CHRONOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN

INTERNMENT

December 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.

December 8, 1941

The Presidential Address to Congress FDR regarded December 1, 1942 as

“a day that will live in infamy.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VqQAf74fsE

Link may not work. If not, just google it.

December 1941

Presidential Proclamation No. 2525 gives blanket authority to Attorney General for a sweep of suspects

Dec. 8: Treasury Department seizes all Japanese banks and businesses

Dec. 9: Many Japanese language schools closed Dec. 11: FBI warns against possession of

cameras or guns by suspected “enemy” aliens Dec. 27: Attorney General orders all suspected

“enemy” aliens in West to surrender short wave radios and cameras

Dec. 30: California revokes liquor license held by non-citizen Japanese

January 1942

1: Attorney General freezes travel by all suspected “enemy” aliens, orders surrender of weapons

14: President Roosevelt orders re-registration of suspected “enemy” aliens in West

27: Los Angeles City and County discharges all Japanese on civil service lists

29: US 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 suspected “enemy” aliens from these areas

31: Attorney General establishes 59 additional prohibited zones in CA to be cleared by Feb. 15

February 1942

4: Attorney General establishes curfew zones in California to become effective Feb. 4

14: Lt. General J. DeWitt, Commanding General of the Western Defense Command, sends a memorandum to the Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson recommending

the removal of “Japanese and other subversive persons” from the West Coast area

19: President Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, authorizing Secretary of War, on any military commander designated by Secretary to establish ‘military areas’ and exclude there from ‘any or all

persons’

20: Secretary Stimson designated General DeWitt as military commander empowered to carry out an

evacuation within his command under the terms of Executive Order No. 9066

March 1942

2: General DeWitt issues Proclamation No. 1, designating the Western half of the Pacific Coast states and the southern third of Arizona as military areas and stipulating that all persons of Japanese descent would eventually be removed

7: Army acquire Owens Valley Site for Manzanar temporary detention center

11: General DeWitt establishes the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), with Colonel Karl R. Bendetsen as Director to carry out the internment plan.

16: Wartime Civil Control Administration establishes military area in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada, designate 934 prohibited zone to be cleared.

March 1942 (continued)

18: President Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9102 creating the War Relocation Authority to assist person evacuated by the military under Executive Order No. 9066. Milton S. Eisenhower was named director.

20: WCCA acquires Santa Anita as a temporary detention center.

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 1942 (continued)

22: First large contingent of Japanese and Japanese Americans moved from Los Angeles to the Manzanar temporary detention center operated by the Army in the Owens Valley of California.

23: General DeWitt issues 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 temporary detention center near Seattle.

24: Curfew for all aliens and Japanese proclaimed for military area one and other strategic areas in west effective March 27. WCCA acquires sites for temporary detention centers in California at Merced, Tulare, Marysville, and Fresno.

27: General DeWitt issued Proclamation No. 4 (effective March 29) forbidding further voluntary migration of Japanese and Japanese Americans from the West Coast military areas.

April 1942

3: First compulsory incarceration of Los Angeles Japanese to

Santa Anita temporary detention

center.

28: Seattle internees are sent to

temporary detention center at Puyallup fairgrounds, called “Camp Harmony.”

28: 132 Alaska internees are sent to Puyallup temporary detention center; later to Minidoka Internment camp.

May 1942

8: The first contingent of internees arrive at the Colorado River Internment camp

(Poston) near Parker, Arizona.

19: Western Defense Command issues

Civilian Restriction Order No. 1

establishing all temporary detention

centers in the eight far western states as military areas and

forbidding residents to leave these areas without expressed

approval of the Western Defense

Command.

27: The first contingent of

internees arrives at the Tule Lake

internment camp in Northern CA, this

group included 447 volunteers who came

from Puyallup and Portland temporary detention centers.

June 1942

1: Manzanar Army temporary detention center was transferred from WCCA to WRA and concerted to Manzanar Internment Camp.

1-4: Internees arrive directly from rural Oregon and Washington to the Tule Lake prison.

2: General DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 6 forbidding further voluntary migration of people of Japanese descent from the eastern half of CA and simultaneously announce that all such people would eventually be removed from this area directly to Internment camps.

17: President Roosevelt appointed Dillon S. Myer to succeed Milton S. Eisenhower as Director of WRA

July 13, 1942

Mitsuye Endo petitions for a writ of habeas corpus stating that she was loyal and law abiding United States citizen, that no charge had been made against her, that she was being unlawfully detained, and she was confined in an internment camp under armed guard held there against her will.

habeas corpus: which requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court; ensures that a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention

August 1942

7: Western Defense Commander announced the completion of removal of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes

10: Minidoka Internment camp near Twin Falls, Idaho receives the first contingent of internees from the Puyallup Army temporary detention center.

12: Heart Mountain Internment Camp near Cody, Wyoming received its first group of internees from the Pomona Army temporary detention center.

15: Farm labor strike at Tule Lake Internment Camp 27: The Granada Internment camp near La Mar,

Colorado was opened with the arrival of a group from Merced temporary camp.

September 1942

11: The Central Utah Internment camp, near Delta, Utah received its first group from Tanforan temporary

camp.

18: The Rohwer Internment Camp near McGhee, Arkansas received its

first group of internees from the Stockton temporary detention

camp

October 6, 1942

The Jerome Internment Camp near Dermont, Arkansas---the last of the 10 centers received a group of internees from Fresno, CA.

November 3, 1942

The transfer of internees from temporary detention centers was completed with the arrival of the last group at the Jerome Camp from Fresno, CA.

1943

Jan. 4 WRA field offices established in Chicago, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Des Moines, New York City, Denver, Kansas City, and Boston

Jan. 23 Secretary of war Henry Stimson announced plans to form an all-Japanese American Combat team to be made up of volunteers from both the mainland and Hawaii.

Feb. 8 Registration (loyalty questionnaire) of all persons over 17 years of age for Army recruitment, segregation and relocation begins at most of the internment camps.

May 6 Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt spent a day at the Gila River Internment camp

Hirabayashi v. United StatesYasui v. United States

The Supreme Court rules that a curfew may be imposed against one group of American citizens based solely on ancestry and that Congress in enacting Public Law 77-503 authorized the implementation of Executive Order 9066 and provided criminal penalties for violation of orders of the Military Commander

1944

Feb. 16 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9423 transferring WRA to the Department of the Interior

May The all-Japanese American 442 Regimental Combat Team (RCT) sent to the Italian front.

June 6, 1944

D-DayInvasion of

Normandy, France

1944 (continued)

June 30 Jerome Internment camp closed; the remaining personnel transferred to Amache, Granada, Colorado and Rohwer, ArkansasDec. 17 The war department announced the revocation (effective Jan. 2, 1945) of the West Coast mass exclusion orders which had been in effect against people of Japanese descent since the spring of 1942Dec. 18 The WRA announced that all internment camps would be closed before the end of 1945 and the entire WRA program would be liquidated on June 30, 1946

December 18, 1944

Korematsu Vs.

United States The Supreme Court rules that one group of

citizens may be singled out and expelled from their homes and imprisoned for several years without trail, based solely on their ancestry

In ex parte Endo, the US Supreme Court rules that WRA has no authority to detain a “concededly loyal” American citizen

1945

April 29: 442 All Japanese American Regiment frees prisoners at the Dachau Concentration Camp

August 15: Victory over Japan (V-J Day) September: Western Defense Command

issues Public Proclamation No. 24 revoking all individual exclusion orders and all further military restrictions against persons of Japanese descent

Oct. 15-Dec. 15: all WRA Internment camps are closed except for Tule Lake Center

1946

March 20: Tule lake Segregation Center closed

June 30: War Relocation Authority program officially terminates

Oct. 30: Crystal City Detention center, Texas operated by the Justice Department releases last Japanese Americans. The closing of the Japanese American Internment Program

July 2, 1948Evacuation Claims Act

passed, giving internees until January 3, 1950 to file claims against the

government for damages to or loss of real or personal property

consequence of the evacuation.

Total of 31 million paid by the government for

property lost by internees-equaling less than 10

cents per dollar

February 19, 1976

President Gerald FordFormally rescindsExecutive OrderNo. 9066

June 23, 1983

Report of the Commission of Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), entitled Personal Justice denied, concludes that exclusion, expulsion and incarceration were not justified by military necessity, and the decisions to do so were based on race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.

October 4, 1983

In response to a petition for a writ of error coram nobis by Fred Korematsu, the Federal District Court of san Francisco reverses his 1942 conviction and rules that the internment was not justified

*writ of error coram nobis: is a legal writ issued by a court to correct a previous error

November 2, 1989President George Bush signed Public Law 101-102 which guarantees fund for reparation payments to the World War II internment survivors beginning in October of 1990. For the Japanese American community, it marks a victorious end to a long struggle for justice.For the nation, the President’ssignature reaffirms the country’scommitment to equaljustice under the law.

Bibliography

http://www.clpef.net/chrono.html