Subject Guides: Japanese American Internment: Important Documents

U.S. Congressional Serial Set

U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994
Database of texts from the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Texts constitute a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history.

Includes a browse topic for "Japanese-American internment in the U.S. (1942-1945)" that includes some powerful full-text documents the reflects the mentality of the early 1940s.

Documents

The Alien Enemies Act of 1789 (1 Statutes at Large 577)
States that “ all natives, citizens, denizens, or subject of the hostile nation or government….shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies” was the basis of FDR’s Presidential Proclamation 2525 (Dec. 7, 1941), (3 Code of Federal Regulations 117) which identified Japanese-Americans as alien enemies.

Statues at Large
Government Publications FOLIO KF50 .A3 v.1 1788/89 (Non-Circulating)
Presidential Proclamation 2525 (Dec. 7, 1941), (3 Code of Federal Regulations 117)
Iidentified Japanese-Americans as alien enemies.
Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt, February 19, 1942
Authorized the evacuation of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland.
Executive Order 9102 (March 18, 1942)
Ordered the creation of the War Relocation Authority.
President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4417, Confirming the Termination of the Executive Order Authorizing Japanese-American Internment During World War II
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (102 Statutes at Large 904)
Granted Japanese American internees and their families an official apology and $20,000 in compensation for each surviving internee.

Statutes at Large
Government Publications FOLIO KF50 .A3 v.102 1988 (Non-Circulating)
Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
This report is based on personal accounts and historical documents from witnesses who lived through the reprehensible Japanese American internment period. The findings helped encourage the Congress to pass the Civil Liberties Act, and apologize to Japanese Americans affected by the internment period.
Report to the President: Japanese-American Internment Sites Preservation
Department of the Interior report with recommendations to preserve the existing Japanese American internment sites and to provide more opportunities for the public to learn about the internment.