system in agricul- tural products. Discriminatory laws passed during the early 1900's denied the Japanese the right to become The Issei. The Issei (Ee-say), the immigrant citizens, to own land, and to marry outside of Japanese, who established their unique com- their race. In addition, they could not buy homes munities and institutions in America, instilled in in certain areas and were barred from jobs in cer- their children a strong sense of community and

1 family, which enabled the family to survive. parents were beset with name-calling, threats of Some even prospered. violence, physical attacks, and property damage.

Aware of the fact that they had been denied In fact, America as a citizenship and the right to own land, the Issei put whole in the 1930's was their hopes of acceptance and success in their a place of little American-born children, the Nisei. They en- tolerance toward people couraged their offspring to excel in school and to of color. Institutional racism prevented many of go to college. They wanted their children to take them from living in places of their choice or advantage of the opportunities that had been moving about in society at will. Many unions denied them. "For the sake of the children" be- prohibited them from membership. Employers came a familiar catch phrase for the Issei, routinely barred Asians and African Americans prodding them on to work and make sacrifices from choice jobs. Native Americans lived on with fierce determination. reservations in poverty, ignored.

The Nisei. Many Nisei (Nee-say) grew up in Meanwhile, Germany rose as a power in segregated communities, socially isolated from Europe and began annexing its neighboring na- the rest of the population except in school; in the tions. At the same time, Japan set upon a similar strong family environment, they generally took course in Asia. Combining their forces with those on the Japanese cultural values of hard work, of Italy, they formed the Axis Powers which be- responsibility, and a keen sensitivity to the needs came America's enemies in World War II. of others as well as to what others might think. At the same time, as they entered school, they By September 1939, adapted to Americanized ways which emphasized Europe was embroiled individual freedom and initiative. in World War II. The U.S. remained nominally neutral, although sym- Nisei graduates from high schools and colleges pathetic to the Allies led by England and France. during the Depression years of the 1930's found After the U.S. cut down its sales of scrap iron and very limited job opportunities primarily because oil to Japan, the latter signed an affiance with Ger- of discrimination. Most worked on farms, at fruit many and Italy, further straining already stands, in small Japanese businesses, or in the ser- heightened tensions between Japan and the U.S. vice industry. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl In the world outside home and community, the Harbor, , destroying much of the naval Nisei often found contradictions: In school, while fleet stationed there. The U.S. declared war on they learned about freedom and equality, some Japan the next day. On December 11, Germany were required to enroll in segregated elementary and Italy declared war on the U.S. The U.S. schools or were denied access to public recreation- declared war and plunged into World War H. al facilities. While their democratic principles in America called for tolerance, they and their Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor shocked Americans, including Japanese Americans. Early Left: rumors of sabotage and espionage by Japanese Local JAPS KEEP MOVIN ordinances residents in Hawaii and the West Coast had been this is A WHITE MAN'S NEIGHBORHOOD. supported found to be false by the FBI and other govern- racial mental agencies, but these findings were intolerance in the 1920's, suppressed by high U.S. officials in government. Hollywood There was not one instance of sabotage or Protective espionage by Japanese American citizens or resi- Association, Los Angeles, dents of the U.S. before or during the war. CA. National Nevertheless, the government did not deny these Archives. rumors.

2 Not until the end of January 1942 was there a Within hours of the concerted drive by some news from Hawaii, FBI press, civic, business, and agents, many without agricultural interests to remove all persons of evidence, search or ar- Japanese ancestry, citizens and aliens. According rest warrants, conducted house to house round- to business and agriculture reports, a number of ups of 1,212 Issei in Hawaii and the mainland. thriving businesses owned by Japanese They were prominent leaders in the Japanese com- Americans posed as strong competitors in the munities: priests, teachers in language schools, agricultural industry. officers of community organizations, and newspaper editors. Often they were arrested in the Government's Rationale. General John middle of the night, taken to unknown destina- Lesesne DeWitt, commanding officer of the U.S. tions, and treated as prisoners of war. Army's Western Defense Command, pursued Subsequently, many lssei leaders were placed greater power to remove all enemy aliens from into U.S. Justice Department internment camps in New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Montana. Some were paroled to their families after clearance by an Enemy Alien Hearing Board.

In the days that followed, presidential proclama- tions declared various restrictions on German, Italian, and Japanese residents in the U.S. All na- tionals and subjects of Axis countries were identified as "enemy alien." Ironically, the Nisei, who were American citizens by birth, were desig- nated as "non-aliens" and were subjected to the same restrictions. Their travel, work hours, and social gatherings were severely restricted and their contraband articles confiscated. Those deemed "dangerous to the public peace or safety FBI searching home of Japanese American family. Dec. 1941. of the U.S." were subject to apprehension. The National Archives. U.S. Justice Department assumed the respon- sibility to implement their alien-enemy control zones around strategic West Coast installations. plan. In the months that followed, these restric- DeWitt's Final Report: Japanese Evacuation tions on travel and the possession of contraband from the West Coast did not present any evidence items were placed upon aliens from Japan with in- of sabotage or espionage that had occurred, mere- creasing severity. ly that there were indications that these [Japanese] are organized and ready for con- Many Japanese Americans already serving in certed action at a favorable opportunity. The very the U.S. military were re-classified as "4-C fact that no sabotage or espionage has taken enemy aliens," disarmed and reassigned to non- place to date is disturbing and confirming indica- combat duty. tion that such action will take place. The report claimed the "evacuation" was necessary based on International Implications. From 1942, some an estimate of the situation, and the disposition of the 2,260 persons of Japanese ancestry were deported Japanese and other subversive persons. from 12 Latin American countries to the U.S. About 1,800 Japanese Peruvians were taken from The reports from the Federal Communications their homes and deported from their country, sent Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to the U.S. and placed in Justice Department and the Naval Intelligence indicating no evidence internment camps. to support eviction and incarceration were suppressed.

3 DeWitt's recommendations were accepted by Removal. From March 24 to November 3, both the Army and the civilian head without ques- 1942, the mass removal of Japanese Americans tion. Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, Secretary from the West Coast took place over 8 months. Stimson, Undersecretary Robert Patterson and As- Japanese Americans had no charges brought sistant Secretary McCloy reviewed and approved against them, there was no hearing; they did not it, deferring to the military decision. The Justice know where they were going, how long they Department viewed the mass removal unneces- would be detained, what conditions they would sary; the mass removal of citizens face, nor what would happen to them. unconstitutional, and any mass removal too large a task for the War Department to handle. Families were registered and given numbered Nevertheless officials conceded and helped polish tags to identify themselves and their belongings. up the order. Within two days the order was They were told to bring only what they could presented to President Roosevelt and received his signature. It was an election year, and his advisors recommended it as a show of popular support. He did not ask for a justification of the program nor was the subject considered by the Cabinet.

Executive Order 9066. On Thursday, February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Army to "designate military areas" from which "any persons may be excluded (See map in Appendix)." The words "Japanese" or "Japanese Americans" never appeared in the Order. But the intent of the command was used primarily against persons of Japanese Eviction day, Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, April 19, 1942. National Archives. ancestry. A number of Italian and German Americans, whose ancestral countries were also carry. This included household and personal at war with the US, were affected. items they needed for daily living. Families were forced to leave their pets behind. Military Areas #1 and #2 were established in the Western states of Washington, Oregon, The sudden upheaval caused extreme hardship California, and southern Ariiona. Public Law 503 for many who were given as little as 48 hours was enacted on March 9, to enforce the Order im- notice to sell their possession and to dispose of posing criminal penalties for its violation. their property. Losses incurred during this time Military decrees beginning on March 28, set cur- were estimated in the billions of dollars. fews on Japanese Americans and a series of exclusion orders followed. Obeying eviction notice orders, Japanese The mass removal of persons of Japanese an- Americans boarded trucks, cestry ordered by the President, supported by the buses, and trains. They were Justice Department, implemented by the Army transported to what the and sanctioned by the Supreme Court, was based Army called "Assembly Centers." Fifteen transit on the pretext of "military necessity;" a justifica- temporary confinement camps were set up in con- tion which later proved groundless and without verted race tracks and fairgrounds for temporary evidence. The Army's jurisdiction over citizens use until more permanent ones could be built. brought into question the extent of war powers of the federal government over civilian rule and the sup- pression of constitutional rights in times of war.

4 Many families lived in horse stalls under un- They also found themselves overcrowded in sanitary conditions, often by open sewers. At the single rooms with no furniture except for cots and Santa Anita Race Track outside of Los Angeles, a pot-bellied stove. As time progressed, they ac- which housed over 18,000 internees, hospital quired other necessities, either by fashioning records show that 75% of the illnesses came from them out of scrap lumber or ordering through the horse stalls. catalogs.

Others occupied hastily constructed barracks. A But life began to take on a curious sense of nor- family with a minimum of at least six members malcy, as schools, cooperative shops and other was crowded into a 20' x 20' room partitioned essential services were set up. from other families by paper-thin walls. Toilet and bathing facilities were communal and devoid of privacy.

Barbed wire fences and armed guard towers with guns facing toward the inmates sur- rounded these compounds. They were, in fact, prisons.

As might be expected in this type of facility, inmates stood in line for everything, including meals, latrines, supplies and services. Meals were nutritionally inadequate, medical care, minimal. But as prison life evolved, inmates helped organize essential services. They Inside barrack, Salinas "Assembly" Center, CA, March 1942 worked in camp offices, the canteen, the mess Clem Albers photo. National Archives. halls, the hospital, and the school, among The WRA went to great lengths to provide other places, and earned wages, paid with script, recreational activities, fully aware that the of $8 to $16 per month for a 44-hour week. monotony of camp life could set off violence among the discontent. By October 1942, the Army had transferred At the same time, family life deteriorated, as all inmates from the communal arrangement for nearly all activities, temporary camps to ten including eating, encouraged children to spend permanent "War Relocation Authority (WRA) time away from the family "home." Parental Centers" under Civilian Control of the Department authority consequently diminished along with the of the Interior. normal "closeness" of family relationships.

These camps were located in isolated inland Education. Education was generally inade- areas in vast sandy desert or swamp lands. In- quate, lacking classroom furniture and essential mates who had come from relatively mild materials. Students used discarded textbooks, for climates of the West, experienced frequent dust example, and had no labs. storms, bitter cold winters, and sizzling summers for the first time. The teaching staff consisted largely of Caucasians who had been recruited from the out- Camp Life. Inmates had been led to believe side, augmented by inmates with college that these more permanent centers would be backgrounds, who had no prior teaching ex- "resettlement communities," not prisons. When perience. they arrived, however, they found their new quarters fenced in with barbed wire and guarded Camp Unrest. In time, a festering anger by military police. erupted among the prisoners. This no doubt arose

5 lik,lirrantEnn from resentment of their confinement, coupled allowed incarcerees to resettle outside, but not to with the harsh conditions of camp life. Some in return to their homes or in the restricted zones on carees, suspected of being collaborators and the West Coast. Nevertheless, incarcerees needed informers, were attacked. to obtain official clearance. Agricultural interests facing labor shortages requested the help of incar- By November and December 1942, demonstra- cerees to harvest crops. Some educators, business tions and riots had broken out in several camps. leaders and church groups sponsored scholarships Military Police, called in to quell the disturbance, and educational opportunities for Japanese killed two unarmed youths and wounded nine American college students to continue their educa- others. tion in the Midwest and the East coast.

Leave Clearances. Meanwhile, by the end of The WRA and the Army saw a means of both 1942, at least three factors led government offi- expediting leave clearances and encouraging cial to initiate a program of release for inmates military service (The Army had reversed itself on who could work or go to school. First, a few the matter of barring Nisei men from service and Japanese Americans, who had received temporary had announced in January 1943 that a segregated, clearances and released on trial, had been all-Nisei combat team was being recruited). received favorably by the outside community in the Midwest and East. Secondly, government offi- On February 8, 1943, cials knew that confining citizens without trial the WRA and the Army could not be supported legally for long. Third, distributed applications after the Battle of Midway, the tide of the war had for leave clearance titled turned in America's favor, and the rationale for "Statement of U.S. Citizenship of Japanese holding Japanese Americans hostage had become American Ancestry." All inmates seventeen years- increasingly difficult to defend. old and older were required to complete the • questionnaire, one which was to provoke the In the summer of 1942, the government issued greatest upheaval within the camps. short term passes and student leaves. The WRA

Artist rendering of Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. From Tom Parker photo, National Archives, August 1942. Charcoal by Richard Tokeshi. 6 Two questions, intended to separate the "loyal' with eight tanks and tear gas, took charge for a from the "disloyal," most disturbed the internees: period of two months. Question #27 asked: "Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on Many Tule Lake inmates were expatriated to combat duty wherever ordered?" Japan after the war, but the majority were made eligible to relocate in the U.S. by the Justice Question #28 asked, "Will you swear un- Department, along with other internees. qualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or Draft Reinstated. In January 1944, the WRA domestic forces, and forswear any form of al- reinstated the draft for Japanese Americans. The legiance or obedience to the Japanese irony of being drafted out of enclosures into emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?" which they had been forced because they could not be trusted as loyal citizen's was quite evident. WRA Director, Dillon S. Myer later admitted: "A bad mistake was made in the loyalty ques- DRAFT Some Nisei men tion." For one thing, question #27 put to the Issei RESISTANCE resisted the draft on the whose average age was 54 was not conceivable, grounds that their constitu- while question #28 forced them into an untenable tional rights and those of their family members position: they had not been allowed U.S. citizen- had been violated in the incarceration. Several ship, and now they were being asked to renounce hundred Nisei refused to report for induction until allegiance to the only country of which they were their constitutional rights were restored. In all, citizens. 267 men from the detention camps were con- victed of draft resistance and sentenced to three The Nisei were understandably outraged. years in federal penitentiaries. Among other citizens, loyalty was never ques- tioned, yet the Nisei were once again asked to Also, over a hundred Nisei soldiers, already in prove theirs. Also, they knew that, should their the armed forces, engaged in acts of protest by parents answer "no" to both questions, a "yes" on refusing to undergo combat training while their their part would mean certain physical and emo- families were still behind barbed wire. tional separation from them. These questions most disturbing to the internees were intended to Three of the earliest resisters to the governmen- separate the "loyal" from the "disloyal." Most in- tal orders were Gordon Hirabayshi, Min Yasui ternees felt they were again put on trial to prove and . They brought their cases their loyalty. The requirement to fill out the poor- challenging the constitutionality of the curfew, ly worded questionnaire resulted in dissension evacuation and the internment before the Supreme among camp inmates as people were classified Court. based on their answers. Volunteers. A number of For different reasons, Nisei left the barbed wire TULE LAKE some answered "no" to confines to volunteer for the SEGREGATION both questions and were Army. A sizeable number volunteered out of branded "disloyal." They desire to prove their loyalty and in response to the were separated from the others and sent to Tule urgings of the Army and the Japanese American Lake Segregation Center in northern California. Citizens League (JACL). Half of these people were 17 years of age or less, and had no choice but to follow their parents. Several thousand volunteers served in the all- Sixty-eight percent of the 18,000 Tule Lake in- Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). habitants were Nisei. Together with the 100th Infantry Battalion, com- posed of many Japanese Americans from Hawaii, In November, 1943, a mass demonstration and they fought brilliantly overseas in Europe and suf- riot took place. The Army, 1,200 men strong, fered tremendous casualties. For its size and

7 length of service, the 100th Infantry Battalion / 442nd Regimental Combat Team became the On March 20, 1946, the last of the ten major most highly decorated unit in U.S. history. Many concentration camps, Tule Lake, closed. also served on the front lines as soldier linguists in the top-secret Military Intelligence Service Japanese American (MIS) in the Pacific war. Nisei women also families faced many served in the Women's Auxiliary Corps (WAC's) difficulties resettling in as doctors and nurses. the post-war period. Many relocated in the East and Midwest settling Nisei soldiers set a distinguished military permanently after having found occupations record. General Charles Willoughby, General there. Many returned to the West Coast, often Douglas MacArthur's chief intelligence officer finding their homes or property vandalized, in dis- remarked that the work of the Nisei MIS shorten- repair from neglect, or marred by racist epithets. ed the Pacific war by two years. More than They faced considerable discrimination in hous- 26,000 Nisei and Kibei (American-born, educated ing and employment. Retailers tried to discourage in Japan) served in the armed forces, 6,000 in the them from returning by refusing them goods and Pacific theater. services. Despite losing most of their property, busi- nesses, homes, and their communities, the Japanese Americans, in time, rebuilt their lives. The Nisei raised their families, took care of their aging parents, and became active in schools and community activities.

Japanese Americans began to exercise their rights as citizens by becom- ing involved in efforts to break down discriminatory laws in housing, land Go For Broke was the battle cry of the men of the ownership, marriage, immigration and naturaliza- 100th/442nd. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo. tion. By the end of 1942, as challenges to the con- Naturalization. In 1952, the Walter-McCarren stitutionality of the internment made its way to Act was passed, largely through the efforts of the Supreme Court, the WRA announced a policy these Nisei. The Act enabled Issei and other of "relocation" of Japanese American internees. Asian immigrants to become U.S. citizens. By By the middle of 1943, a slow trickle of Japanese 1965, over 48,000 became proud naturalized Americans resettled in the East and Midwestern citizens. sections of the U.S. Nisei in Congress. Attesting to their new-found On December 17, 1944, the government, fearing a sense of empowerment, Japanese Americans N entered the political arena. Due to their political negative Court decision, an- activism, in 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state nounced the end of the mass exclusion order and Daniel Inouye became the first Japanese against Japanese Americans. The Supreme Court American senator. In 1964, Patsy Takemoto Mink ruled on December 18 in that the government could no longer detain loyal citizens became the first Japanese American woman elected to the House of Representatives. In 1974, (as represented by Mitsuye Endo, a young Japanese American woman whose'brother served Norman Mineta of San Jose became the first Japanese American representative from the U.S. in the 442nd RCT) against their will. This led to the opening of the West Coast for resettlement. mainland. Congr. Robert Matsui (Sac. CA), Mike Honda (San Jose, CA) and others followed.

8 Civil Rights Movement. On the wave of the Consulate in Chicago. After Pearl Harbor, he Civil Rights movement led by African Americans resigned to enlist in the military, but was denied in the 1960's and 1970's, Japanese American on the grounds that he was Japanese. Yasui chal- Nisei and Sansei (Sawn-say) (third generation lenged the curfew orders on the grounds of racial Japanese American) fought for Asian American discrimination. He served nine months in solitary studies in the colleges and universities. Some of the confinement while awaiting trial. He was tried students began to take interest in the treatment of and convicted. Japanese Americans during World War II, par- ticularly in regard to the constitutional issues Separately, Hirabayashi and Yasui appealed involved. Information about the incarceration had their cases to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled been sketchy because little had been printed about together on Yasui and Hirabayashi cases. They it in textbooks, and their parents and grand- unanimously upheld the curfew law for Japanese parents, for the most part, had been reluctant to Americans living in Military Area #1 declaring speak about the humiliation they had undergone. that the President and Congress had used the war The Sansei and some Nisei began investigating power provided in the Constitution appropriately. their own history and the unspoken past. Chief Justice Stone, delivering the Opinion of the Court stated: "...in dealing with the perils of war, Redress Movement. The redress movement Congress and the Executive are wholly precluded with roots as far back as World War II sparked an from taking into account those facts which are unprecedented national campaign that led to cor- relevant to measure for our national defense and recting past wrongs through judicial, legislative for the successful prosecution of the war, and and grassroots political action. which may in fact place citizens of one ancestry in a different category from others." The Court The challenges in the held also that the curfew order did not violate the courts began as early as Fifth Amendment. In the end, it avoided the 1942. They were: ruling on the constitutionality of the eviction Hirabayashi v. United order. States (1943), Yasui v. United States (1943), Korematsu v. United States The Court reversed its earlier precedent in Ex- (1944), and Ex parte Endo (1944). parte Milligan that the federal government could not withhold the basic rights of its citizens even Hirabayashi v. United States. Gordon in times of war while civilian courts were operat- Hirabayashi, a second generation Japanese ing and functioning. American, born and raised in Washington, was a senior at the University of Washington. Korematsu v. United States. Born and raised Hirabayashi was arrested and convicted on two in Oakland, California, Fred Korematsu tried to counts, one for violating General DeWitt's cur- enlist in the Navy, but was denied because of his few order, and two, for failing to register at a Japanese ancestry. He was employed as a welder control center to prepare for departure to an "as- in a shipyard in San Leandro, California until sembly" center. His refusal to report to a control World War II broke out and he was dismissed be- center or obey the curfew order was based on his cause of his ancestry. Korematsu ignored the belief that both orders were discriminatory and evacuation orders, and attempted to alter his ap- contrary to the democratic principles on which pearance with plastic surgery in the hope of the United States was founded. remaining with his fiancee who was not Japanese, until they could move to Nevada. He was arrested Yasui v. United States. Minoru Yasui was an by the FBI and after spending two and a half American born citizen of Japanese ancestry, a months in jail, Korematsu was found guilty of graduate of the University of Oregon Law School, violating the "evacuation" orders. The U.S. District a U.S. Army reserve officer, an attorney and ac- Judge Adolphus St. Sure in San Francisco sen- tive member of the Japanese American Citizens tenced him to five years probation, but did not League. He had recently worked for the Japanese impose the sentence. Despite paying bail,

9 Korematsu was again taken into custody by the dismissed Mitsuye Endo from her civil service Military Police where he was taken to the stenographer job and the military ordered her to a Presidio Army Headquarters for confinement and detention center. She was a U.S. citizen and had a then to the local "assembly" center. brother serving in the U.S. Army. Her attorney James Purcell, filed a writ of habeas corpus on The Supreme Court made its ruling in her behalf, contending that the War Relocation December 1944, over two years after Japanese Authority had no rights to detain a loyal Americans were removed from the West Coast American citizen who was innocent of all various and put into WRA camps. allegations the Army had used to justify the evic- tion and incarceration. The Court decided in a 6-3 vote, upholding the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court Coast regions. The opinion issued by Justice ruled unanimously that Endo "should be given Hugo Black dismissed the argument that the evic- her liberty." The government should release the tion order was racially discriminatory, and said it Japanese American woman from custody whose was necessary for military security. The Court's loyalty to the United States had been clearly estab- cited reason was the war with Japan and the mili- lished. Justice Murphy stated: tary necessity perceived by Congress and military "...detention in Relocation Centers of persons of Japanese leaders. However, the Court was not unanimous ancestry regardless of loyalty is not only unauthorized by in its decision, and Justices Robert H. Jackson, Congress of the Executive, but it is another example of Frank Murphy, and Owen J. Roberts strongly dis- the unconstitutional resort to racism inherent in the entire evacuation program. " sented. Justice Murphy declared that the exclu- Major General Pratt, commander of Military sion orders did violate the rights of citizens to due Area #1 at the time, ordered the suspension of the process of law. While Murphy admitted that the exclusion orders; detained Japanese Americans argument citing military necessity held importance, were now free to return to their homes on the the evidence presented had neither substance nor West Coast. support. He insisted that the military necessity claim must subject itself to the judicial process Nevertheless, the rulings made by the Supreme "to determine whether the deprivation is reasonably Court left both dangerous and disturbing prece- related to a public danger that is so immediate, dents. Knowing that martial law had not been imminent, and impending." declared on the West Coast, and all civil courts were open and functioning, the President and Justice Roberts wrote: "This is not the case of keeping military could decide in their judgment, that a people off the streets at night as was Hirabayashi v. United States, nor a case of temporary exclusion of a citi- national emergency exists and thus could choose zen from any area for his own safety...nor a case of offer- to ignore, suspend or deny all rights of its citizens. ing him an opportunity to go temporarily out of an area where his presence might cause danger to himself or his Forty years later, the federal district courts in fellows. On the contrary, it is the case of convicting a San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle vacated the citizen as a punishment for not submitting to imprison- original conviction of Korematsu (1983), Yasui ment in a concentration camp, based on his ancestry... (1985) and Hirabayashi (1986) in response to a without evidence or inquiry concerning his loyalty and petition for a writ of error coram nobis - a legal good disposition towards the United States ...I need hardly labor the conclusion that Constitutional rights procedure requesting the original trial court to have been violated." correct a fundamental error and injustice at the time of trial. The petition presented by a legal team, headed by Sansei attorneys Dale Minami In handing down the decision on the eviction, the Supreme Court side-stepped the ruling on the and DonTamaki, asserted that a fundamental mass incarceration. error was made. Officials of the War Department altered and destroyed evidence, Ex Parte Endo. In 1942, the California State and deliberately withheld knowledge of this Highway Commission in Sacramento, California key evidence from the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court, and that both the War

10 and the Justice Departments failed to inform the The Commission, comprised of nine distin- Supreme Court of the falsehood of DeWitt's guished members, held 20 days of hearings on Final Report. Both departments suppressed sites across the country. They heard testimonies evidence on the loyalty of Japanese Americans. of over 750 former internees and government offi- These startling discoveries were made by legal cials. In 1983, the commission concluded that the historian Peter Irons and researcher Aiko Herzig incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been Yoshinaga. They found that the Supreme Court justified by military necessity but that the decisions of the 1940s had been based on the mis- decision to incarcerate was based on "race representation of available facts and on the prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political deliberate suppression of evidence. leadership."

In her opinion, Federal Appeals Court Judge The Commission recommended that Congress Marilyn Hall Patel found "substantial support in pass legislation which recognized the grave injus- the record that the government deliberately tice done and offer the nation's apology as well as omitted relevant information and provided mis- restitution of $20,000 to each of the approximate- leading information" to the Supreme Court. "The ly 60,000 survivors involved. judicial process is seriously impaired," she wrote, "when government's law enforcement officers After an extensive effort by all segments of the violate their ethical obligations to the court." The Japanese American community and other or- other judges for Hirabayashi and Yasui vacated ganizations - including the JACL, the National their convictions but refused to make such find- Coalition for Redress/Reparations, veterans ings, citing statute of limitations. groups, churches, civil rights and minority or- ganizations, churches, unions, community In March 1983, the National Council for agencies and the media - a bill incorporating the Japanese American Redress (NCJAR) attempted recommendations of the Commission was intro- to seek redress based on 22 causes of action or duced in Congress in 1983. Five years later, the constitutional violations. The claims on the viola- Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was finally passed tions of constitutional rights were cited in the and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan class action suit in Hohri v. U.S. In preparation on August 10, 1988. On November 21, 1989, for the case, many new research findings were un- President George Bush signed an appropriation covered which strengthened the case for redress bill which contained the redress payment through judicial means. However, in November provision as an entitlement program to be paid 1988, the Supreme Court denied hearing the peti- from October 1990 through 1993. tion to seek judicial finding on procedural grounds. The first letters of apology and redress pay- ments were made on October 9, 1990, starting Redress Legislation. In 1970, Japanese with the oldest survivors. Americans mounted a movement to obtain redress for their constitutional rights that had Redress Aftermath. Although the payment been violated. Grassroots campaigns by the JACL and apology could never fully compensate the sur- and NCRR mobilized the populace to disseminate vivors for the tremendous monetary loss of information and to lobby Congress for redress. property, humiliation, and psychological trauma One of the stated goals of the movement was to endured, Japanese Americans felt a great burden educate the public about what happened. lifted, a rekindled pride of being Japanese American and a renewed faith in American politi- The Hearings. In 1980, Congress enacted and cal process. In this post 9-11 era, a number President Jimmy Carter signed into law the crea- of Japanese Americans spend considerable time tion of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and resources in an ongoing effort to educate the and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to review public about this episode in American history Executive Order 9066 and its impact on the and its implications today • Japanese Americans.

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