Executive Order No. 9066

AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO PRESCRIBE MILITARY AREAS Executive Order No. 9066

WHEREAS the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U. S. C., Title 50, Sec. 104):

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such actions necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commanders may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with such respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Sectary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgement of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities and services.

This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
February 19, 1942

The journey toward understanding starts with the Smithsonian's incomparable A More Perfect Union. Continue the lesson in the on-line book, Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites

The War Relocation Agency camp in Manzanar California. Visit the National Park Service's Manzanar Virtual Tour.


Manzanar under construction. Mount Whitney is the the tallest peak in the center.

War Relocation Agency camp Topaz 12 miles west of Delta, Utah. Here is a detailed map of the site.

Visit the Topaz Museum.


Aerial view


Topaz Rams High-school football team.


Painting by internee.

War Relocation Agency camp, Tule Lake, California. This was reputedly the "toughest" of the camps in attitude toward internees. Just ask The Committee.




Boy Scout parade, Tule Lake camp


Arrival


Junior high school students at Tule Lake.

Excellent resources at the Marriott Archive.

The War Relocation Agency Colorado River camp near Poston, Arizona. Opened May 8, 1942. Closed November 28, 1945. Peak population 17,814. Origin of prisoners: Southern California, Kern County, Fresno, Monterey Bay Area, Sacramento County, Southern Arizona. 24 Japanese Americans held at Poston later lost their lives in World War II.2 Poston was divided into three separate camps -- I, II, and III.


Construction of Poston II




Click image for details

From Scott Hopkins sensitive virtual tour: "The executive order created an arbitrary line that split Phoenix into two parts. If you lived one block west of the line, you were sent to the camps, If you lived one block east, you were spared. Ninety percent of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the United States in 1942 were interned: 100,000 out of 125,000. For three years the Poston Internment Camp was the third largest city in Arizona. Now that I am living in Tucson, when I ask people if they have heard about the internment camps in Arizona, the answer is almost always no."

Visit this excellent WRA/Poston site for photos of Poston's Kabuki Theatre!

Compare with Placemarked view

The War Relocation Agency Gila River camp was located on the Gila River Indian Reservation, just west of Sacaton, Arizona. When the Gila River Relocation Center was in operation it was the fourth largest city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Tucson, and the relocation center at Poston.


Eleanor Roosevelt at the Gila River Relocation Center, April 23, 1943.




Sumo wrestling at Gila River camp

Visit Dean Terasaki's insightful remembrance.

Homework: How is the word 'Rivers' associated with this camp?

The Rohwer Relocation Center near the community of Rohwer in Desha County, Arkansas, 11 miles north of McGehee and 110 miles southeast of Little Rock.


Click image for detailed map






Monument to Japanese American soldiers from Rohwer killed during World War II. Each camp had residents who as American citizens enlisted to defend their country.

The War Relocation Agency's Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado. All images from the State of Colorado's excellent interpretive archive. Origin of camp population: Mostly from Los Angeles (3,181), Sonoma (696), Yolo (666), Stanislaus (661), Sacramento (632), and Merced (449) Counties.


Click for larger map


Tilt-up construction technique


Amache Boy Scout Troup #719


America asked...


..interned citizens responded

Homework: Who is "Little Nebo"?

The Minidoka Relocation Center was located in Jerome County, Idaho, 15 miles east of Jerome and 15 miles north of Twin Falls. The relocation center was also known as Hunt, after the official Post Office designation for the area, since there was already a town of Minidoka in Idaho, 50 miles east.






Click for larger map



Japanese ceramics at the Minidoka Relocation Center landfill.

Minidoka suffered the highest casualty rate of all the internment camps; 73 servicemen from Minidoka were killed in action.

"Could it be, I asked myself, that the United States government had dared to conscript Japanese American internees into the army after forcing them into internment camps on suspicion of disloyalty?" (More...)

Homework: Why did Judge Louis E. Goodman defend the few American citizens in these camps who refused military service when drafted by the Army?

The War Relocation Agency 'Jerome Relocation Center' in Denson (Jerome), Arkansas.





The Jerome Relocation Center was located in Chicot and Drew Counties, Arkansas, 18 miles south of McGehee and 120 miles southeast of Little Rock. It was one of two relocation centers in Arkansas � 27 miles north was the Rohwer Relocation Center. The relocation center was named after the town of Jerome, which was located one-half mile south. However, the official post office designation for the center was Denson.

While across the country there were several instances of military police shooting relocation center residents, Jerome was the site of the only known shooting of evacuees by local civilians. A tenant farmer on horseback on his way home from deer hunting came across three Japanese Americans on a work detail in the woods. Thinking the Japanese Americans were trying to escape, he fired one round of buckshot, wounding two of them. Referring to the fact that a Caucasian engineer supervisor was present, the farmer explained he thought the supervisor was trying to aid the escape (Denison Tribune Communiqu� 11/17/42). (More...)


Click map for larger view




Same tar-paper construction as western camps

Visit the Jerome Album site.