In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, the man in charge of defending the American west coast has a serious case of the jitters… and a bright, young aide who is busy drawing up plans to target a racial group in America en masse. With the clock running out, lawyers inside the Justice Department mount a furious effort to stop the policy from going into effect.
Lt. Gen. John DeWitt
Lt. Gen. John DeWitt, commanding general of the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command at the outset of WWII, pictured here in 1940
(Credit: Los Angeles Daily News)
‘Gone Crazy’
Concerns about Lt. Gen. John DeWitt’s leadership of the Western Defense Command included worries from Army officials that DeWitt had “gone crazy.”
(Credit: United States Army Center of Military History)
‘A Jap’s a Jap’
Lt. Gen. John Dewitt, pictured here testifying in April 1943, warned members of Congress that no Japanese Americans could be trusted because “a Jap’s a Jap.”
(Credit: U.S. National Archives)
‘Awaken This City’
After Pearl Harbor, Lt. Gen. John DeWitt told San Francisco officials he thought it might be a good thing if San Francisco got bombed by Japan, in order to “awaken this city.”
(Credit: The San Francisco News (Dec. 9, 1941))
“Alarm Real”
Army Lt. Gen. John DeWitt’s Western Defense Command claimed its actions over the skies of Los Angeles in Feb. 1942 were justified and the threat was “real,” even after the U.S. Navy acknowledged the apparent enemy threat was, in fact, a weather balloon.
(Credit: Los Angeles Times (Feb. 26, 1942))
Karl Bendetsen
U.S. Army Colonel Karl Bendetsen, who was assigned to work under Lt. Gen. John DewWitt at the U.S. Army’s Western Defense Command
(Credit: United States Army)
The Architect
U.S. Army Colonel Karl Bendetsen, the architect of the U.S. government’s policy for mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, seen here reviewing a map of “evacuation” areas on the west coast
(Credit: Stanford University, Hoover Institution Archives)
Arrows of Fire
Lt. Gen. John DeWitt and Army Col. Karl Bendetsen’s Western Defense Command pushed false rumors of sabotage activity, including debunked allegations that Japanese Americans were setting “arrows of fire” in the fields.
(Credit: Duluth News-Tribune (Dec. 11, 1941))
2-page pdf
‘Evacuation of Japanese’
U.S. Army Colonel Karl Bendetsen’s memo from April 1942, laying out his plan for the mass removal of all Japanese from the west coast, including U.S. citizens
(Credit: California Historical Society)
Edward Ennis
DOJ lawyer Edward Ennis (center), who headed the Alien Enemy Control Unit after Pearl Harbor and aggressively opposed U.S. Army proposals to enact aggressive roundups of Japanese Americans
(Credit: The University of Utah)
11-page pdf
Ringle Report
Intelligence report from Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ken Ringle warning that the Army’s plans for the mass removal of Japanese Americans is “unwarranted” and “unwise” and that the issue should be handled “on the basis of the individual … and not on a racial basis.”
(Credit: U.S. Navy)
A.G. Francis Biddle
Attorney General Francis Biddle, who capitulated to the Army’s demands for mass incarceration of Japanese Americans, despite the urging of DOJ lawyers working under him
(Credit: Library of Congress)
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, clearing the way for the U.S. Army to carry out the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the west coast
(Credit: Stanford University, Hoover Institution Archives)