TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chronology of Events
I. Dedication
II. Introduction
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
VII. My Comments on the Main Issues
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
VIII. Discussion -- Emails & Letters, Pro & Con
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 |
|
SPECIAL WEBPAGE
|
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
1941December 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."
|
FEBRUARY 1, 1942
FROM: FORT MILLS9:17AM 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 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.