Executive Order 9066

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Executive Order 9066

• On February 19, 1942, The President issued
• Executive Order 9066 giving authority to military
  commanders to establish special zones in
  territory threatened by enemy attack. The order
  invested the military commanders with the power
  to decide who could come, go or remain the
  special military areas. On May 9 1942 ordered
  the exclusion of all persons of Japanese ancestry
  from the entire Pacific coastal region.

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The Internment of Japanese Americans

• For Internment
• It is fact the Japanese navy has been
  investigating reconnoitering the Pacific CoastIt
  is a fact that communication takes place between
  the enemy at sea and enemy agents on land. The
  Pacific Coast is officially a combat zone some
  part of it may at any moment be a battlefield.
  Nobody's constitutional rights include the right
  to reside and do business on a battlefield.
• Walter Lippmann, American columnist February 1942

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• Against Internment
• Racial discrimination in any form and in any
  degree has no justifiable part whatever in our
  democratic way of lifeAll residents of this
  nation are kin in some way by blood or culture to
  a foreign land. Yet they are primarily and
  necessarily a part of the United States and are
  entitled to all rights and freedoms guaranteed
  by the Constitution
• Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy 1944

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Was the United States Government Justified in
Interning Japanese-Americans in 1942?
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• Arguments Supporting the Government's Action
• The United States was suddenly attacked by Japan.
• These peoples presence on the West Coast was a
  Clear and Present Danger to the nations
  security.
• The President as Commander and Chief has the
  Constitutional power and responsibility to defend
  the nation.
• Citizens may not have all their civil liberties
  in wartime.

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Presidents in the past have used extraordinary
powers.

• Lincoln Jailed the Maryland legislature to
  prevent it from voting on secession during the
  Civil War.

• Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus

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It was generally believed that Japans attack on
Pearl Harbor was made possible with help of
ethnic Japanese.

• It is not useful to judge the events of that time
  with the knowledge we have today.

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Arguments Against Internment

• The evacuation of the Nisei was motivated by
  racial prejudice.
• No evidence was ever uncovered that these
  citizens were involved in espionage as a group.
• Executive order 9066 took away the citizenship of
  an entire group of people.
• German and Italian Americans were not relocated.
• These people were denied due process guaranteed
  by the 14th Amendment.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?