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The Japanese American Internment refers to the forcible relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japan ese and Japanese American s, 62 percent of whom were United States citizens, from the West Coast of the United States during World War II to hastily constructed housing facilities called ''War Relocation Camps'' in remote portions of the nation's interior. President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the internment with United States Executive Order 9066 , which allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power was used forthwith to declare most of the Pacific coast as "Military Area Number One", and all people with Japanese ancestry were then declared "Excluded". However, residents of German and Italian descent were not excluded. During the war, an appeal contesting the government's authority to intern people based on their ancestry reached the Supreme Court , but the court upheld the government's right to intern. Some compensation for property losses was paid in 1948 , but most internees were unable to fully recover their losses. In 1988, President (and former California governor) Ronald Reagan officially apologized for the internment, on behalf of the U.S. Government . The official apology admitted that the relocation was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership", and beginning in 1990, the government paid Reparations to surviving internees. Similar ). Terminology debate Historical references describe the camps as Internment camps, although others favor the name ''relocation camps.'' Others, more critical of this action, refer to them as ''detention camps'' or '' Concentration Camps ''. Those who believe ''relocation'' is a more appropriate term argue that (1) the official designation at the time was ''relocation center''; (2) the camps were not, strictly speaking, prisons; and (3) an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 camp residents did eventually settle outside the exclusion area. The camps were surrounded by barriers and patrolled by armed guards whose sole purpose was to keep the occupants inside, with the authority to use deadly force if necessary. Many argue that the phrase ''relocation camp'' is a euphemism that does not adequately describe the true nature of the camps. And some assert that because the camps meet some dictionary definitions of ''concentration camp'', this term is appropriate. However, one problem with the term ''concentration camp'' is that it is often used to label more severe events, such as Nazi Germany's '' Konzentrationslager '' or Britain's South African camps during the Second Boer War . In its 1983 report "Personal Justice Denied," the bipartisan, Congressionally appointed Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians explained its decision to use the term "relocation camp" thus: "The Commission has largely left the words and phrases as they were, however, in an effort to mirror accurately the history of the time and to avoid the confusion and controversy a new terminology might provoke. We leave it to the reader to decide for himself how far the language of the period confirms an observation of George Orwell : 'In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible ... Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.'" Most historians now use the term ''internment camp'' because it is perceived as relatively neutral, while accurately describing them. Over the years, the phrases internment camp and relocation center have taken on a meaning beyond the raw definition of each phrase, in the same way ''concentration camp'' has a special meaning. Thus, while they were de facto concentration camps and prison camps, calling them relocation centers or internment camps is no longer considered a dilution of their true nature. The words are no long innocuous. Whatever name is used, the perimeters of the camps were fenced, armed guards were posted, and all of the camps were in remote, desolate areas far from any population centers. There are documented instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly attempted to walk outside the fences. However, some camp administrations eventually allowed relatively free movement outside the marked boundaries of the camps. Nearly a quarter of the internees left the camps to live and work elsewhere in the United States, outside the exclusion zone. Eventually, some were authorized to return to their hometowns in the exclusion zone under supervision of a sponsoring American family or agency whose loyalty had been assured. One of the camps, Tule Lake , was in fact later turned into a prison camp, with watchtowers, fences, and guards. Tule Lake was reserved for those of Japanese descent who were specifically suspected of espionage, treason, or other such disloyalty, and their families, as well as individuals who were community leaders, such as teachers or priests. Other families were held at Tule Lake because they requested to be repatriated to Japan. A number of pro-Japan demonstrations were held there throughout the war. History The roots of the internment run back to the turn of the 20th century. Tensions between Caucasian and Japanese immigrants in California had begun to increase in the 1890s, then a series of laws were passed, aimed at discouraging Japanese immigration, prohibiting land ownership by Japanese and even denying entry to Japanese women seeking to join their husbands in America. During the period of 1939-1941, the FBI compiled the Custodial Detention index ("CDI") on citizens, "enemy" aliens and foreign nationals who might be dangerous based principally on census records. It is interesting to note that these definitions of "enemy aliens" did not include those of German and Italian descent. On June 28, 1940, the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (or " Smith Act ") was passed. Among many other "loyalty" regulations, Section 31 required the registration and fingerprinting of all aliens above the age of 14, and Section 35 required aliens to report any change of address within 5 days. Within 4 months, 4,741,971 aliens registered at post offices around the country. The Attack On Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 led many to suspect the Japanese were preparing a full-scale attack on the West Coast. Further attacks, such as the fairly minor shelling of a California oil refinery in 1942 , ostensibly by a Japanese submarine, redoubled these suspicions. Although it was later disproven, the "Japanese" attack swayed public opinion. Also, Japan's rapid military conquest of much of Asia made their military machine seem to some Americans frighteningly unstoppable. Civilian and military officials had concerns about the loyalty of the ethnic Japanese on the West Coast and considered them to be a security risk, although these concerns often grew more out of racial hatred than actual risk. General DeWitt , who administered the internment program, repeatedly told newspapers that "A Jap's a Jap" and testified to Congress, "I don't want any of them (persons of Japanese ancestry) here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty ... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty. ... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map." Authorities also feared sabotage of both military and civilian facilities inside the United States. Military officials expressed concerns that California's Water systems were highly vulnerable, and there were concerns about the possibility of Arson — Brush Fire s in particular. Administration and military leaders also doubted the loyalty of ethnic Japanese because many, including some born in America, had been educated in Japan, where school curricula emphasized reverence for the Emperor . These '' Kibei '' were painted as a direct threat, a possible Fifth Column . Internment was popular among many white farmers who resented the Japanese American farmers. These individuals saw internment as a convenient means of uprooting their Japanese American competitors. Austin E. Anson, managing secretary of the Salinas Vegetable Grower-Shipper Association, told the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in 1942: "We're charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons. We do. It's a question of whether the white man lives on the Pacific Coast or the brown men .... If all the Japs were removed tomorrow, we'd never miss them in two weeks, because the white farmers can take over and produce everything the Jap grows. And we don't want them back when the war ends, either." Upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Presidential Proclamations 2525 (German), 2526 (Italian) and 2527 (Japanese) were signed. Many homes were raided using information from the CDI, and hundreds of aliens were in custody by the end of the day, including Germans and Italians (although war was not declared on Germany or Italy until December 11). Presidential Proclamation 2537 was issued on January 14 , 1942 , requiring aliens to report any change of address, employment, or name to the FBI . Enemy aliens were not allowed to enter restricted areas. Violators of these regulations were subject to "arrest, detention and internment for the duration of the war." Executive Order 9066 , signed by Franklin D Roosevelt on February 19 , 1942 , allowed authorized military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded." These "exclusion zones", unlike the "alien enemy" roundups, were applicable to anyone that an authorized military commander might choose, whether citizen or non-citizen. Eventually such areas would include both the East and West Coasts, and about 1/3 of the country, and were applied to all of those of Enemy Alien Ancestry (of which the Japanese were a minority). American citizens of German and Italian ancestory were excluded from the classification of "enemy race", which was due largely to political concerns. The German and Italian communities represented a significant voting block, and those races had become more assimilated into American culture. The Japanese people represented only a small minority, making internment feasible. Those of German and Italian ancestory were actually praised by President Roosevelt for their "loyalty" as to relieve any anxienty that those groups might also be interned. On March 2 , 1942 , General DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 1, informing all those of Japanese ancestry that they would, at some later point, be subject to exclusion orders from "Military Area No. 1" (essentially, the entire Pacific coast), and requiring anyone who had "enemy" ancestry to file a Change of Residence Notice if they planned to move. On March 11 , 1942 , Executive Order 9095 created the Office of the Alien Property Custodian, and gave it discretionary, plenary authority over all alien property interests. Many assets were frozen, creating immediate financial difficulty for the affected aliens. On March 24 , 1942 , General DeWitt began to issue exclusion orders for specific areas within "Military Area No. 1." On March 27 , 1942 , General DeWitt's Proclamation No. 4 prohibited all those of Japanese ancestry from leaving "Military Area No. 1" for "any purpose until and to the extent that a future proclamation or order of this headquarters shall so permit or direct." On May 3 , 1942 , General DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 346, ordering all people of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or non-citizens, to report to assembly centers, where they would live until being moved to permanent "Relocation Centers." Over 112,000 residents of Japanese ancestry were subject to this mass exclusion program. Of those, approximately two-thirds were U.S. citizens by birth. The remaining one-third were non-citizens who were legally subject to internment under the Alien Enemies Act . It is worth noting that the laws of the time prohibited naturalization of immigrants from Asian countries, so legal residents not born in the U.S. could not obtain citizenship. Internees of Japanese descent were first sent to one of 17 temporary "Civilian Assembly Centers," where most awaited shipment to more permanent relocation centers being constructed by the newly-formed War Relocation Authority (WRA). Some of those who did report to the civilian assembly centers were not sent to relocation centers, but were released upon condition that they remain outside the prohibited zone until the military orders were modified or lifted. Almost 120,000 Japanese Americans and resident Japanese Alien s would eventually be removed from their homes in California , western Oregon , western Washington , and southern Arizona as part of the single largest forced relocation in U.S. History . Most of these camps/residences, gardens, and stock areas were placed on Native American reservations, for which the Native Americans were not compensated, nor consulted about. The Native Americans consoled themselves that they might at least get the improvements made to the land, but at the end of the duration such buildings and gardens were bulldozed or sold by the government instead. Under the National Student Council Relocation Program (supported primarily by the American Friends Service Committee), students of college age were permitted to leave the camps in order to attend institutions which were willing to accept students of Japanese ancestry. Although the program initially granted leave permits to only a very small number of students, this eventually grew to 2,263 students by December 31, 1943. In early 1944 , the government began clearing individuals to return to the West Coast; on January 2 , 1945 , the exclusion order was rescinded entirely. The internees then began to leave the camps to rebuild their lives at home, although the relocation camps remained open for residents who weren't ready to make the move back. The fact that this occurred long before the Japanese surrender (see V-J Day ), while the war was arguably at its most vicious, weighs against the claim that the relocation was an essential security measure. However, it is also true that the Japanese were clearly losing the war by that time, and not on the offensive. The last internment camp was not closed until August 1948, although all Japanese were cleared sometime in 1945. One of the WRA camps, Manzanar , was designated a National Historic Site in 1992 to "provide for the protection and interpretation of historic, cultural, and natural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II" (Public Law 102-248). In 2001 , the site of the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho was designated the Minidoka Internment National Monument . Internment results Some Japanese Americans did become less loyal to the United States after the government removed them and their families from their homes and held them in internment camps, although such cases were isolated incidents and did not reflect the larger sentiment of the Japanese-American people who remained loyal to the United States. Several pro-Japan groups formed inside the camps, and riots occurred for various reasons in many camps, most notably Tule Lake, which caused the WRA to move "troublemaker" internees to Tule Lake (see below). When the government asked whether internees wished to renounce their U.S. citizenship, 5,589 of them did so. Of those who renounced their citizenship, 1,327 were repatriated to Japan, although many of these deportees were not accepted by the Japanese Government. However, the American Civil Liberties Union successfully challenged most of these renunciations as invalid because of the conditions under which the government obtained them. These conditions were described as "coercion, duress, and mass compulsion" by Marvin Opler , a WRA official who had observed some of the renunciation hearings and supported the restoration of citizenship to the expatriated Japanese Americans. It is interesting to note that many of the deportees were Issei (first Generation Japanese immigrants) who often had difficulty with English and often did not understand the questions they were asked. Even among those Issei who had a clear understanding, Question 28 caused the most apprehension. Japanese immigrants were denied US citizenship at the time, so when asked to renounce their Japanese citizenship, answering "Yes" would have made them stateless persons. Faced with possible deportation to Japan, the Issei largely refused to renounce their only citizenship. When the government circulated a questionnaire seeking army volunteers from among the internees, 94% of military-aged male respondents said they would not serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Most of those who refused, however, tempered that refusal with statements of willingness to fight if they were restored their rights as American citizens. How, they asked, could any government dare ask them to fight for freedoms for others, freedoms which that same government had taken away from them? However, a sizable number did volunteer to serve from the camps, including in the famed and highly decorated '' was a fairly accurate portrayal of the 442nd, and starred several of the RCT's veterans. Conditions in the camps According to a 1943 War Relocation Authority report, internees were housed in " Tar Paper -covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." The spartan facilities met International laws, but still left much to be desired. Most camps were built quickly by civilian contractors during the summer of 1942 based on designs for military barracks and were thus poorly equipped for cramped family living. For example, the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in northwestern Wyoming was a barbed-wire-surrounded enclave with unpartioned toilets, cots for beds, and a budget of 45 cents daily Per Capita for food rations. Because most internees were evacuated from their West Coast homes on short notice and not told of their destination, many failed to pack appropriate clothing for Wyoming winters which often reached temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. Many families were forced to simply take the "clothes on their backs." The razor wire which was meant to detain also served as a simple property marker that doubled in keeping out local wildlife. The phrase " Shikata Ga Nai " (loosely translated as "it cannot be helped") was commonly used to summarize the interned families' resignation to their helplessness throughout these conditions. Although that may be the view to outsiders, the Japanese people knew that in order to prove themselves as "loyal citizens" they must do what was asked of them by their government. Other camps As early as 1939 , when war broke out in Europe and while armed conflict began to rage in East Asia, the FBI and branches of the Department of Justice and the armed forces began to collect information and surveillance on influential members of the Japanese community in the United States. Agents in the Department of Justice's Special Defense Unit classified the subjects into three groups: A, B, and C, with A being "most dangerous," and C being "possibly dangerous." After the Pearl Harbor attacks, Roosevelt authorized his attorney general to put into motion a plan that arrested all of the Japanese on the potential enemy alien lists. Armed with a blanket arrest warrant, the FBI seized all of the men on the eve of December 8th, 1941. These men were held in municipal jails and prisons until they were moved to Department of Justice detention camps, separate from those of the Wartime Relocation Authority (WRA). These camps operated under far more stringent conditions and were subject to heightened military guard. Crystal City, Texas , was one such camp where together with Japanese, German s, Japanese-Latin Americans, and other people were interned as well. During the war tens of thousands of Germans and Italians were also detained, most of whom were foreign nationals or otherwise seen as subversive enemy aliens. During World War II, governor Ralph Lawrence Carr of Colorado was the only elected official to publicly apologize for the internment of American citizens. The act cost him reelection, but gained him the gratitude of the Japanese American community, such that a statue of him is erected in Sakura Square in Denver's Japantown. Canadian Citizens With Japanese Ancestry were also interned by the Canadian government during World War II (see Japanese Canadian Internment ). Japanese people from various parts of Latin America were brought to the United States for internment, or interned in their countries of residence. Hawaii Japanese Americans in Hawaii were not subject to the strict internment policy, despite the fact that they were closer to essential military facilities than most of the Japanese Americans in the western states. Given that about a third of the population of Hawaii was Japanese American, it is likely that wholesale detention of Japanese Americans in Hawaii would have crippled the local economy. Order 9066 allowed relocation, but did not require it, and common sense prevailed. While these cases were rare, there were a few internments, based on individual case evaluations. The conditions however were much more favorable, as the interned were given more time and warning in order to be sure to give or sell their property correctly. Most of those interned from Hawaii were able to give their property to family members for safekeeping, unlike most of the mainland internees, whose entire families were likewise afflicted. Compensation and reparations Most internees suffered significant property losses. Upon evacuation, the Japanese American internees were told that they could bring only as many articles of clothing, toiletries, and other personal effects as they could carry. The US Government promised to find a place to store larger items (such as iceboxes and furniture) if boxed and labeled but did not make any promises about the security of those items. In some cases, Japanese American farmers were able to find families who were willing to tend their farms for the duration of their internment. In other cases, however, Japanese American farmers had to sell their property in a matter of days, for pennies on the dollar. In these cases, the land speculators who bought the land made huge profits. California's Alien Land Laws of the 1910s , which prohibited most non-citizens from owning property in that state, contributed to Japanese American property losses. Because they were barred from owning land, many older Japanese American farmers were Tenant Farmer s and therefore lost their rights to those farm lands. To compensate these losses, the US Congress , on July 2, 1948 , passed the "American Japanese Claims Act", stating that all claims for war losses not presented within 18 months "shall be forever barred". Approximately in claims were submitted; eventually, 26,568 settlements to family groups totaling more than $38 million were disbursed. Beginning around the 1960s , a younger generation of Japanese Americans who felt energized by the Civil Rights Movement began what is known as the "Redress Movement", an effort to obtain an official apology and reparations from the federal government for interning their parents and grandparents during the war. The movement's first success was in 1976 , when President Gerald Ford proclaimed that the evacuation was "wrong." In 1980 , under Jimmy Carter , a commission was established by Congress to study the matter. Some opponents of the redress movement argued that the commission was ideologically biased because 40% of the commission staff was of Japanese descent, and that some members of the commission had previously expressed opinions against the internment. In addition, opponents of the redress movement criticized the commission because the panel did not include military or intelligence experts. On February 24 , 1983 , the commission issued a report entitled ''Personal Justice Denied'', condemning the internment as unjust and motivated by racism rather than real military necessity. Members of the redress movement and their allies considered the report a necessary recognition of the great injustice of the internment program. Opponents of the redress movement criticized the report for focusing on the civil liberties of Japanese Americans rather than the alleged security risks posed by Japanese Americans. These conclusions largely having become accepted, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act Of 1988 , which had been pushed through Congress by Representative Norman Mineta and Senator Alan K. Simpson — the two had met while Mineta was interned at a camp in Wyoming — which provided redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee, totaling $1.2 billion dollars. The question of to whom reparations should be given, how much, and even whether monetary reparations were appropriate were subjects of sometimes contentious debate. People who believed the internment program was justified (as described above, primarily members of the American Legion and veterans of the Pacific theater) argued not only that monetary reparations were inappropriate but also that no apology was necessary. On September 27 , 1992 , the Amendment of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, appropriating an additional $400 million in order to ensure that all remaining internees received their $20,000 redress payments, was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush , who also issued another formal apology from the U.S. government. Criticisms, then and now The internment is widely condemned today, often attacked as racist. People frequently cite it as a precedent for large-scale violations of civil liberties, and a warning sign of what might happen again. However, others defend it as a harsh necessity in a bitter and desperate war. Former Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark , who represented the US Department of Justice in the "relocation," writes in the Epilogue to the book ''Executive Order 9066: The Internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans'' (written by Maisie & Richard Conrat): :The truth is—as this deplorable experience proves—that constitutions and laws are not sufficient of themselves...Despite the unequivocal language of the Constitution Of The United States that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, and despite the Fifth Amendment's command that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, both of these constitutional safeguards were denied by military action under Executive Order 9066.... Some estimate that by the time the last of the relocation camps closed on December 1 , 1945 , the Japanese Americans had lost homes and businesses estimated to be worth, in 1999 values, 4 to 5 billion dollars, and that deleterious effects on Japanese American individuals, their families, and their communities, went beyond monetary damages. Critics of the exclusion argue that the military justification was unfounded, citing the absence of any subsequent convictions of Japanese American s for espionage, as well as the fact that the Army resorted to falsifying evidence in order to bolster its case before the Supreme Court in Korematsu V. United States . In response, pro-internment author Michelle Malkin has argued that the absence of any esponiage convictions is immaterial because the government may have possessed unspecified secret evidence of espionage that it was not able to introduce in court; however, her argument has not met with much success among professional historians. Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Ringle, a naval intelligence officer tasked with evaluating the loyalty of the Japanese American population, estimated in a 1941 report to his superiors that "more than 90% of the Nisei generation and 75% of the original immigrants were completely loyal to the United States." A 1941 report prepared on President Roosevelt's orders by Curtis B. Munson, special representative of the State Department, concluded that most Japanese nationals and "90 to 98 percent" of Japanese American citizens were loyal. He wrote: "There is no Japanese `problem' on the Coast ... There is far more danger from Communists and people of the Bridges type on the Coast than there is from Japanese." FBI director J. Edgar Hoover opposed the internment of Japanese-Americans. Refuting General DeWitt's reports of disloyalty on the part of Japanese Americans, Hoover sent a memo to Attorney General Francis Biddle in which he wrote about Japanese-American disloyalty, "Every complaint in this regard has been investigated, but in no case has any information been obtained which would substantiate the allegation." Support for the internment, then and now Ever since this subject became a topic of historical inquiry, there have been individuals and organizations who have argued that the suspicion of ethnic Japanese was indeed justified. Others rebut some Japanese American accounts of hardship during the evacuation and in the camps. Members of the ''. Critics have characterized her book as being one-sided, and a logically unsound justification for present-day Racial Profiling . {Link without Title} Present-day proponents of the exclusion and internment program point to the writings of David Lowman , who asserted in the 1980s and 1990s that the decryption of the MAGIC codes suggested to the military and political leaders at the time that there was a substantial spy network of Japanese Americans feeding information to the Japanese military, as the Japanese consulate repeatedly stated in the encrypted messages that it was attempting to recruit Japanese-American spies. Lowman's claims have been controversial; others point out that much of the information that Japanese officials obtained may have come from public sources such as newspapers, and that there is no data indicating the success of these recruitment efforts. A key supporter of the internment was California Attorney General Earl Warren . In later years, Warren viewed his early stance on the internment as one of his greatest mistakes. He wrote in his autobiography: :"I have since deeply regretted the removal order and my own testimony advocating it, because it was not in keeping with our American concept of freedom and the rights of citizens. Whenever I thought of the innocent little children who were torn from home, school friends and congenial surroundings, I was conscience-stricken."
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