In the decades following internment, the JACL continued to petition a formal admission of wrong from the U.S. government:
Redress for the injustices of 1942-1946 is not just an isolated Japanese American issue; it is an issue of concern for all Americans. Restitution does not put a price tag on freedom or justice. The issue is not to recover what cannot be recovered. The issue is to acknowledge the mistake by providing proper redress for the victims of the injustice, and thereby make such injustices less likely to recur.[1]
Many such as U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle would honestly lament, “We should never have moved the Japanese from their homes and their work. It was un-American, unconstitutional, and un-Christian.”[2] Constitutional law specialist at Yale University, Eugene V. Rostow, unhesitatingly admitted that the evacuation and incarceration of the West Coast Japanese was “our worst wartime mistake”[3] and A. Russell Buchanan, professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, claimed it to be “the most widespread disregard of personal rights since . . . slavery.”[4] America would eventually issue a national apology to her Nikkei citizens and attempt to make reparations and redress. Below are selected official statements which were made throughout the process of redress.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt activated the 442nd, the all-Japanese regimental combat team, with the following comments:
No loyal citizen of the United States should be denied the democratic right to exercise the responsibilities of his citizenship, regardless of his ancestry. The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry. A good American is one who is loyal to this country and to our creed of liberty and democracy. Every loyal American citizen should be given an opportunity to serve this country wherever his skills will make the greatest contribution—whether it be in the ranks of our armed forces, war production, agriculture, government service, or other work essential to the war effort.[5]
Also in 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote on behalf of the Japanese internees:
To undo a mistake is always harder than not to create one originally but we seldom have the foresight. Therefore we have no choice but to try to correct our past mistakes and I hope that the recommendations of the staff of the War Relocation Authority, who have come to know individually most of the Japanese Americans in these various camps, will be accepted. Little by little as they are checked, Japanese Americans are being allowed on request to leave the camps and start independent and productive lives again. Whether you are a taxpayer in California or in Maine, it is to your advantage, if you find one or two Japanese American families settled in your neighborhood, to try to regard them as individuals and not to condemn them before they are given a fair chance to prove themselves in the community.
“A Japanese is always a Japanese” is an easily accepted phrase and it has taken hold quite naturally on the West Coast because of fear, but it leads nowhere and solves nothing. A Japanese American may be no more Japanese than a German-American is German, or an Italian-American is Italian, or of any other national background. All of these people, including the Japanese Americans, have men who are fighting today for the preservation of the democratic way of life and the ideas around which our nation was built.
We have no common race in this country, but we have an ideal to which all of us are loyal: we cannot progress if we look down upon any group of people amongst us because of race or religion. Every citizen in this country has a right to our basic freedoms, to justice and to equality of opportunity. We retain the right to lead our individual lives as we please, but we can only do so if we grant to others the freedoms that we wish for ourselves.[6]
After the war, on July 15, 1946, President Harry Truman received the thinned-out ranks of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Unit. He commended them before a White House ceremony celebrating their valor in battle: “You have fought not only the enemy but you fought prejudice—and you have won.”[7]
In 1976, President Gerald Ford’s Proclamation 4417 effectively terminated Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 which had previously authorized the internment.
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation:
In this Bicentennial Year, we are commemorating the anniversary dates of many great events in American history. An honest reckoning, however, must include a recognition of our national mistakes as well as our national achievements. Learning from our mistakes is not pleasant, but as a great philosopher once admonished, we must do so if we want to avoid repeating them.
February 19th is the anniversary of a sad day in American history. It was on that date in 1942, in the midst of the response to the hostilities that began on December 7, 1941, that Executive Order 9066 was issued, subsequently enforced by the criminal penalties of a statute enacted March 21, 1942, resulting in the uprooting of loyal Americans. Over one hundred thousand persons of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes, detained in special camps, and eventually relocated.
The tremendous effort by the War Relocation Authority and concerned Americans for the welfare of these Japanese Americans may add perspective to that story, but it does not erase the setback to fundamental American principles. Fortunately, the Japanese American community in Hawaii was spared the indignities suffered by those on our mainland.
We now know what we should have known then—not only was that evacuation wrong, but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home, Japanese Americans—names like Hamada, Mitsumori, Marimoto, Noguchi, Yamasaki, Kido, Munemori and Miyamura—have been and continue to be written in our history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and security of this, our common Nation.
The Executive order that was issued on February 19, 1942, was for the sole purpose of prosecuting the war with the Axis Powers, and ceased to be effective with the end of those hostilities. Because there was no formal statement of its termination, however, there is concern among many Japanese Americans that there may yet be some life in that obsolete document. I think it appropriate, in this our Bicentennial Year, to remove all doubts on that matter, and to make clear our commitment in the future.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim that all authority conferred by Executive Order 9066 terminated upon the issuance of Proclamation 2714, which formally proclaimed the cessation of hostilities of World War II on December 31, 1946.
I call upon the American people to affirm with me this American Promise — that we have learned from the tragedy of that long-ago experience forever to treasure liberty and justice for each individual American, and resolve that this kind of action shall never again be repeated.
IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of February in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth.[8]
In 1985, the National Park Service designated the Manzanar Relocation Center as a National Historic Landmark, stating that Manzanar was
representative of the atmosphere of racial prejudice, mistrust, and fear, that resulted in American citizens being uprooted from their homes, denied their constitutional rights, and with neither accusation, indictment, nor conviction, moved to remote relocation camps for most of the duration of the war. Manzanar is symbolic of a tragic event in American history, an event that reminds us that a democratic nation must constantly guard and honor the concept of freedom and the rights of its citizens.[9]
Finally, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act (H.R. 442), which included reparation payments of $20,000 each to surviving Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated because of their ethnicity during World War II. At the bill signing, President Reagan commented, “We gather here today to right a grave wrong. . . . [N]o payment can make up for those lost years. So, what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law. . . . the ideal of liberty and justice for all—that is still the American way.”[10] As Congress stated at the time:
The Congress recognizes that, as described in the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, a grave injustice was done to both citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry by the evacuation, relocation, and internment of civilians during World War II. As the Commission documents, these actions were carried out without adequate security reasons and without any acts of espionage or sabotage documented by the Commission, and were motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.
The excluded individuals of Japanese ancestry suffered enormous damages, both material and intangible, and there were incalculable losses in education and job training, all of which resulted in significant human suffering for which appropriate compensation has not been made. For these fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights of these individuals of Japanese ancestry, the Congress apologizes on behalf of the Nation.[11]
Then in 1991, as reparations were being paid out, President George H. W. Bush issued another national apology to all Japanese American internees.
A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation’s resolve to rectify injustice and to uphold the rights of individuals. We can never fully right the wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans during World War II. In enacting a law calling for restitution and offering a sincere apology, your fellow Americans have, in a very real sense, renewed their traditional commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice. You and your family have our best wishes for the future.[12]
Over and over, America realized her colossal mistake and sought to right their wrongs. For many Japanese Americans, such efforts greatly aided the process of healing. Many dispute the necessity of redress and reparations while others claim it was not enough, but all Christians recognize the importance of reconciliation with both God and man. Repentance before God for past sins requires a change in heart which leads to a change of behavior (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). Restoration with a fellow believer requires going to the one we have wronged and making significant restitution (Matthew 5:23-24). Racial prejudice divides us, whereas the love of God brings us together (John 13:34-35).
[1] National Committee for Redress, Japanese American Citizens League, The Japanese American Incarceration: A Case for Redress (San Francisco, 1978), 24.
[2] The Open Forum, ACLU Publication (Los Angeles). Biddle had signed the presidential warrant allowing the FBI to arrest thousands of Japanese nationals in the days following Pearl Harbor. At the time, he had tried to justify his actions: “So long as aliens in this country conduct themselves in accordance with law, they need fear no interference by the Department of Justice or by any other agency of the Federal Government. They may be assured, indeed that every effort will be made to protect them from any discrimination or abuse. . . . Inevitably, there are some among our alien population who are disloyal. The Federal Government is fully aware of the dangers presented not only by such persons but also be disloyal citizens. The government has control of the activities of these elements” (Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration, U.S. House of Representatives, Fourth Interim Report [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 13 May 1942], 28).
[3] Eugene V. Rostow, “Our Worst Wartime Mistake,” Harper’s Magazine (September 1945).
[4] A. Russell Buchanan, The United States and World War II (New York: Harper, 1963), 2:326.
[5] Franklin D. Roosevelt (3 February 1943) on the activation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
[6] Eleanor Roosevelt, “To Undo a Mistake Is Always Harder Than Not to Create One Originally,” Collier’s (10 October 1943), Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, FDRL.
[7] Harry Truman, “Remarks Upon Presenting a Citation to a Nisei Regiment” (15 July 1946), in Public Papers of the Presidents, Harry S. Truman (Privately published).
[8] Gerald Ford, “Proclamation 4417” (19 February 1976), accessed at https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/760111p.htm.
[9] Remarks by Jerry L. Rogers, Associate Director, National Park Service at Manzanar National Historic Landmark Designation Ceremony (Lone Pine, CA: 27 April 1985). A plaque had previously been placed at this site on 14 April 1973, stating, “May the injustices and humiliation suffered here as a result of hysteria, racism and economic exploitation never emerge again.” Similar recognition has since been given to other relocation centers.
[10] Richard Hicks, “Looking Back at the Civil Liberties Act of 1988,” JANM blog (31 July 2018), accessed at https://blog.janm.org/2018/07/31/looking-back-at-the-civil-liberties-act-of-1988. The bill was given the symbolic number H.R. 442 in honor of the heroic 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
[11] Civil Liberties Act of 1988, enacted by the United States Congress (10 August 1988), accessed at http://www.children-of-the-camps.org/history/civilact.html.
[12] Roger Daniels, “Redress Achieved, 1983-1990,” in Relocation to Redress, 222. Copies of this letter from President Bush accompanied the redress checks. President Bill Clinton also sent a letter of apology to accompany reparation checks (Bill Clinton, letter to internees (1 October 1993), accessed at http://www.children-of-the-camps.org/history/clinton.html).
