Endnotes for Chapter V

1 On Hawaii, see ch. Vlll, below.

2 During the war the Army itself published a detailed report of the origins and execution of the evacuation program: United States War Department, Final Report: Japanese Evacuation From the West Coast, 1942 (Washington, 1943) (hereafter cited as War Department, Final Report). The principal works published since the war are: Mortin Grodzins, Americans Betrayed: Politics and the Japanese Evacuation (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1949) (hereafter cited as Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation) ; Dorothy S. Thomas and Richard S. Nishimoto, The Spoilage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1946) and The Salvage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952) ; Jacobus tenBrock, Edward N. Barnhart, and Floyd W. Watson, Prejudice, War and the Constitution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954) ; and the United States Department of the Interior, War Relocation Authority, WRA: A Story of Human Conservation (Washington, 1946) (hereafter cited as WRA).

3 A substantially similar account of the decision to evacuate the Japanese appeared as study. 4 in the collection of studies prepared by the Office of the Chief of Military History, Command Decisions (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1959), and as study 5 in the publicly printed edition of this work (Washington, 1960).

4 The background of attitudes and action toward the Japanese is described in detail in tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, ch. I.

5 Ltr, TAG to CG'S, 29 Jul 41, AG 014.311 (1-13-41) , sec. I ; Proclamations Of 7 and 8 Dec 41, copies in PMG 014.311 WDC and PMG 383.01 Hawaii; Tel Conv, SGS with Gen DeWitt, 7 Dec 41, WDC 381 RAINBOW 4; Memo, Special Asst to SW for PMG, 13 Dec 41, PMG 014.311 WDC; Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, p. 232; J. Edgar Hoover, "Alien Enemy Control," Iowa Law Review, XXIX (March 1944) 396-408.

6 Memo, G-2 Fourth Army for CofS Fourth Army, 11 Dec 41, WDC-CAD 014.31 Enemy Aliens.

7 OCS Index, 11 Dec 41, Tally Card info re OCS 21227-38 and 39.

8 Ltr, CG WDC to CG GHQ, 19 Dec 41, WDC-CAD 014.31.

9 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion,, 26 Dec 41, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) .

10 tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, p. 102 ; Memo, Col Archer L. Lerch for TAG, 30 Dec 41, PMG 014.311 WDC.

 

12 Memo, May Bendetsen for Gen DeWitt, 3 Jan 42 ; Notes on Conf in Office of Gen DeWitt, 4 Jan 42. Both in WDC-CAD 014.31 Aliens. War Department, Final Report, pp. 4-6, 19-24. Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Col Raymond R. Tourtillott, 5 Jan 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43). tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, pp. 104-05, citing notes on interv with Mr. Rowe, I5 Oct 42.

13 The Twelfth and Thirteenth Naval District commanders made recommendations in identical language on this score. Memo, Adm John W. Greenslade, Commandant Twelfth Naval District, for CG Northern California Sector, 8 Jan 42 ; Ltr, CG IX Army Corps to CG WDC, 8 Jan 42. Both in WDC-CAD 014.31 Aliens. Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Mai Gen Kenyon A. Joyce, 8 Jan 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

14 Ltr and Incls, CG WDC to Atty Gen (through PMG), 21 Jan 42, PMG 384.4 (California) General. The initial Category B recommendation would have affected an estimated 28,672 Italian, 13,305 Japanese, and 8,404 German aliens.

15 Ltr, SW to Atty Gen, 25 Jan 42, PMG 384.4 (California) General. The transcript of General DeWitt's telephone remarks reads ". . . we know there are radios along the coast; and we know they are communicating at sea. They may be communicating with each other . . . ." Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion, 24 Jan 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt 42-43).

16 On Japanese operations, see ch. IV, above; on communications, Ltr, James L. Fly, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, to Atty Gen Biddle, 4 Apr 44, quoted in WRA monograph by Ruth E. McKee, Wartime Exile: The Exclusion of Japanese-American From the West Coast (Washington, 1946) (hereafter cited as McKee, Wartime Exile), pp. 154-58.

17 Ltr, SW to Atty Gen, 3 Feb 42, AG 014.311 (1-13-41), sec. I, forwarded the Oregon Washington recommendation and reviewed the earlier ones. General DeWitt's final recommendation in this series, with respect to Utah, dated 16 February 1942 (copy in PMG 384.4 WDC), lists and describes the seven preceding ones.

18 Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, contains the most detailed analysis of the pressures that developed during January and February for Japanese evacuation. Most of the large number of communications addressed to the War Department on this subject, and its responses, are in AG 014.311 files. The first written communication of this sort received by the War Department was dated 6 January 1942.

19 Ltr, Representative Ford to SW, 16 Jan 42 ; Ltr, SW to Representative Ford, 26 Jan 42. Both in AG 014.311 (1-16-42).

20 GHQ G-2 Infor Bull 6, 21 Jan 42, copy in ASW 014.311 WDC Gen.

21 Memo, Gen Clark for Judge Advocate GHQ, 24 Jan 42, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens.

22 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion, 24 Jan 42, WDC-CAD 3111.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

23 The Roberts Report is published in Pearl Harbor Attack: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack (39 parts) (Washington, 1946) (hereafter cited as Pearl Harbor Attack), pt. 39, PP. 1-21.

24 Tel Conv, Geri DeWitt with Maj Bendetsen, 28 Jan 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) .

25 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Maj Bendetsen, 29 Jan 42, as recorded both in WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) and in PMG 384.4 WDC; PMG daily Rcd of Operations, 29 Jan 42, PMG 384.4 WDC.

26 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Maj Bendetsen, 30 Jan 42 ; PMG Daily Rcd of Operations, 29 and 30 Jan 42. Both in PMG 384.4 WDC.

27 Memo, Maj Bendetsen for PMG, 31 Jan 42, PMG 384.4 WDC. The Congressional recommendations were a verbatim copy of a draft submitted by a representative of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. See Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, pages 67-69.

28 Ltr, Representative Lea to SW, 30 Jan 42, AG 014.311 (1-30-42).

29 Memo for Rcd, 31 Jan 42, dictated but not signed by Gen DeWitt, WDC-CAD 014.31.

30 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Maj Bendetsen, 31 Jan 42, AG 014.311 (1-13-41), sec.10.

31 Dept of justice press releases, printed as Appendix, pp. 302-14, to H. DOC. 2124, 77th Cong., 2d sess.

32 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Maj Bendetsen, 1 Feb 42; Tel Conv, Gen Gullion with Gen Clark, 4 Feb 42. Both in PMG 384.4 WDC. Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion, 1 Feb 42, GHQ G-I file, Subversive Activities, WDC: Enemy Aliens; Memo, Maj Bendetsen for SGS; 2 Feb 42, AG 014.311 (1-13-41) sec. 10.

33 Stimson Diary, entry of 3 Feb 42. Mr. Stimson jotted down some rough notes of this meeting in an undated pencil memorandum, in SW file, Aliens. The press release as issued on 5 February 1942 is quoted in Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, 258.

34 Tel Conv, Gen Marshall with Gen DeWitt and accompanying notes of Col Deane, 3 Feb 42, in OCS Tel Convs, binder 2.

35 Memo, Gen DeWitt for ASW McCloy 3 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC; Tel Convs, Gen DeWitt with Gen Joyce, 3 Feb 42, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 4 Feb 42, and Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion 5 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

36 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Mr. McCloy, 3 Feb 42, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens.

37 Tel Conv, Gen Gullion with Gen Clark, 4 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC.

38 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 4 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

39 Memo for Rcd, Chief, WD Liaison Br, 6 Feb 42, GHQ file, WDC: Protection of Vital Installations; Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, pp. 71-73 ; H. Doc. 1911, 77th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 2-3.

40 Memo, Bur of Intelligence for Dir OFF, 4 Feb 42, copy in ASW 014.311 Enemy Aliens on the West Coast (EAWC).

41 Rpt, Lt Comdr K.D. Ringle, Eleventh Naval District, through Commandant to CNO, no date, copy in ASW 014.311 EAWC. From the contents of this report, the author concludes that it was written about 1 February 1942, rather than ten days later as indicated in Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, p. 146, note 46. The substance of this report, the most detailed and sympathetic military analysis of the Japanese problem in early 1942, was anonymously published in Harper's Magazine, October 1942, PP. 489-97.

42 Memo, Col Bendetsen for PMG, 4 Feb 42, PMG 014.311 Gen P/W ; Memo, PMG for CofS, 4 Feb 42, and inclosed draft of TAG letter to corps area commanders, submitted to CCS at 3:00 P.m., 11 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 Gen. On the outcome of the proposal to extend the military area scheme throughout the continental United States, see Chapter II, above, and this chapter, PP. 144-46, below.

43.Memo, Deputy PMG for PMG, 4 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC.

44 Memo, PMG for ASW, 5 Feb 42, ASW 014.311 EAWC.

45 Memo, PMG for ASW, 6 Feb 42, ASW 014.311 EAWC. After Secretary Stimson's conversation with President Roosevelt on it February (see below), General Gullion sent a copy of this memorandum to General Marshall, who initialed it and circulated it to the War Plans Division and GHQ (copy in AG 014.311 (1-13-41) , sec.1). The author has been unable to find evidence that General Marshall took any part in or was informed of developments in the planning of Japanese evacuation between 3 and 11 February.

46 Two Tel Convs, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 7 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

47 Sent as Ltr, SW to Representative Lea, 10 Feb 42, AG 014.311 (1-30-42) .

48 This quotation is from an OCS condensation (on Tally Card 31 in re OCS 21227-88) of information in the PMG daily Record of Operations of 7 February 1942 (an item that General Marshall did not see). The file of this daily PMG compilation, if it could be found, would be a valuable additional source for the story of Japanese evacuation planning but it was probably destroyed.

49 During the midst of their drafting, on 11 February, General DeWitt referred to them collectively as "the plan that Mr. McCloy wanted me to submit." Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt and Col Bendetsen with Gen Gullion, II Feb 42, WDC-CAD 31 1.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) . No direct evidence of the nature of the Assistant Secretary's instructions to Colonel Bendetsen has been found, but in ASW 014.311 EAWC there is a Memo for Record, 8 February 1942, unsigned and with no indication of authorship, that reads in part as follows: Japanese Evacuation, West Coast, Prepare definite instructions for DeWitt on following basis: Select key points where danger is great and size not too large. Put them in order of importance. Evacuate everybody, aliens and citizens. Institute system of permits. Whole matter to be handled by Army authorities. Then, as matter progresses, we will soon find out how far we can go.

50 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 4 Feb 42; Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion and Col Bendetsen, 4 Feb 42. Both in GHQ G-I file, Subversive Activities, WDC. Memo, CG WDC for PMG, 5 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC. The memo also contained General DeWitt's detailed justification for the Washington-Oregon recommendation, which justice had requested and this information was transmitted to justice by Ltr, SW to Atty Gen, 11 Feb 42, PMG 3844 WDC.

51 The statistics in this paragraph have been compiled from General DeWitt's several recommendations and supplementary communications that he wrote in justification of them, which are located in various PMG files. None of the enemy alien program recommendations submitted by General DeWitt through 16 February included any American citizens of Japanese or other extraction. The concentration of the Japanese population near strategic points seemed in itself to be sinister in 1942 and was advanced in the War Department, Final Report (p. 9) as one of the reasons that made their evacuation necessary. Actually, there was a greater proportionate concentration of German and Italian aliens near strategic points than there was of Japanese. General DeWitt's Category A recommendations would have affected nine-tenths of the west coast German alien population and nearly three-fourths of the Italian aliens, but less than two-thirds of the Japanese aliens.

52 Ltr, Atty Gen to SW, 9 Feb 42, quoted verbatim in Tel Conv, Col Bryan with Col Bendetsen, 11 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (Bendetsen, Feb-Mar 42) .

53 Memo for Rcd (unsigned), 11 Feb 42, ASW 014.311 EASC. The figures given in (2 ) and (3) are about equal to the population of Japanese descent that these steps would affect. It is also evident from Mr. Stimson's diary entries of 10 and 11 February that these proposals did not contemplate any mass evacuation of German or Italian aliens. A re-examination of the diary has resulted in a significant alteration in the account previously published in Command Decisions about what happened on 11 February.

54 Stimson Diary, entry of 11 Feb 42.

55 ibid.

56 Tel Conv, Mr. McCloy with Col Bendetsen, 11 Feb 42, 11:15 a.m. Pacific Time, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (Bendetsen, Feb-Mar 42).

57 Memo, CG WDC for SW (through CG FF), 13 Feb 42, and covering Memo, CG WDC for CG FF GHQ, 14 Feb 42, originals in PMG 014.311 WDC. The basic memorandum is published in War Department, Final Report, pages 33-38, where it is erroneously dated 114 February. As of 11 February, General DeWitt was planning to have Colonel Bendetsen carry his recommendations back to Washington; but on 12 February, because of the general's doubt that GHQ and General Marshall had been "thoroughly informed" of developments, he decided to submit them through the normal channels of communication. Tel Conv Gen DeWitt with Gen Clark, 14 Feb 42 ; Tel Conv, Gen Gullion with Col Bendetsen, 114 Feb 42. Both in WDC-CAD 3111.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

58 The recommendations of the 113 February memorandum are described below at greater length in connection with the discussion of the War Department's directives of 20 February.

59 Both the original and carbon of General DeWitt's recommendations in AG 014.311 (1-13-41), sec.10, are stamped to indicate receipt in GHQ on the date and at the hour indicated. As Colonel Bendetsen said on 19 February, the DeWitt recommendations "must have hit the wrong air line." Tel Conv, Col Bendetsen with Col Donald A. Stroh, 19 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC. The GHQ action is recorded in GHQ 337 Staff Confs, binder 2, entry of 19 Feb 42 ; and in Memo, G-5 Sec GHQ for Gen Clark, 19 Feb 42, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens.

60 Ist Ind, GHQ for TAG, 20 Feb 42, on Memo, CG WDC for CG FF, 14 Feb 42, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens.

61 2d Ind, TAG for PMG, 22 Feb 42, on Memo, CG WDC for CG FF, 14 Feb 42, PMG 014.311 WDC. Stamped RECEIVED IN PMG, 11:00 A.M. 24 Feb 42.

62 Recommendations inclosed in Ltr, Senator Holman, Senator Wallgren, Representatives Lea, et al., to President Roosevelt, 13 Feb 42, AG014.311 (2-16-42).

63 Memo, President Roosevelt for SW, 16 Feb 42, AG 014.311 (2-16-42), received in Secretary's office at  9:11 a.m., 17 Feb 42.

64 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion, 17 Feb 42, ASW 0114.311 EAWC. In its Final Report, the War Department stated (page 25): "The War Department representative {Colonel Bendetsen} carried back to the Secretary the recommendation of the Commanding General that some method be developed empowering the Federal Government to provide for the evacuation from sensitive areas of all persons of Japanese ancestry, and any other persons individually or. collectively regarded as potentially dangerous. The Commanding General's proposal was reduced to writing in a memorandum for the Secretary of War, dated February 14, 1942 . . . . This recommendation was presented to the Secretary of War on or about February 16th." No other evidence was found that the recommendations contained in General DeWitt's memorandum to the Secretary of War were considered or referred to in the preparation of new War Department directives on the subject between 17 and 20 February. After these directives were drafted and after talking with General DeWitt on 20 February, Colonel Bendetsen wrote to the Secretary of War: "It was I who misunderstood General DeWitt's plan.-he has no mass movement in mind." Memo, Col Bendetsen for SW, 21 Feb 42, and atchd transcript of Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 20 Feb 42, in SW file, Aliens.

65 Memo, PMG for TAG, 17 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC. The copy bears the notation: "Gen Gullion took this up in person with Mr. McCloy who approves."

66 Ltr, TAG to CG's, Corps Areas, 17 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC. The reference to all Japanese residents as aliens was rather frequent practice in Army exchanges on the subject during February 1942.

67 This last point was already fully appreciated in Washington but was confirmed by Rad, CG Ninth Corps Area to TAG, 18 Feb 42, PMG 014.311 Corps Area Rpts on Housing Facilities.

68 Stimson Diary, entry of 17 Feb 42 ; Memo for Rcd, Gen Clark, 17 Feb 42, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens. General Clark also told General Marshall about the meeting and the decision about troops, but a search of Army records fails to disclose evidence that the advice of the Chief of Staff was sought in the formulation of the War Department plan for Japanese evacuation.

69Stimson Diary, entry of 18 Feb 42; Memo, PMG for CofS, 20 Feb 42, OCS 21227-113; Ltr, Mr. Biddle to the author, 31 Aug 56; Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, pp. 266-67; tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, pp. III-12.

70 Ltrs, SW to CG WDC, 20 Feb 42, PMG 384.4 WDC; Notes on Conf in ODCofS, 20 Feb 42, OCS Conf, Binder 32; Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Joyce, 23 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt 42-43) . The longer of the Secretary of War's letters is the Outline Memorandum published in part in War Department, Final Report, pp. 28-29, and atchd to Ltr, ASW to Gen DeWitt, 20 Feb 42, ibid., p. 27. Executive Order 9066, 19 Feb 42, and the shorter SW Ltr of 20 Feb, are also published in Final Report, pp. 25-27.

71 Ltr, SW to Representative Lea, 21 Feb 42, AG 014.311 (2-16-42) .

72 Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, pp. 331-39; War Department, Final Report, pp. 29-31, 49. On the legal aspects and consequences of the Presidential and Congressional decisions, see Clinton Rossiter, The Supreme Court and the Commander in Chief (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1951, PP. 42-54.

73 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Gullion, 17 Feb 42, ASW 014.311 EAWC.

74 The central objective of the War Department plan is clearly outlined in paragraphs 1-6 of the Outline Memorandum of 20 February, paragraphs omitted in the publication of the memorandum in War Department, Final Report, pages 28-29.

75 On 20 February, the date of the War Department's instructions to General DeWitt, General Marshall concurred unreservedly in a British Chiefs of Staff estimate that, "so long as the United States maintain a battle fleet in the Pacific, large-scale seaborne expeditions against the western seaboard of North America and the employment of capital ships in this area are considered impracticable." (Ltr, Field Marshall Sir John Dill to Gen Marshall, 20 Feb 42 and Memo, Brig Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower to Sir John Dill, 20 Feb 42 both in OCS 21347-7.) In a general estimate of the situation a month later, on 19 March 1942, G-2 held that the maximum foreseeable threat to the Pacific coast was that from carrier-borne air raids against aircraft factories and naval bases. (MIS WD Estimate 2, 19 Mar 42, OPD Exec 10, item 29)

76 Confidential Rpt of OFF, 9 Mar 42, recorded in Tel Conv, Col Bendetsen with Mr. Carrington Gill, 9 Mar 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (Bendetsen, Feb-Mar 42).

77 Quoted in Ltr, SN to Atty Gen, 22 Feb 42, ASW 014.311 EAWC.

78 Stimson Diary, entry of 26 Feb 42. See above, pp. 87-88.

79 Telg, W. L. Wheeler to Phillip C. Hamblet, Exec Officer, Office of Govt Rpts, 5 Mar 42, ASW 014.311 EAWC.

80 Public Proclamation I, and accompanying press release, 2 Mar 42, AG 014.311 (1-13-41), sec. 10; Memo, GHQ, unsigned and undated, summarizing Gen DeWitt's new plan of action, GHQ file, WDC: Enemy Aliens.

81 Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Clark, 26 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt,42-43).

82 War Department, Final Report, p. 107.

83 War Department, Final Report, pp. 411-43; H. Doc. 1911, 77th Cong., 2d sess., 119 Mar 42, pp. 27-30; Memo, SW for President Roosevelt, 115 Apr 42, ASW014-3II West Coast-WDC, Apr-May 42 ; Ltr and Ind, Dir WRA to ASW, 8 Jun 42 ; Ltr, Dir WRA to ASW, II Mar 43. Last two in ASW 014.311 WDC Gen.

84 SW's Notes after Cabinet Mtg, 27 Feb 42, WDCSA 334 Mtgs and Confs. The DeWitt plan referred to in this quotation was the plan proposed to Washington in drafts of Public Proclamation r and the accompanying press release.

85 tenl3rock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, pp. 118-22; Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Gen Clark, 26 Feb 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) ; G-4 Memo for Rcd, 1 Mar 42, G-4 file 32860. The last two items reflect the War Department's own confusion about the arrangements for supervision from Washington, which in part was due to the imminent transfer of responsibilities under the impending general reorganization of Army headquarters. After the reorganization of 9 March the Washington military staff agencies almost disappear from the picture, except for the planning and direction of construction by the Corps of Engineers with staff supervision by the Services of Supply.

86 War Department, Final Report, p. 41; Memo, ASGS for CofS, 11 Mar 42, OCS Conf, Binder 34; Ltr, SW to Prof. William E. Hocking, 16 Mar 42, SW file, Aliens. Coincidentally with his new assignments, Colonel Bendetsen was promoted to the rank of full colonel.

87 Ltr, SW to Secy Interior, 13 Mar 42, and related papers, ASW 014.311 EAWC; Memo, Gen Gullion for Maj Gen Brehon B. Somervell, 26 Mar 42, PMG 014.311 Gen P/W.

88 The Army had nothing directly to do with the first compulsory evacuation from Terminal Island, executed by the Navy in late February 1942. See Hist of WDC, I, ch. 4, 8-9.

89 War Department, Final Report, pp. 43ff ; Ltr, Dir WRA to ASW, 9 Apr 42 ; Memo, SW for President Roosevelt, 15 Apr 42. Last two in ASW 014.311 West Coast-WDC, Apr-May 42. Ltr, Dir WRA to ASW, 11 Mar 43, ASW 014.311 WDC Gen; War Relocation Authority, WRA, pp.26-30.
The term "relocation" was used first (and was still so used when the War Relocation Authority was established) to mean voluntary resettlement by the Japanese; after voluntary migration failed, it was used to describe the permanent camps to which the Japanese were sent from the Army's assembly centers. In the Supreme Court's decision upholding the constitutionality of evacuation, in the case of Korematsu v. United State decided on 18 December 1944, the majority opinion, in referring to the relocation centers, stated: "We deem it unjustifiable to call them concentration camps with all the ugly connotations that term implies." In his dissenting opinion, justice Owen J. Roberts referred to "the so-called Relocation Centers, a euphemism for concentration camps." 323 United States Reports, pp. 223, 230.

90 Col Charles P. Stacey, "Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War," Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific (Ottawa: E. Cloutier, Queen's Printer, 1955), p.169.

91 Forrest E. La Violette, The Canadian Japanese and World War II (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1948), p. 44ff.

92 tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, pp. 134-35: Memo, CG ADC for CG WDC, 5 May 42, WDC-CAD 014.31 Aliens.

93Tel Conv, Gen DeWitt with Adm Greenslade, 9 May 42, WDC-CAD 311.3 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43).

94 Memo, Lt Col William A. Boekel, Asst ACofS CAD, for Col Bendetsen, 4 May 42, WDC­CAD 014.31 Aliens.

95 Ltr, Col Bendetsen to Col Gustaf J. Braun, Special Troops, Fort Ord, Calif., 31 Dec 42, WDC-CAD Final Rpt.

96 See p. V-28 above.

97 Ltr, TAG to CG's Corps Areas (Except Ninth), 13 Feb 42, AG 384 (2-4-42) .

98 Ltr, Maj Gen Irving J. Phillipson, CG Second Corps Area, to CG SOS, 18 Apr 42, PMG 3844 Gen.

99 Hearings before WD Civilian Def Bd, 5 Dec 46, Report of War Department Civil Defense Board, an. I, p. 81.

100 Memo, Alfred Jaretzki, Jr., Special Asst to ASW, for Col Ralph H. Tate, 4 Jun 42, ASW 014.311 Gen. This memorandum presents a good detailed resume of the German-Italian evacuation question as it developed between February and May 1942.

101 Memo, Atty Gen for President 9 Apr 42, Memo; President for SW, 14 Apr 42; Memo, SW for President 115 Apr 42. All in ASW 014.311 West Coast-WDC, Apr-May 42. Stimson Diary, entry of 15 Apr 42. Memo, OPD for TAG 24 Apr 42, OPD 014.311 (3-1-42)/7.

102 Memo. President for SW, 5 May 42, ASW 014.311 Gen.

103 Memo, Col Bendetsen for ASW, 10 May 42, ASW 014.311 WDC Gen. Colonel Bendetsen had returned to Washington to present General DeWitt's recommendation in person, and he prepared the memorandum as a formal recommendation of General DeWitt rather than as a personal expression of his own opinion.

104 Te1 Conv, Gen DeWitt with Col Bendetsen, 11 May 42, WDC-CAD 311 Tel Convs (DeWitt, 42-43) ; Memo, Col Bendetsen for ASW, 12 May 42, ASW 014.311 WDC Gen.

l05 H. Doc. 2124, 77th Cong., 13 May 42, P. 31.

106 Memo, ASW for SW, 15 May 42; Memo, Col Bendetsen for ASW, 15 May 42. Both in ASW 014.311 Gen. Stimson Diary, entry of 15 May 42; SW's Notes after Cabinet Mtg, 15 May 42, WDCSA 334 Mtgs and Confs; Ltr, TAG to CG WDC, 22 May 42, AG 014.311 (1-13-41), sec. 10; Memo Jaretzki for Col Tate, 4 Jun 42, ASW 014.311 Gen.

The rejection of General DeWitt's May recommendation concerning the removal of German and Italian aliens, which he explicitly justified on grounds of military necessity and at a time when the Pacific outlook was considerably grimmer than it had been in February (see Chapter IV, above), certainly weakens the theory, advanced in the War Department, Final Report and elsewhere after 1942, that the War Department acted on evacuation in accordance with recommendations of the commanding general that in turn were based on the general's estimate of the military necessity of the situation. There is no more than a trace of this theory in War Department records that antedate the preparation of the Final Report by the Western Defense Command in early 1943.

107 Rad, WD to CG WDC, 28 May 42, AG 370.05 (11-6-41), sec. 2.

108 More than half of these were Japanese who had moved voluntarily into the interior of California from Military Area No. 1, the majority of whom moved on the two days between the issuance of the "freeze order" of 27 March and its effective date of 29 March.

l09 War Department, Final Report, pts. IV and VI; War Relocation Authority, WRA, pp. ix­x, 23; tenBrock et al., Prejudice, War and the Constitution, pp. 126-34.

110 Ltr, SW to Prof Hocking, 16 Mar 42, SW file, Aliens.

111 Notes on War Council, 23 Mar 42, SW Conf, binder 2. No proven instances of espionage after Pearl Harbor among the Japanese population have ever been disclosed.

112 Draft of Memo, early May 42, Atty Gen for President Roosevelt, as quoted in Grodzins, Japanese Evacuation, pp. 134-36. A major portion of the first two items listed above was picked up in a raid on a sporting goods shop.

113 Rpt of Comdr Ringle, no date, copy in ASW 104.311 EAWC.

114 War Relocation Authority WRA, p. 182.

115 Ltr, ASW to Mrs. Edwin H. Kinney, 27 Jun 42, ASW 014.311 WDC Gen.

l16 Ltr, ASW to CG EDC, 16 Nov 42, ASW 014.311 WDC Gen.

117 See below, ch. VIII.


page created 30 May 2002


Return to the Table of Contents