Primary Sources from UH Mānoa Library's Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection
February 19, 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 that allowed for the relocation of persons deemed a national threat from the West Coast, resulting in the forced removal and incarceration of over 125,000 Japanese Americans.
March 20, 1946: The last of the prison camps holding Japanese Americans is closed.
July 1970 : The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) officially makes redress an issue of concern for the organization.
February 19, 1976: President Gerald Ford repeals Executive Order 9066.
January 1979: The JACL’s National Redress Committee meets with Japanese American senators and congressmen to discuss ways to obtain redress. A commission to study the issue is suggested.
May 1979: Some members of the JACL who disagree with the idea of the study commission break off to form the National Council for Japanese American Redress (NCJAR) to seek redress immediately through class-action lawsuits, without an initial study commission.
July 31, 1980: President Jimmy Carter signs a law creating the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) to study the issue.
July-December 1981: The CWRIC hears testimony from over 750 witnesses in nine cities regarding the experiences of incarceration and its aftermath.
December 1982: The CWRIC releases its report, Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was “not justified by military necessity” but came about due to “race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”
June 1983: The CWRIC issues its recommendations including an apology from the government, a payment of $20,000 to surviving incarcerated Japanese Americans and also payment to Aleut Islanders.
January-April 1987: H.R. 442 and S. 1009, seeking to implement the CWRIC recommendations, are introduced in the House and Senate.
August 10, 1988: President Ronald Reagan signs H.R. 442, creating the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.