TABLE OF CONTENTS
a. Sources
b. Transcription
Notes
III. The Pre-War Years -- FBI, G-2, MAGIC,
ONI Intelligence
February
10, 1940 - Federal
Bureau of Investigation
Case Report on
the HEIMUSHA KAI (Association of
Japanese
in America obligated to Military Duty)
January 30, 1941 to January
23, 1942 -
MAGIC decrypts
February 12 to June 9,
1941 -
Intelligence Reports based on MAGIC
July 3, 1941 - FBI
Report on
Heimusha Kai and other organizations
October 4, 1941 -
FBI Case
Report
on the NANKA TEIKOKU GUNYU-DAN
October 30, 1941 -
Daily Worker
News Report on Japanese Espionage
November 1941 - Japanese on
the West Coast by Curtis Munson
November 3, 1941 -
Army G-2
Summary
on
Japanese Military Servicemen's League and Japanese American Citizens
League
December 4, 1941 -
Office of
Naval Iintelligence Report,
Japanese Intelligence and Propaganda in the United States During 1941
December 4, 1941 -
Letter,
Special Agent in Charge
Honolulu to Director of FBI re detention of aliens
IV. The War Begins -- December 8, 1941 ~ 1942
a. Intelligence -- MAGIC, FBI, G-2, ONI
December
7, 1941 -
Presidential Proclamation 2525 re Alien
Enemies, Japanese
December 7-29,
1941 - FBI File
Memos and Reports on Round-up
of Enemy Aliens
December 10, 1941 -
FBI
letters re Curtis Munson and apprehension of
dangerous citizens
December
12, 1941 (Feb.
15, 1942; July 2, 1946) - FBI reports on custodial detentions, searches
and apprehensions on the West Coast
December 24,
1941 - ONI
Report on Tokyo
Club Syndicate with its Interlocking Affiliates
1942
- Investigation Of Un-American
Propaganda Activities In The United States - Report on Japanese
Activities
January 16, 1942 - FBI
letter to FCC
re illicit short-wave radio transmissions
January
21, 1942 - G-2
Bulletin on Japanese Espionage
January 23, 1942 -
FBI Case
File on Juichi Hazama
Jan. 26, Feb. 7,
June 19, 1942 - Ringle
Reports on the Japanese Question
in the U.S., Japanese Menace on Terminal
Island, Memoranda
January 30, 1942 -
FBI Case
Report
on Compulsory Military Service Association
January 30, 1942 -
FBI letter
re
Prospectus of Heimusha Kai of Utah
January 30, 1942 -
FBI Case
Report on the NANKA TEIKOKU GUNYU-DAN
February 2, 1942 -
Hoover
memorandum for Attorney General, pros and cons of evacuation
February 9,
1942 - FBI
letter to Attorney General re Enemy Alien Problem in Western Defense
Command
February 10, 1942
- Memo re
Japanese internee complaints at Ellis Island
February 19, 1942 - Executive
Order
9066 authorizing the Secretary
of War to provide for those excluded from military areas
February 28,
1942 - G-2
Report on Enemy Situation in Western Defense Command
April 6, 1942 -
G-2 Memo re
Enemy Agents in Pacific Northwest
April 28, 1942 -
INS on
treatment of alien enemy detainees
September 7, 1942
- FBI Case
Report on Japanese Espionage in
Hawaii
September 9, 1942
- FBI case
file
on John Mikami re Pearl Harbor
October 17, 1942
- Excerpt
from Internee Hearing Board Report on Richard Kotoshirodo espionage case
V. The War Relocation Authority Years
a. Evacuation, Relocation
and Resettlement
March
6, 1942 - Western Defense Command HQ Press Release re advice to enemy
aliens and Japanese-American citizens
March
18, 1942 - Executive
Order 9102 establishing the War Relocation Authority
March 1942 - The
War Relocation
Work Corps: A
Circular
of Information for Enlistees and Their Families
March 23, 1942 - Letter
from Japanese
American Citizens League to
Utah Governor
April
15, 1942 -
Memoranda on
the
Constitutional Power of the WRA to Detain Evacuees
April 20, 1942 - M.
S.
Eisenhower, Memorandum for Members of Congress
May 25, 1942 -
State Dept.
Report
on Spanish Consular visit to Raton Ranch, Civilian Detention Station
June 20, 1942 -
"Manzanar Free
Press" newsletter
October 1942 - Dealing With
Japanese
Americans -- Background for
the Relocation
Program
October 1942 -
Second Quarterly
Report of the War Relocation Authority
December 19, 1942
- Report on
Conditions in Relocation Centers
January 1943 -
Selective
Service Questionnaire
March 1943 -- An
Anniversary
Statement by Dillon Myer
March 11, 1943 --
Dillon Myer
letter to Secretary of War Stimson, including reply
April 20, 1943 --
Letter from
John
Kitasako to Dillon Myer
May 14, 1943 --
Transcript of
Press Conference with Dillon Myer
June 5, 1943 --
J. L. DeWitt's "Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the
West Coast 1942" (transcription in progress)
June 24, 1943 --
Remarks of
Dillon
Myer in March of Time address
July 7, 1943 -
Statement by
Dillon
S. Myer, Constitutional Principles Involved in the Relocation
Program
July 7, 1943 -
Statement by
Dillon
S. Myer, Evidences of Americanism Among Japanese-Americans
July 21, 1943 -
Community
Analysis
Report: Are the Nisei Assimilated?
July 15, 1943 -
Address by
Dillon
S. Myer, NBC broadcast
August 6, 1943 -
Address by
Dillon
Myer, The Truth About Relocation
August 25, 1943 - Leave
Clearance
Interview Questions
August 31, 1943 -
Letter from
Attorney General on Japan Govt. complaints re treatment of Japanese in
U.S.
September 11, 1943
- Myer
letter
to FBI re improvements at Centers
October 18, 1943 -
A talk by
Dillon Myer, Obligations of Our Heritage
November 16, 1943 -
An address
by
Dillon Myer, The Relocation Program
December 21, 1943 -
Dillon Myer,
Christmas Message to WRA staff
January 21, 1944 -
Address by
Dillon Myer, Facts About the War Relocation Authority
February 11, 1944 -
Letter from
Myer to Sen. Truman on educational program
March 14, 1944 -
Dillon Myer
speech, Relocation Problems and Policies
March
20, 1944 issue of LIFE magazine on the Tule Lake
Pressure Boys
March 23, 1944 -
Dillon Myer
speech, One Thousandth of the Nation
March 6 - June 2,
1944 - Dillon
Myer memoranda to Interior Secretary Ickes, and to Under-Secretary
Fortas
April 29, 1944 -
Dillon Myer
memorandum re DeWitt's Final Report
September 8, 1944 -
Dept. of
Interior news release re number leaving centers
October 2, 1944 --
Address by
Dillon Myer, Race and Reason
October 26, 1944 --
Address by
Dillon Myer, A Tenth of a Million People
November 15 and
20, 1944 -
Minutes of Meetings, WRA - War Department - Department of Justice
January 1945 -
Dillon Myer,
General message on WRA policies and procedures
January 1945 -
Dillon Myer, West
Coast speech excerpts
January
10, 1945 - Dept.
of Justice Assistant Attorney General John Burling reply
to the Tule Lake Sokuji Kikoku Hoshi Dan and Hokoku Seinen Dan groups
(transcription pending)
February 19, 1945 -
Myer speech
to
mass meeting of Minidoka residents
June 19, 1945 -
Myer speech, Problems
of Evacuee Resettlement in California
July 1945 - Annual
Report of the
Director of the WRA
July 14, 1945 -
Letter from Myer
to S. Hideshima
August 1945 - Myer,
A
Message
to American Soldiers of Japanese Ancestry
1945 - WRA Relation
with other
Government Agencies
1945 - Statement by
Dillon Myer,
Relocation: The Final Chapter
August
22, 1945 - Alien Enemy Control Unit Director Edward Ennis letter
to ACLU Director Ernest Besig regarding renunciants (transcription
pending)
1946 -- WRA memorandum to
members of
Congress from the three West Coast States
January 1, 1946 -
Excerpts from WRA
Final Report on Legal and Constitutional Phases of the WRA Program
April 24, 1946 - Letter
from Interior
Sec. Krug to Speaker of the House Rayburn re bill to create Evacuation
Claims Commission
July 1946 -- Semiannual
Report of the
War Relocation Authority (paging incomplete)
April 1948 - Statement of
D. S. Myer
before a Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee re
naturalization laws
July 19, 1949 - Dillon S.
Myer
statement
in support of H. R. 199 before a Special Committee of the Senate
Judiciary Committee
July 27, 1962 - Myer
speech to
Japanese
American Citizens League
WRA documents 1943-1947 - PDF
files pending transcription
b. Intelligence -- MAGIC, FBI, G-2,
ONI, Senate
March
24, 1942 - Fact
Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, Testimony of Fred Tayama
December 12, 1942
- FBI memo on
establishment of WRA
December 12, 1942
- FBI Report
on Police and Internal Security
Problems in War Relocation Camps
December 15, 1942
- FBI Memo on
Summary of War Relocation
Authority
1943 - FBI
memorandum on riots,
strikes, and disturbances in Japanese relocation centers
January 9, 1943 -
FBI Report,
Confidential Informant on conditions at Relocation Centers
January 20, 1943 -
Loyalty
Investigations of American Citizens of Japanese Ancestry in War Relocation
Centers
January 1943 -
Senate Hearings
re Transfer of WRA Functions to War Dept. (6 pages)
February
1943 - FBI
survey of War Relocation Authority Camps; Myer response
March 1943 -
Excerpts from
Senate
Report on Un-American Activities in California, Japanese Activities
March 23, 1943 -
FBI report on
registration for military service at WRA Centers
May 12, 1943 -
Naval
Intelligence
re Japanese-American protest of registration for military service
September 30, 1943
- Dies
Committee Report Summary and Eberharter's Minority Views
November 19, 1943 -
Letter from
John M. Hall to Dillon Myer, Excerpts from Confidential Letter from
General Emmons to Mr. McCloy
February 4, 1944 -
Letter from
Selective Service re denial of Japanese Americans for military service;
May 12, 1943 ONI Report re registration protestor
February 28, 1944 -
Memorandum
on
Japanese-Organized Broadcasts
April 16, 1945 -
Excerpts from
Un-American Activities Report on Japanese Problems in California
April 23, 1945
- G-2 Report
of Interrogation of an American-born Japanese POW
April 30, 1945 -
Myer testimony
before subcommittee of Committee on Appropriations, House of
Representatives
May 2, 1945 -
Letter from
Japanese at Tule Lake requesting ex/repatriation
August 9, 1948 - INS
letter re total
interned in U.S. during WWII
October 18, 1948 - Time
Magazine article on Tomoya Kawakita
1964 - US Army Handbook, Guarding the United States and its
Outposts
- Continental Defense Commands
After
Pearl Harbor - Japanese
Evacuation from
the West Coast - The
Hawaiian Defenses
after Pearl Harbor
VI. Hearings on Evacuation, Relocation and Internment
a.
Commission on
Wartime Relocation and Internment
of Civilians Hearings
July 2, 1981 - Testimony
of Rachel
Kawasaki
August 5, 1981 -
Statement by Karl
R.
Bendetsen
August 11, 1981 -
Testimony of Boris
T. Pash
August 21, 1981 - Japan
Times
article by Kiyoaki Murata
September 9, 1981 -
Statement by
Catherine Treadgold
b. Japanese
American Evacuation Redress
Hearing
July 27, 1983 -
Testimony of Dr. Ken
Masugi
July 27, 1983 -
Testimony of Senator
S. I. Hayakawa
c.
Japanese-American and Aleutian
Wartime Relocation Hearings
June 20, 1984 -
Testimony of Ken
Masugi
June 21, 1984 -
Testimony of John
J.
McCloy
June 27, 1984 -
Testimony of David
Lowman (2 pages)
September 12, 1984 -
Testimony
of Karl Bendetsen
d.
Recommendations of the Commission on
Wartime Internment and Relocation of Citizens
August 16,
1984 - Testimony of
Samuel I. Hayakawa
August 16, 1984 -
Testimony of Frederick Wiener, including a statement by Shonin
Yamashita, letter
from John McCloy to
Senator Charles Grassley, and excerpts
from Acheson v. Murakami
August 16, 1984 -
Testimony of David
Lowman
August 16, 1984 -
Testimony of
Catherine Treadgold
August 16, 1984 - Testimony of Lillian Baker,
supplemented
with 16 exhibits (2 pages) - Originals of documents in Lillian Baker
collection
August 16, 1984 -
Testimony of Rachel
Kawasaki
a. The
Military Necessity Question
b. The
Intelligence Question
c. Prejudices
and
Discrimination
d. Concentration
Camp?
e. Barren
Deserts and Hard
Times
f. Citizenship
and
Population
g. Yes-Yes,
No-No --
The Questionnaire
h. Reciprocation
and
Exchange
i. Preservation
of a
People
j. Filling
the Need
k. The
Irony
l. Closing
Thoughts
m. Comments on the News
Your Solution
Educational Challenge
Assorted
Talking Points
for Discussion
Questions to Ask
We, the members of the Japanese
Farmer's Association of Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho,
wish to
inform our relatives and friends in Japan that we are receiving the
same good care and protection by the United States government that we
received previous to the outbreak of present hostilities, and that we
are doing our farming in a normal way just as in former years.
We are not restricted in traveling in our communities, or from
community to and from our homes and places of business; or from going
to church, schools, or any federal, state or local agency which might
be required for the transaction of business.
We appreciate very much this freedom of movement and protection by the
American government. No member of our community has been apprehended or
detained by government authorities. So please do not be anxious about
us. We are all right. -- H. K. Hashitani
Telegram sent by a
group of Japanese
to the Imperial Government on January 20, 1941
-- From Quiet Passages by
Corbett
|
IX. Assorted documents
July
7, 1970 -- Oral History Interview with Dillon S. Myer (Truman
Library website)
Oct. 24, 1972 -- Excerpts
from an Oral
History Interview with Karl R. Bendetsen on reasons for EO9066
"We didn't lose everything"
-- The
Other Side of the Japanese American Story
Ronald Reagan
and Redress for
Japanese-American Internment, 1983-88 -- An article
by
Timothy Maga
News Clippings from the Past
-- A collection of news clippings from West Coast newspapers during
1942
Through the Eyes of an Issei:
The Internment of Japanese in the United States during World War II
-- Excerpts from Life Behind Barbed Wire by
Yasutaro Soga
Affidavit of Jiro Nakahara
-- Description of atrocities by a Nisei who worked for the Imperial
Japanese Navy as a civilian radio monitor
On the Japanese
Problem - background articles from the early 1900's on
immigration and land policies regarding the Japanese in the
U.S.
The Japanese in Hawaii
by Utaro Okumura (1920) -- very enlightening background
information on reasons for the feelings of "restlessness,
misunderstanding, and
suspicion" between America and Japan
The Foreign Language Schools - excerpt from A Survey of Education in Hawaii
(Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Education, 1920) revealing how
Japanese language school instruction posed a very serious problem in
Hawaii as well as on the West Coast
Contents of the Japanese
Language School Textbooks - excerpt from A Survey of Education in Hawaii
(Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Education, 1920)
Hawaii and Its Race Problem
(Dept. of Interior, 1932) - excerpts on the Japanese race situation in
Hawaii just prior to WWII
Japanese
Patriotic Organizations 1947-03-05
- Investigations Division (IPS) report on Ultra-Nationalistic,
Nationalistic, and Conservative societies in Japan, with short history
on Japanese nationalism
Friendly Japanese (A-J,
K-O,
S-Y)
- Produced in Aug. 1945 by the US Military Intelligence Division, a
listing of Japanese in Japan (including many American-born) who were
thought to be "loyal Japanese who... may be expected to cooperate with
Allied occupation force."
Video December 7th (full version) -
Controversial in its time; full of information dealing with the Nikkei
problem in Hawaii.
Relations
Between US Military Forces and the Population of Hawaii
by Bertrand Roehner (2014) - Excellent chronological information. Of
note in this document: Chapter Six, "Sabotage and Espionage" and
Chapter Seven, "The Niihau Incident." See also my collection of
excerpts.
Yosuke "Frank" Matsuoka Collection
- An assortment of documents and exhibit summaries from the Tokyo War
Crimes Trials (IMTFE) regarding Frank Matsuoka who was raised and
educated in Portland, Oregon, and Oakland, California, later becoming
Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs just before the start of the
Pacific War. He was arrested and died in Sugamo Prison in June 1946. Of
note is his reference in 1941 to the Japanese Govt. "trying for many
years to develop our people in foreign countries" (see page 5). The
Issei probably were referring to this as noted in the WRA publication, Impounded People (see page 159), and therefore later stopped their donations to the motherland's military support.
July 1945 telegram to Swiss re well-balanced diet for Nikkei
- Joseph Grew requesting Japan reciprocate and ensure American POWs and
internees are adequately fed: "...the US Government can only assume
that the Jap Govt sanctions the starvation of American POWs and
civilian internees in its custody."
Chronology
of Events
1941
December 7 -- Pearl Harbor was attacked by the
Japanese.
December 15 -- Statement was made by Secretary Knox
of U. S.
Navy
alleging "effective fifth column work" in Hawaii.
1942
January 5 -- John B. Hughes, in a radio broadcast, criticized the
Department of Justice and urged evacuation of all Japanese. This kicked
off the campaign for evacuation.
January 29 -- U. S. Attorney General Francis Biddle
issued the
first of
a series of orders establishing limited strategic areas along the
Pacific Coast and requiring the removal of all enemy aliens from these
areas.
January 30 -- Colonel
Karl Bendetsen,
as the War Department's
representative, appeared before the West Coast Congressional delegation
and was reported as having stated that "military judgment on the West
Coast on whether or not this evacuation of citizens and aliens should
take place was positively in the affirmative."
MacArthur
Radiogram on the Nikkei and Japanese Treatment of Civilians in the
Philippines
FEBRUARY 1, 1942
9:17AM
FROM: FORT MILLS
TO: THE ADJUTANT GENERAL
All
reports confirm my previous statements as to the extremely harsh and
rigid measures taken against the American and English in occupied areas
in the Philippines. Such steps are not only unnecessary but are
unquestionably dictated by the idea of abuse and special humiliation. I
earnestly recommend that steps be taken through the State Dept. to have
these conditions alleviated. The
negligible restrictions apparently applied in the United States to the
many thousands of Japanese nationals there can easily serve as the
lever under the threat of reciprocal retaliatory measures to force
decent treatment for these interned men and women. The only
language the Japanese understand is force and it should be applied mercilessly to his nationals if
necessary.
The special harshness of treatment here coupled with moderate treatment
of metropolitan Filipinos is definitely designed to discredit the white
races. I urge this matter be handled immediately and aggressively
through the proper diplomatic channels.
MacArthur
|
February 10 (approx.) -- Opinion was given to Attorney General Biddle
by a team of lawyers (Cohen, Cox, and Rauh) upholding the legality of
evacuation under the President's war powers.
February 12 -- Walter Lippmann's syndicated column appeared. It was
entitled "The Fifth Column on the Coast."
February 13 -- West Coast Congressional delegation sent a letter to
President Roosevelt recommending the "immediate evacuation of all
persons of Japanese lineage... aliens and citizens alike" from the
"entire strategic area" of California, Washington, and Oregon.
February 14 -- Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt, Commanding
General of
the
Western Defense Command, sent a memorandum to Secretary of War Henry
L.
Stimson recommending the evacuation of "Japanese and other
subversive
persons" from the West Coast area.
Defense Command Map
of the United States - 1942
February 19 -- President Roosevelt signed Executive
Order No. 9066
authorizing the Secretary of War or any military commander designated
by the Secretary, to establish "military areas" and exclude therefrom
"any or all persons."
February 20 -- Secretary Stimson designated General DeWitt as a
military commander empowered to carry out an evacuation within his
command under the terms of Executive Order 9066.
February 21 -- The Tolan Committee hearings were
started in San
Francisco and continued until March 12 on the West Coast.
February 23 -- An enemy seaborne craft shelled Goleta, California, near
Santa Barbara. A timely act from the standpoint of the exclusionists.
March 2 -- General DeWitt issued Proclamation No. 1
designating
the
Western half of the three Pacific Coast states and the southern third
of Arizona as a military area and stipulating that all persons of
Japanese descent would eventually be removed therefrom.
March 11 -- General DeWitt established the Wartime Civil
Control
Administration (WCCA), with Col. Karl R. Bendetsen as
Director, to
carry out the evacuation program.
March 18 -- President Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9102
creating the War Relocation Authority to assist persons evacuated by
the military under Executive Order No. 9066. Milton S.
Eisenhower
was
named Director.
March 21 -- President Roosevelt signed Public Law 503
(77th
Congress)
making it a federal offense to violate any order issued by a designated
military commander under authority of Executive Order No. 9066.
March 22 -- First large contingent of Japanese and Japanese
Americans
moved from Los Angeles to the Manzanar Assembly Center
operated
by the
Army in the Owens Valley of California.
"View from window of the Wartime Civil Control Administration station.
Moving vans are taking baggage belonging to evacuees of Japanese
ancestry to the Assembly center." (Oakland, 05/06/1942)
March 23 -- General DeWitt issued Civilian Exclusion Order
No. 1
ordering the evacuation of all people of Japanese descent from
Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, and their removal by March 30, to the
Puyallup Army Assembly Center near Seattle.
March 27 -- General DeWitt issued Proclamation No. 4
(effective
March
29) forbidding further voluntary migration of Japanese and Japanese
Americans from the West Coast military area.
April 7 -- Representatives of the governments of the ten Western states
met at Salt Lake City with Director Milton S. Eisenhower of WRA and
Colonel Bendetsen of WCCA to discuss resettlement plans for the
evacuated people. The majority of the conferees registered
uncompromising protest against unrestricted migration or resettlement
within the western states. (This meeting is referred to as the Governors'
Conference).
May 8 -- The first contingent of evacuees arrived at the Colorado
River
Relocation Center (Poston) near Parker, Arizona.
May 21 -- Group of 15 evacuees left from the Portland Army Assembly
Center for seasonal agricultural work in Malheur County, Oregon, under
civilian restriction order of the Western Defense Command.
May 27 -- First contingent of evacuees arrived at the Tule
Lake
Relocation Center in northern California.
May 29 -- "National Student Relocation Council" was established, with
John Nason as chairman.
June 1 -- The Manzanar Army Assembly Center was transferred from WCCA
to WRA and renamed Manzanar Relocation Center.
June 2 -- General DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 6
forbidding
further voluntary migration of people of Japanese descent from the
eastern half of California and simultaneously announced that all such
people would eventually be removed from this area directly to WRA
centers.
June 17 -- President Roosevelt appointed Dillon S. Myer
to
succeed
Milton S. Eisenhower as director of WRA after Eisenhower's resignation
to become Deputy Director of the Office of War In formation.
July 20 -- WRA adopted its first leave policy which launched the
relocation program outside of centers. On this same date the Gila
River
Relocation Center in Arizona received its first contingent of
evacuees
from the Turlock Army Assembly Center in California.
August 7 -- Western Defense Command announced the completion
of
evacuation of 110,000 from their homes in the military areas
either
to
Army Assembly Centers or to WRA centers. The last of the residents of
Japanese descent from eastern California were moved to relocation
centers, even though most of them had already moved voluntarily from
their homes near the West Coast to new homes farther inland.
August 10 -- Minidoka Relocation Center near Twin
Falls, Idaho,
received the first contingent of evacuees from the Puyallup Army
Assembly Center.
August 12 -- Heart Mountain Relocation Center near
Cody,
Wyoming,
received its first group of evacuees from the Pomona Army Assembly
Center.
August 13 -- WRA began an agency conference of key staff members in San
Francisco to determine basic policies for the operation of relocation
centers,
August 27 -- The Granada Relocation Center near La
Mar,
Colorado, was
opened with the arrival of a group of evacuees from the Merced Army
Assembly Center.
September 11 -- The Central Utah Relocation Center
near Delta,
Utah,
received the first group of evacuees from the Tanforan Army Assembly
Center.
September 18 -- The Rohwer Relocation Center near
McGhee,
Arkansas,
received its first group of evacuees from the Stockton Army Assembly
Center.
September 26 -- The WRA issued its revised and expanded basic leave
regulations effective on October 1. These regulations laid the basis
for an all-out resettlement program.
October 6 -- The Jerome Relocation Center near
Dermott,
Arkansas, the
last of the ten centers ready for business, received a group of
evacuees from the Fresno Army Assembly Center.
November 3 -- The transfer of evacuees from the Army Wartime Civil
Control Administration to the WRA was completed with the arrival of the
last group at the Jerome Center from Fresno.
November 14 -- A community-wide strike and demonstration (The
Poston
Incident) was staged by the evacuees of Unit One of the
Colorado
River
Center.
November 15 -- Announcement was made of plans to eliminate the WRA
regional offices as line offices, effective December 1.
November 23 -- The Poston Incident was settled by an agreement between
the administration and a committee of the residents.
December 6 -- Some Manzanar residents staged a demonstration
over the
arrest of a resident. The military were called in and took over
temporarily.
December 10 -- A small group of troublemakers was moved from Manzanar
to a Moab, Utah, abandoned CCC camp; aggressive
pro-American
Nisei were
moved to a Death Valley CCC camp site to avoid more
trouble at
Manzanar.
1943
January 4 -- WRA field offices were established in
Chicago and
Salt
Lake City to facilitate relocation; soon thereafter, offices were
opened in Cleveland, Minneapolis, Des Moines, New York, Denver, Kansas
City, and Boston.
January 20 -- Chairman Robert Reynolds of the Senate Committee on
Military Affairs appointed a subcommittee under the chairman ship of
Senator A. B. Chandler of Kentucky to investigate the WRA
program
and
to consider a bill introduced by Senator Mon Wallgren to transfer the
functions of WRA to the War Department.
January 28 -- Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced plans to form
a Japanese American Combat Team to be made up of
volunteers
from both
the mainland and Hawaii.
February 8 -- Army enlistment and leave clearance registration
began at
most of the relocation centers.
March 11 -- WRA Director Dillon Myer wrote a letter to Secretary of War
Stimson recommending an immediate relaxation of the West Coast
Exclusion Orders against persons of Japanese descent. This
recommendation was rejected in a reply dated May 10 in which
segregation was strongly urged.
March 20 -- Project directors were authorized to issue leave permits to
persons wishing to relocate, in cases where leave clearance had been
given by the Washington office.
April 8 -- Senator Chandler wrote to Director Myer setting forth
tentative recommendations of his subcommittee regarding the WRA program
and urging that the "disloyal" evacuees be separated from the other
residents of WRA centers.
May 6 -- Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt spent a full day at
the Gila
River
Relocation Center. [PHOTO: "Mrs. Yamamoto, former P.T.A. president from
San Francisco, and now head of the Canal Women's Club, presents Mrs.
Eleanor Roosevelt with a bouquet of flowers. " (04/23/1943)]
May 12 -- Two investigators from the staff of the House of
Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities
arrived
unannounced
at the Manzanar Relocation Center to begin a probe of the WRA program.
May 23 -- Director and Mrs. Myer had lunch with President Roosevelt at
the White House.
May 31 -- Meeting of all project directors was held in Washington to
discuss the situation in the various centers and the possibility of a
segregation program. The directors were unanimous in favor of a
segregation program.
June 3 -- Chairman Martin Dies of the Committee on
Un-American
Activities announced the appointment of a three-man subcommittee, with
John M. Costello of California as Chairman and Karl Mundt of South
Dakota and Herman Eberharter of Pennsylvania as members, to investigate
the WRA.
June 25 -- Director Dillon Myer wrote to Assistant Secretary of War
John J. McCloy regarding plans for a segregation program and the
selection of Tule Lake as the segregation center.
July 6 -- Director Myer appeared for the first time before the Costello
Subcommittee to testify and to defend the administration of
the WRA
program.
August, September, and early October -- More than 15,000 people were
moved in and out of the Tule Lake Center.
October 11 -- The last group of evacuees from other centers arrived at
Tule Lake.
October 15 -- A truck accident, which killed one evacuee, led to a farm
strike at Tule Lake.
November 1 -- A mass demonstration was staged at Tule Lake for the
benefit of the National Director who was there on a visit.
November 4 -- An outbreak of violence occurred at Tule Lake
between WRA
internal security staff and a group of dissident young evacuees. Troops
were called in, and the center was transferred to military control.
November 8 -- A so-called fact-finding committee of the California
legislature began its investigation of the Tule Lake disturbance by
holding hearings in the nearby village of Tule Lake.
November 16 -- Director Dillon Myer met with the state commanders and
state adjutants of the American Legion in Indianapolis.
November 24 -- Director Myer testified before the Senate Committee on
Military Affairs regarding the Tule Lake disturbance.
November 29 -- The Costello Subcommittee began a series of hearings on
the Tule Lake situation.
1944
January 14 -- The control of the Tule Lake Center was transferred back
to the WRA by the military.
January 20 -- Secretary of War Stimson announced that in view of the
record achieved by Japanese Americans in the Army, they would
thereafter be recruited through the regular Selective Service
procedures.
February 16 -- President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9423
transferring WRA to the Department of the Interior.
May -- The 442nd Combat Team embarked for the
Italian front.
June 8 -- President Roosevelt announced a plan to bring approximately
one thousand European refugees into the United States outside the
regular immigration quotas and quarter them at an Emergency
Refugee
Shelter to be administered by WRA at Oswego, New York.
June 30 -- The Jerome Relocation Center was closed
and the five
thou
sand remaining residents were transferred to other centers.
July 1 -- President Roosevelt signed Public Law 405
(78th
Congress) permitting United States citizens to renounce their
citizenship on American soil in time of war under procedures approved
by the Attorney General.
August 3 -- European refugees arrived at New York en route to the
Emergency Refugee Shelter at Oswego, New York.
December 17 -- The War Department announced the revocation
(effective
on January 2, 1945) of the West Coast mass exclusion orders
which
had
been in effect against people of Japanese descent since the spring of
1942.
December 18 -- The WRA announced that all relocation centers would be
closed before the end of 1945 and that the entire WRA pro gram would be
liquidated on June 30, 1946. On this same date the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in the Korematsu case that the West Coast
evacuation was
constitutional; the Court also ruled on the Endo case
to the
effect
that WRA had no authority to detain a "concededly loyal" American
citizen.
1945
January 8 -- An attempt was made to burn and dynamite the packing shed
of a returned evacuee in Placer County, California. This was the first
of thirty West Coast incidents, over a period of five months
from
January to June.
January 10-20 -- Field area offices were
established at Los
Angeles,
San Francisco, and Seattle.
February 16 -- An "all center" evacuee conference was held at Salt Lake
City far the purpose of discussing and documenting the problems
inherent in the liquidation of WRA centers.
April 30 -- Director Myer, appearing before a House Appropriations
Subcommittee, estimated that approximately 44,000
"relocatable"
evacuees would be left in centers by June 30.
May 14 -- Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes
publicly
denounced the
incidents of West Coast terrorism and called for more vigorous local
law enforcement.
June 20 -- Director Dillon Myer and Assistant Director Robert
Cozzens
started on a trip of several days duration from Los Angeles up the big
valley of California to visit returning evacuees, especially those
who
had been subjected to terrorism.
July 13 -- WRA announced a schedule of closing dates for all centers,
except Tule Lake, between October 15 and December 15.
July 16 -- Captain George Grandstaff, a Caucasian
officer with
the
442nd Combat Team, began a speaking tour of the hot spots in California
to plead for tolerance toward the returning
evacuees.
August 1 -- Director Myer issued Administrative Notice 289
calling for
the scheduled relocation of remaining residents during the last six
weeks of operation of each WRA center.
August 15 -- VJ Day.
September 4 -- The Western Defense Command issued Public
Proclamation
No. 24 revoking all individual exclusion orders and all
further
military restrictions against persons of Japanese descent.
December 1 -- The last Relocation Center, except Tule Lake,
was
closed.
December 22 -- President Truman announced that the refugees at Oswego
should be considered for admission to the United States under regular
immigration quotas.
1946
February 4 -- Refugee Shelter at Fort Ontario,
Oswego, New
York, was
closed.
February 23 -- Last group of repatriates from Tule Lake
to
Japan sailed
from Long Beach, California; 432 aboard ship at sailing time.
May 8 -- The Director of WRA received "The Medal for Merit" as a result
of the work of the agency during the war.
May 15 -- The last of the WRA field offices were closed.
June 30 -- The War Relocation Authority Program was officially terminated.
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