Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, but incomplete
Review: I have never read a more gripping or poignant work published by a governmental body. Personal Justice Denied is a stunning account of the prelude to internment, the incarceration itself, the exclusion, and the long road home for over 100,000 Japanese Americans. While I found the report to be generally very well written, I would have liked to have seen a more balanced presentation of the evidence involving the evacuation and exclusion of the Japanese Americans. For example, the report detailed very well how numerous Japanese Americans were taken advantage of by "friends" or "caretakers" during the evacuation with regards to personal property. Surely there were examples of "friends" and "caretakers" who actually took care of property and belongings and returned these to the Japanese Americans when they were released. Also, according to the report, there were numerous persons of different ethnic backgrounds (Japanese, German, Italian) who were arrested by the Justice Department and incarcerated before and after Pearl Harbor. No specific examples were mentioned.

I was most impressed with the vivid descriptions of the evacuation process and the living conditions within the assembly centers and relocation centers. I knew from my limited study that the situation was spartan and bleak, but I had no idea of the destituteness of the centers. Additionally, the economic loss incurred by the Japanese Americans was also extremely well documented. The 20,000 dollars paid to survivors of this personal injustice is wholly inadequate and our government should make further restitution. I was most ashamed of the average white American and the profoundly ignorant, biased, and bigoted attitudes displayed. The pervasive hysteria was unacceptable and the government, both in Washington D.C. and the western states, did nothing to abate it.

I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it for anyone seeking to understand more about the internment of the Japanese Americans. While its examination is a bit biased, it is extremely well documented as a result of the three weeks of hearings and personal testimonies.

Rating:
Summary: Eureka - A Government Report That Delivers
Review: I'm doing research on the Internment and this is by far the most balanced source that I have yet to come upon. It is well written and passionate - qualities in short supply in most government publications.

It is fair to say that this report achieves what was intended: a simple hard hitting report to the Congress and the American people describing the horrible acts committted against those of Japanese descent in the name of national defense.

It is not a perfect document and one must use other sources to fill out the picture. Not nearly enough is devoted to the role of President Roosevelt. More could have been done to show the roots of the racial prejudice against Orientals and other races of color dating back into the nineteenth century in California. While groups leading the charge against the Japanese are named, more specifics would have been welcomed.

Not nearly enough about the role of Earl Warren is included. In addition, much more should have been done to spell out the roles of other leading citizens in California, the rest of the West, and from other parts of the country.

The report is an excellent source of information on the role of the army, especially of the leadership of General John De Witt in this tragedy, but more could have been provided on the influence that Col. Karl Bendetsen had on the general, a vital question in the events.

But these are minor flaws of a report that calls the shots against its own employer. It is possible that by responding to my critique the report would have been far too long and its value would have been diluted by overwhelming verbiage. The distinguished panelists and the outstanding staff can be justly proud of the role they played in setting the record straight on this very ugly period in our history.

Rating:
Summary: Garbage History created by activists for politicians
Review: Ron Takagi's weak excuses attempting to explain away the disloyalty of Japanese-Americans segregated at Tule Lake is absurd!

Disloyals were caught up in the fanatical propoganda of Japanese militarism, a cult equally as insidious as Nazism. Hakko-ichiu, the Kokutai, Japanese racial superiority and military successes from Tsushima Strait to Manchukuo caught the attention of ethnic Japanese in colonies throughout the world, regardless of where they were born. The doctrine was being taught in Japanese "language-schools" throughout the world, and by Nichi-ren priests at Buddhist Temples throughout the world...

Takagi's comments are a weak attempt at explaining away the history 60 years later.....

Here's but one example of the many pro-Japan military groups that existed long before Pearl Harbor and who's followers were segregated at Tule Lake...

The Black Dragons were the Amur River Society (Kokuryu-kai) in 1930s and 1940s Japan. The Black Dragons were ultranationalists heavily involved in the conquest of China, and as spies and fifth columnists subverting nations targeted for conquest. The Black Dragons were active up and down the Pacific Coast of North and South America. In the United States, Black Dragons were a concern to Lieutenant Commander K.D. Ringle of U.S. Navy Intelligence and other security officials. On December 7, 1942; Black Dragons led Banzai! cheers at the U.S. Manzanar Relocation Center; the anniversary of the Japanese attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Black Dragons led and fomented riots and carried out acts of violence at Manzanar, Tule Lake Segregation Center, and other sites where Japanese enemy aliens and Americans of Japanese ancestry were located. The Black Dragons and other ultranationalist organizations provided the nucleus for the formation of the postwar Yakuza organized crime syndicates. See (Dubro and Kaplan, pages 36, 67, 85 and 192). Also see Tony Matthews in Shadows Dancing, pages 43, 46 and 222-223. A number of Black Dragon members were in the Japanese government and many were charged as war criminals in 1945.

Rating:
Summary: Well Done Summary and Analysis of WWII Internment
Review: This book is a masterful summary of events surrounding the wartime relocation and detention activities, and a strong indictment of the policies that led to them. The report and its recommendations were instrumental in effecting a presidential apology and monetary restitution to surviving Japanese Americans and members of the Aleut community.

As for the accusations and charges that all Japanese Americans were probably disloyal and untrustworthy, it should be known that INTERNED Japanese Americans did volunteer to serve in the Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442d Regimental Combat Team during World War II. If you read the book Go For Broke (written by Chester Tanaka), it tells about the bravery of one of the MOST decorated combat unit in the U.S. Army. At least 680 of them were killed in action fighting the Germans in Italy and Western Europe. At least 1200 came from mainland U.S. concentration camps and rest came from Hawaii, where Executive Order 9066 to intern the West Coast Japanese-American community did not apply.

And in Strangers From A Different Shore by Ronald Takaki (pages 397-404), it states at least 33,000 Japanese-Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

They also served in the Pacific front as translators, reconnaissance, etc. and General Charles Willoughby, chief of intelligence in the Pacific, estimated that Japanese-American intelligence work help shorten the Pacific war by 2 years

So if Japanese Americans were considered to be DISLOYAL, then why would the President of the U.S. allow them to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces?

Well in Mr. Takaki's book on page 397 it states that President Roosevelt wanted to neutralize Japanese propaganda about WW II being a race war. So in February 1943, President Roosevelt authorized to allow Japanese-American men, including those INTERNED in detention camps such as Tule Lake center, to register for the draft by signing loyalty questionnaires in which they simply answer "yes" to serving in combat duty and swearing to unqualified allegiance to the U.S.

I would like to also reply to comments made by other customers about this book.

* One customer made this comment: "After loyalty screening, eighteen thousand Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans were segregated at a special center for disloyals at Tule Lake California where regular military "Banzai" drills in support of Emperor Hirohito were held. "

The customer is correct that Japanese-Americans detained at the Tule Lake detention center held mass demonstrations, but they were NOT expressing support for the Japanese emperor.

If you read the book A Fence Away from Freedom by Ellen Levine (pages 134-137, 231-240), the author writes that the Japanese-Americans were protesting on October 15, 1943, the death of an inmate who was killed in a truck accident.

In February 1943, President Roosevelt authorized to allow Japanese-American men to register for the draft by signing loyalty documents.

Several young Japanese-American men protested about the unfairness of being interned inside detention centers AND being asked to register for the draft by NOT showing up for Army physical exams.

These Tule Lake internees were actually INDICTED for trying to resist the draft registration!

But on July 29, 1944, Federal Judge Louis E. Goodman dismissed indictments against 26 Tule Lake draft resisters and declared: "It is shocking to the conscience that an American citizen be confined on the ground of disloyalty, and then, while so under duress and restraint, be compelled to serve in the armed forces, or be prosecuted for not yielding to such compulsion."

* Another comment that was made: "In a questionnaire, over 26% of Japanese-Americans of military age at the time said they would refuse to swear an unqualified oath of allegiance to the United States."

As mentioned above President Roosevelt DID authorized in 1943 to allow Japanese-American men to register for the draft by signing loyalty questionnaires.

But as Mr. Ronald Takaki states in his book Strangers From A Different Shore on page 397, these Japanese-American men wanted to PROTEST their INTERNMENT in the detention camps and therefore answered "no" to unqualified allegiance to the U.S.

They were placed in detention camps BECAUSE the U.S. government thought they might be DISLOYAL enough to commit sabotage or espionage, and ALL of them were classified by the Selective Service as IV-C - enemy aliens - because they were considered untrustworthy and therefore were NOT allowed to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces!

All of these books should be read by all those who want a more detailed overview and background of the controversial relocation and detention of Japanese Americans during WWII, which is now more relevant and important as ever because of the September 11 terrorist attack and the resulting racial profiling and detention of Arab Americans.

Rating:
Summary: This isn't a report. It's a legal brief!
Review: This is what happens when the history of the United States is decided via politically motivated congressional commissions. Personally, I believe the role of the legislature is to legislate, not re-educate.

This "study" as some call it was prepared by a commission that included NOT ONE recognized World War Two historian or intelligence specialist. It was prepared by a group of activist, liberal products of the 1960s counter movement who were hand-picked by the Japanese American Citizens League and the National Council on Japanese American Redress. The conclusons of this study are terribly flawed, having been decided before the "research" had even begun.

Upon publication, the commission embarassingly admitted they had never heard of MAGIC intelligence, although it was readily available to them as declassified NSA documents. (MAGIC was the name for the broken Japanese diplomatic code indicating widespread espionage amongst ethnic Japanese along the West Coast. In fact this type of "total intelligence" had been the norm as early as the Nishin War and Russo-Japanese War.)

None of the witnesses were required to testify under oath. Japanese-American politicians planted many of the most heinous myths on the floor of congress and not under oath. Witnesses called to support government's decision were met with catcalls and howling from the opposition. In short it was a circus.

For the truth, read "MAGIC" by retired National Security Executive David Lowman. Two-Thirds of the book contains declassified NSA documents related to the era. Read and decide for yourself.

In the meantime, did you know:

It is well-documented that the evacuation was not motivated by racism, as so often claimed today, but by information obtained by the U.S. from pre-war decoded Japanese diplomatic messages and other intelligence revealing the existence of espionage and the potential for sabotage involving then-unidentified resident Japanese aliens and Japanese-Americans living within the West Coast Japanese community. Many of these messages and associated intelligence documents have since been declassified and are available in a number of historical publications.

Only persons of Japanese ancestry (alien and citizen) residing in the West Coast military zones were affected by the evacuation order. Those living elsewhere were not affected at all.

It is not true that Japanese-Americans were "interned. Only Japanese nationals (enemy aliens) arrested and given individual hearings were interned. Such persons were held for deportation in Department of Justice camps. Those evacuated were not interned. They were first given an opportunity to voluntarily move to areas outside the military zones. Those unable or unwilling to do so were sent to Relocation Centers operated by the War Relocation Authority.

At the time, the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) officially supported the government's evacuation order and urged all enemy alien Japanese and Japanese Americans to cooperate and assist the government in their own self interest.

It is also misleading and in error to state that those affected by the evacuation orders were all "Japanese-Americans." Approximately two-thirds of the ADULTS among those evacuated were Japanese nationals--enemy aliens subject to detention under long-standing law. The vast majority of evacuated Japanese-Americans (U.S. citizens) were children at the time. Their average age was only 15 years. In addition, between 50 and 75 percent of Japanese-Americans over age 17 were also citizens of Japan (dual citizens) under Japanese law. Thousands had been educated in Japan, some having returned to the U.S. holding reserve rank in the Japanese armed forces.

During the war, more than 33,000 evacuees voluntarily left the relocation centers to accept outside employment in areas outside of the military zones. An additional 4,300 left to attend colleges in the East.

In a recent study made by the National Park Service for the Manzanar memorial site, it was revealed that during the war over 26% of Japanese Americans over military age said they would refuse to swear an unqualified oath of allegiance to the United States.

According to War Relocation Authority records, 13,000 applications renouncing their U.S. citizenship and requesting expatriation to Japan were filed by or on behalf of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Over 5,000 such applications had been processed by the end of the war.

After loyalty screening, eighteen thousand Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans were segregated at a special center for disloyals at Tule Lake California where regular military "Banzai" drills in support of Emperor Hirohito were held.

The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Constitutionality of the evacuation/relocation in Korematsu v. U.S., 1944 term. In summing up for the 6-3 majority, Justice Black wrote:

"There was evidence of disloyalty on the part of some, the military authorities considered that the need for action was great, and time was short. We cannot -- by availing ourselves of the calm perspective of hindsight -- now say that at the time these actions were unjustified." That decision has never been reversed and stands to this day.

It should be noted that the relocation centers had many amenities. Accredited schools, their own newspapers, stores, churches, hospitals, all sorts of sports and recreational facilities. The centers also had the highest per capita wartime birth rates for any wartime U.S. community with over 6,000 babies being born therein during the war.

After the war, personal property losses of those evacuated were compensated under the Evacuation Claims Act of 1948 in which over 26,000 claims were settled in amounts up to $100,000. Only 15 claims were ever appealed.

Ever since Pres. Reagan signed into law (against the advice of his own Justice Department) the results of this terribly flawed "study", million of taxpayer dollars have been provided annually to support it. That's why this subject is in your newspapers, on T.V., museums, libraries, bookstores and especially schools...all at taxpayer expense and it isn't correct history!

Well, your kids are learning it anyway.

Politicians have no place writing this country's history.

Rating:
Summary: Fataly flawed yet accepted almost everywhere
Review: Yes, Personal Justice Denied purports to be thorough

Yes, Personal Justice Denied claims to be an unbiased reading of all of the relevant material on the subject of Relocation and Internment during WWII

Yes, Personal Justice Denied was produced by a body of respected lawmakers and appointees.

No, Personal Justice Denied report what it claims too.

Being neither Japanese nor alive at the time of the WWII internment, I assume that my discussion of this book will be roundly ignored. That's fine - I am rarely ever accused of being the most PC guy on the block. I do, however, know my military intelligence.

As a specific indictment of this work (and as mentioned in other reviews), read David Lowman's MAGIC,The Untold Story of US Intelligence and the Evacuation of
Japanese Residents from the West Coast During WWII.

Really.

The commission that produced PJD was created in a political atmosphere by politicians with an agenda. That agenda was to rewrite the history of Japanese nationals living in the US during WWII. A political commission may well be biased towards, and ignore data that damages, the political climate of the day. PJD is exactly that - a political document which totally ignores military fact.

Military fact is this; you can't tell everyone every chunk of data you use to come to a decision. Doing that endangers your ability to continue to GAIN information using secret channels. If you tell people where you got your data, it's no longer a secret you see. This is the case with MAGIC and the Japanese internment camps. The error on the part of the government in preventing the full story of why people were relocated (and in some cases repatriated) is in waiting too long to declassify relevant documents.

The important point about declassifying documents, especially in this case, is you as the government do not KNOW the agenda of every special interest group out there. Had the folks in charge of declassifying documents realized that Japanese lobbyists were about to bring up a long dead and assumed settled issue I bet they would have hustled those documents out of their storage boxes. It is quite difficult to keep track of every lobby and which issues are going to become popular at any given time. I mention that the issue was considered settled due to the fact that, after WWII US citizens in internment camps were returned to their homes(where possible) and offered redress for the financial burden they suffered. This they accepted and life went on. PJD is the result of lobbyists succeeding in convincing politicians that that redress was for the specifically FINANCIAL burden suffered - not for MENTAL anguish. That where PJD came from you see; legal word craft.

All of that said, the commission then proceeded to ignore relevant intelligence data. That data being intercepted communications between persons living in the US and Japan specifically creating a Japanese intelligence network BEFORE Pearl Harbor with the express purpose, stated in CLEAR TEXT(post decryption) of providing war time intelligence and committing acts of sabotage within the US.

But why should I rewrite Lowman's book! Buy this book but do NOT make up your mind about this issue without reading David Lowman's; MAGIC,The Untold Story of US Intelligence and the Evacuation of
Japanese Residents from the West Coast During WWII.
If you make up your mind about US internment of Japanese peoples during WWII without reading the WHOLE story, you will be wrong.