Executive Order 9066
From Freepedia
United States Executive Order 9066 was signed into law on February 19, 1942 (during World War II), by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, using his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers.
This order authorized military commanders to declare areas of the United States as military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." It was eventually applied to one-third of the land area of the U.S. and was used against those with "Foreign Enemy Ancestry"; of those 110,000 interned, 62% were Nisei, or American-born second-generation Japanese, with the rest being Issei, or Japanese resident-aliens. Losses incurred by those affected during this time were estimated in the billions of dollars.
The Secretary of War was to assist those residents of such an area who were excluded with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations.
While Japanese-Americans were by far the best known and most numerous of those affected, some Italian-Americans and German-Americans were also subjected to similar restrictions, including internment. See [1], [2], [3]. Executive Order 9066 was finally rescinded by President Gerald Ford on April 19, 1976.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation to create the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders and their impact on Japanese Americans on the West Coast and the Aleutians in the Pribilof Islands.
In 1983, the CWRIC issued its findings in PERSONAL JUSTICE DENIED, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity.
Rather, the report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." Lastly, the Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology; redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; and a public education fund to help ensure that this would not happen again.
On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. On November 21, 1989, President George Bush signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998.
In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual redress payments and a letter of apology.
See Japanese American Internment
