Executive Order 9066
| Company type | Presidential executive order |
|---|---|
| Industry | Government / Military policy |
| Founded | February 19, 1942 |
| Founder | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Fate | Rescinded in 1944; revoked in 1976 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry L. Stimson, Karl Bendetsen, John L. DeWitt, Francis Biddle |
Executive Order 9066 was a presidential directive issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, amid World War II. This order permitted the compulsory relocation of individuals considered national security risks from the West Coast to designated inland "relocation centers," leading to the internment of Japanese Americans. Nearly two-thirds of the approximately 125,000 people displaced were American citizens.
Notably, Americans of Asian heritage were detained in significantly higher numbers and proportions compared to those of European ancestry. German and Italian Americans were interned under Presidential Proclamation 2526 and provisions of the Alien Enemy Act, which is part of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798.
Transcript of Executive Order 9066
The full text of Executive Order 9066 reads as follows:
Background to the Order
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, to regulate Japanese Americans within the United States. At that time, Japanese Americans were denied citizenship applications despite having lived in the country for generations. The proclamation categorized all adult Japanese Americans as "alien enemy," resulting in stringent travel restrictions and widespread anti-Japanese sentiment. These escalating tensions culminated in Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066.
This order reflected Roosevelt’s long-held racial attitudes toward Japanese Americans. In the 1920s, he opposed interracial marriage between whites and Japanese and supported California laws prohibiting land ownership by first-generation Japanese immigrants. By 1936, he privately endorsed identifying and interning Japanese residents in Hawaii should war erupt. After Pearl Harbor, despite advice from his counselors, Roosevelt refrained from protecting Japanese American civil rights and dismissed objections from Attorney General Francis Biddle and others who opposed mass incarceration.
Exclusion under the Order
While Roosevelt’s directive did not explicitly reference "Japanese" or "Japanese Americans," it granted authorities wide discretion to exclude "any or all persons" from specified areas. In practice, EO 9066 was almost exclusively enforced against individuals of Japanese ancestry. In 1943, Attorney General Biddle clarified that the order targeted Japanese exclusion specifically, not Italians or Germans.
Public Law 77-503, passed soon after EO 9066 and drafted by War Department official Karl Bendetsen, authorized enforcement measures including fines up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to one year. Interpreting this broadly, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt designated western U.S. regions as exclusion zones aimed at removing "all persons of Japanese descent." As a result, nearly 112,000 Japanese Americans were expelled from the West Coast and confined within relocation camps across the nation.
Although Roosevelt contemplated establishing internment facilities for Japanese Americans in Hawaii, logistical difficulties and opposition from local military commanders prevented widespread detention there. Despite making up almost 40% of Hawaii’s population and being vulnerable to attack, only a small number were temporarily interned—indicating that West Coast removals were driven by factors beyond military necessity.
For decades before the war, Asian Americans had endured systemic discrimination including prohibitions on land ownership and voting rights. Intelligence agencies had monitored Japanese-American communities since the early 1930s. In early 1941, Roosevelt commissioned a study which concluded there was no threat of armed insurrection by Japanese Americans; a subsequent Naval Intelligence report supported this conclusion and advised against mass incarceration—recommendations disregarded by political and military authorities.
Over two-thirds of those confined were American citizens; many others had resided in the United States for decades. The majority of Japanese Americans, especially U.S.-born Nisei, identified strongly as loyal citizens. No person of Japanese descent was ever found guilty of sabotage or espionage during this period.
Ten internment camps—referred to as "relocation centers"—were established across Arkansas (2), Arizona (2), California (2), Idaho (1), Utah (1), Wyoming (1), and Colorado (1).
World War II camps under the Order
The relocation of Japanese Americans was supervised by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who appointed Colonel Karl Bendetsen to oversee the removals along the West Coast. In early 1942, General John L. DeWitt directed Japanese Americans to report for evacuation. Initially, evacuees were placed in temporary assembly centers, which were often converted fairgrounds and racetracks where livestock stalls had been adapted for human accommodation. Once the permanent facilities operated by the War Relocation Authority were ready, detainees were transported by truck or train to these sites. The camps consisted of tar paper-covered buildings situated in areas with severe weather conditions, surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire fences. Each camp could house as many as 18,000 individuals and operated much like small municipalities, providing government-funded healthcare, food services, and education programs. Adults had opportunities to work within the camps, earning between $12 and $19 monthly, while many essential services were performed by the internees themselves.
Conditions inside the camps were overcrowded with very limited privacy and insufficient amenities. Located in inhospitable regions such as Utah’s desert, residents endured extreme heat and cold that intensified daily hardships. Educational instruction for children took place within barracks and separate religious facilities, highlighting the challenging living environment imposed on those interned.
Opposition
A public opinion poll conducted in March 1942 indicated that most Americans supported the internment of Japanese Americans regardless of their citizenship status, resulting in minimal widespread dissent. However, several notable individuals actively opposed or sought to lessen the effects of the policy.
Norman Thomas, leader of the Socialist Party of America, emerged as a prominent defender of Japanese American civil rights. Throughout the internment period, he maintained communication with detainees and civil liberties organizations. In July 1942, Thomas authored Democracy and Japanese Americans, which discussed conditions within the camps as well as legal issues surrounding internment. By late 1943, he publicly denounced the policy as "a dangerous precedent" rooted in racial bias.
Eleanor Roosevelt expressed public support for President Roosevelt’s administration but privately questioned the broad application of mass internment. She called for a more targeted approach focusing on suspected espionage while emphasizing that U.S. laws must be applied fairly to all citizens without regard to race or ancestry.
Termination, apology, and redress
Although Attorney General Francis Biddle and Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes urged President Roosevelt to release internees during 1943–44, political considerations in California delayed action. In December 1944, following the Supreme Court ruling in Ex parte Endo, Roosevelt rescinded Executive Order 9066. Detainees were gradually released to resettlement centers as camps were closed by 1946.
On February 19, 1976, President Gerald Ford officially revoked Executive Order 9066 and issued a formal apology recognizing the injustice of the evacuation while affirming Japanese Americans’ loyalty and contributions to national defense.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter created the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to examine how Executive Order 9066 affected Japanese Americans and Alaska Natives residing in the Pribilof Islands. The commission’s 1982 report titled Personal Justice Denied determined that incarceration was not justified by military necessity but was instead driven by "racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and political failure." It recommended an official government apology along with $20,000 compensation payments to surviving internees and funding for educational programs aimed at preventing future injustices.
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on August 10, enacted these recommendations. Subsequent legislation approved by President George H. W. Bush in 1989 authorized payments distributed from 1990 through 1998. Beginning in 1990, surviving detainees received individual redress checks accompanied by letters of apology. The law also included compensation for Aleut individuals displaced from Alaska’s strategic Aleutian islands.
Life after the camps
Following the conclusion of World War II, Japanese Americans who had been interned faced the daunting task of reconstructing lives shattered by their forced confinement. Both U.S. citizens and long-standing residents experienced the loss of fundamental freedoms, residences, enterprises, assets, and savings. Individuals born in Japan were prohibited from obtaining citizenship until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 repealed the Immigration Act of 1924, thereby reinstating lawful immigration from Japan.
Many sought to reclaim their former homes but often discovered their belongings had been confiscated by government authorities. In some regions, the federal government provided temporary accommodations in the form of trailers. The Asian American population that existed before the war saw a significant decrease as numerous individuals opted to begin fresh lives elsewhere. The community continued to suffer from deep psychological scars and persistent discrimination stemming from unjust incarceration without justification.
Although those who survived received redress payments amounting to $20,000, apprehensions about xenophobic attitudes and the minimization of their experiences remained prevalent. Over time, Japanese Americans endeavored to dispel the stigma associated with internment and designated February 19—the date Executive Order 9066 was signed—as a National Day of Remembrance to honor this chapter in history.
Korematsu v. United States
In the wake of Executive Order 9066 issued in February 1942, Japanese Americans were compelled to relocate to military detention centers under national security claims.[1] Fred Korematsu, then 23 years old, resisted compliance by altering his appearance and adopting an assumed identity.[2] Six months later, upon his arrest, his case was championed by the ACLU and ultimately brought before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled 6–3 in favor of upholding the order, citing "military necessity."[2]
Hirabayashi v. United States
The order also enforced a curfew between 8pm and 6am for persons of Japanese ancestry.[3] Gordon Hirabayashi, a student at the University of Washington, intentionally violated this curfew and was subsequently detained.[4] The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of his arrest on grounds of military necessity and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment.[3]
Yasui v. United States
Minoru Yasui, recognized as Oregon’s first Japanese American lawyer admitted to practice law, contested the curfew following his arrest for violation and asset seizure.[5] He purposely breached curfew by surrendering five hours late.[6] Despite being born in the United States, he was convicted, fined $5,000, and served a one-year prison term.[5] The Supreme Court upheld the curfew’s constitutionality based on military necessity.[7]
Reopening and justice
In 1983, Peter Irons and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga discovered critical evidence—a copy of Lieutenant Commander K.D. Ringle’s U.S. Navy report—proving that Japanese Americans did not pose any military threat, directly challenging the rationale behind Executive Order 9066. This revelation exposed governmental misconduct and prompted the reopening and reversal of the Korematsu, Hirabayashi, and Yasui decisions on November 10, 1983. In 2010, California declared January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day, marking the first day named after an Asian American. The Supreme Court formally overturned Korematsu v. United States in 2018, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor describing the original ruling as "gravely wrong."
Legacy
The anniversary of Executive Order 9066, observed annually on February 19, is recognized as the Day of Remembrance, honoring the unjust internment experienced by Japanese Americans. In 2017, the Smithsonian unveiled an exhibition showcasing artwork by Roger Shimomura, which provides historical context to this period. By February 2022, legislative progress was made toward enacting the Amache National Historic Site Act, granting official historic status to Colorado's Granada War Relocation Center despite encountering some political resistance.
See also
- Defence Regulation 18B
- Ex parte Endo
- Executive Order 9102
- Niihau incident
- Bob Emmett Fletcher
- Internment of Japanese Canadians
- Japanese American service in World War II
- Fred Korematsu Day
- Manzanar
- George Takei, a Japanese American actor who was interned during childhood and authored the memoir They Called Us Enemy
- War Relocation Authority
External links
- Full text of Executive Order No. 9066
- Digital version of the signed Executive Order No. 9066
- Evacuation instructional poster for San Francisco
- Evacuation instructional poster for Los Angeles
- German American Internment Coalition
- FOITimes, a resource covering European American Internment during World War II
- "The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice," National Park Service’s Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan
- Executive orders of Franklin D. Roosevelt
- History of racial segregation in the United States
- Legal history of the United States
- 1942 in American law
- Internment of Japanese Americans
- Civil detention in the United States
- Political repression in the United States
- Internment of German Americans
- Alien and Sedition Acts