War Relocation Authority
Encyclopedia
The War Relocation Authority was a United States government agency established to handle internment
of Japanese-
, German-
, and Italian-Americans
during World War II
. In addition, about 2,200 Japanese living in South America (mostly in Peru) were transported to the United States and placed in internment camps.
. The original director of the WRA was Milton S. Eisenhower
. Eisenhower was a proponent of FDR’s New Deal
and more than likely disapproved of the idea of the internment camp as a whole. The original idea for the camps was to make them similar to subsistence homesteads in the rural interior of the country. This idea was met with opposition from the governors of these interior states at a meeting in Salt Lake City in April 1942. They were worried about security issues and claimed it as "politically infeasible."
Shortly before the meeting Eisenhower wrote to his former boss, Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard, and said “when the war is over and we consider calmly this unprecedented migration of 120,000 people, we as Americans are going to regret the unavoidable injustices that we may have done.”
Milton S. Eisenhower continued as director of the WRA only until July 1942. His work in the WRA including pushing FDR to make a public statement in support of the loyal Nisei
, raising wages that interned Japanese Americans were paid and petitioning the United States Congress
to create programs for postwar rehabilitation.
Life in an internment camp was rather difficult. Those that were fortunate enough to find a job worked long hours, usually in agricultural jobs. Resistance to camp guards and attempting escape was a low priority for most of the Japanese Americans held in the camps. But the residents themselves were more often concerned with the problems of day-to-day living, of improving the way they lived, getting an education, and, in some cases, of preparing for eventual release. Many of those who were employed, particularly those with responsible or absorbing jobs, made these jobs the focus of their lives. Many found consolation in religion, and both Christian
and Buddhist services were held regularly. Others concentrated on hobbies; still others sought self-improvement by taking adult classes, ranging from Americanization and American history and government to vocational courses in secretarial skills and bookkeeping, and cultural courses in such things as ikebana
, Japanese flower arrangement. The young people spent much of their time in recreational pursuits: news of sports, theatrics, and dances fills the pages of the camp newspaper.
Living space was minimal. Families lived in barracks like structures partitioned into ‘apartments’ with walls that usually didn’t reach the ceiling. These ‘apartments’ were, at the largest, twenty by twenty-four feet and were expected to house a family of six. In April 1943, the Topaz camp averaged 114 square feet (roughly six by nineteen ft) per person.
All inmates of the internment camps ate at a common mess hall. At the army camps, it was estimated that it cost 38.19 cents per day to feed each person. It is more than likely that the WRA spent more, but most people were able to supplement their diets with food grown by other inmates in camp.
, were to be closed between 15 October and 15 December of that year. On 20 March 1946 Tule Lake closed.
Executive Order 9742, signed by President Harry S. Truman
on 26 June 1946, officially terminated the WRA’s mission.
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
of Japanese-
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
, German-
German American internment
German American Internment refers to the detention of people of German citizenship in the United States during World War I and World War II.-Civilian internees:...
, and Italian-Americans
Italian American internment
Italian American internment refers to the internment of Italian Americans in the United States during World War II.-Terms:The term "Italian American" does not have a legal definition...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In addition, about 2,200 Japanese living in South America (mostly in Peru) were transported to the United States and placed in internment camps.
Formation
The WRA was formed on 18 March 1942 by order of Executive Order 9102Executive Order 9102
Executive Order 9102 was a United States presidential executive order ordering the creation of the War Relocation Authority which was the U.S. civilian agency responsible for the penetration, relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II...
. The original director of the WRA was Milton S. Eisenhower
Milton S. Eisenhower
Milton Stover Eisenhower, served as president of three major American universities: Kansas State University, the Pennsylvania State University, and the Johns Hopkins University. He was the younger brother of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edgar N. Eisenhower, and Earl D...
. Eisenhower was a proponent of FDR’s New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
and more than likely disapproved of the idea of the internment camp as a whole. The original idea for the camps was to make them similar to subsistence homesteads in the rural interior of the country. This idea was met with opposition from the governors of these interior states at a meeting in Salt Lake City in April 1942. They were worried about security issues and claimed it as "politically infeasible."
Shortly before the meeting Eisenhower wrote to his former boss, Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard, and said “when the war is over and we consider calmly this unprecedented migration of 120,000 people, we as Americans are going to regret the unavoidable injustices that we may have done.”
Milton S. Eisenhower continued as director of the WRA only until July 1942. His work in the WRA including pushing FDR to make a public statement in support of the loyal Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
, raising wages that interned Japanese Americans were paid and petitioning the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to create programs for postwar rehabilitation.
Selection of camps
A total of 10 internment camps were created under direction of the WRA, mostly on Native American lands. Site selection was based upon multiple criteria including:- Ability to provide work in public works, agriculture, manufacturing.
- Adequate transportation, power facilities, sufficient area of quality soil, water, and climate
- Able to house at least 5,000 people
- Public land
Life in the camps
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and Buddhist services were held regularly. Others concentrated on hobbies; still others sought self-improvement by taking adult classes, ranging from Americanization and American history and government to vocational courses in secretarial skills and bookkeeping, and cultural courses in such things as ikebana
Ikebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
, Japanese flower arrangement. The young people spent much of their time in recreational pursuits: news of sports, theatrics, and dances fills the pages of the camp newspaper.
Living space was minimal. Families lived in barracks like structures partitioned into ‘apartments’ with walls that usually didn’t reach the ceiling. These ‘apartments’ were, at the largest, twenty by twenty-four feet and were expected to house a family of six. In April 1943, the Topaz camp averaged 114 square feet (roughly six by nineteen ft) per person.
All inmates of the internment camps ate at a common mess hall. At the army camps, it was estimated that it cost 38.19 cents per day to feed each person. It is more than likely that the WRA spent more, but most people were able to supplement their diets with food grown by other inmates in camp.
End of the camps
On 13 July 1945 the director of the WRA announced that all of the camps, except for Tule LakeTule Lake War Relocation Center
Tule Lake Segregation Center National Monument was an internment camp in the northern California town of Newell near Tule Lake. It was used in the Japanese American internment during World War II. It was the largest and most controversial of the camps, and did not close until after the war, in...
, were to be closed between 15 October and 15 December of that year. On 20 March 1946 Tule Lake closed.
Executive Order 9742, signed by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
on 26 June 1946, officially terminated the WRA’s mission.
Relocation centers
- Gila River War Relocation CenterGila River War Relocation CenterThe Gila River War Relocation Center was an internment camp built by the War Relocation Authority for internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. It was located about southeast of Phoenix, Arizona....
- Granada War Relocation CenterGranada War Relocation CenterThe Granada War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeast Colorado about a mile west of the small farming community of Granada, south of US 50....
- Heart Mountain War Relocation CenterHeart Mountain War Relocation CenterThe Heart Mountain Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain, was one of ten internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast during World War II under the provisions of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
- Jerome War Relocation CenterJerome War Relocation CenterThe Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944, it was the last relocation camp to open and the first to close; at one point it contained as many as 8,497 inhabitants. After...
- Manzanar War Relocation Center
- Minidoka War Relocation Center
- Poston War Relocation CenterPoston War Relocation CenterThe Poston War Relocation Center, located in Yuma County of southwestern Arizona, was the largest of the ten American internment camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II....
- Topaz War Relocation Center
- Tule Lake War Relocation CenterTule Lake War Relocation CenterTule Lake Segregation Center National Monument was an internment camp in the northern California town of Newell near Tule Lake. It was used in the Japanese American internment during World War II. It was the largest and most controversial of the camps, and did not close until after the war, in...
- Rohwer War Relocation CenterRohwer War Relocation CenterThe Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American internment camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942 until November 30, 1944, and held as many as 8,475 Japanese Americans forcibly evacuated from California...
See also
- Executive Order 9066Executive Order 9066United States Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones...
- German American internmentGerman American internmentGerman American Internment refers to the detention of people of German citizenship in the United States during World War I and World War II.-Civilian internees:...
- Italian American InternmentItalian American internmentItalian American internment refers to the internment of Italian Americans in the United States during World War II.-Terms:The term "Italian American" does not have a legal definition...
- Japanese American internmentJapanese American internmentJapanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
- Densho: The Japanese American Legacy ProjectDensho: The Japanese American Legacy Project' is an award-winning nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington, which collects video oral histories and documents regarding Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II...
- ManzanarManzanarManzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
War Relocation Center
Further Reading
- Daniels, Roger. Prisoners Without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. 1993. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.
- Myer, Dillon S. Uprooted Americans; the Japanese Americans and the War Relocation Authority During World War II. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1971.
- Riley, Karen Lea. Schools Behind Barbed Wire : the Untold Story of Wartime Internment and the Children of Arrested Enemy Aliens. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.
- "The Evacuation of the Japanese." Population Index 8.3 (July 1942): 166-8.
- "The War Relocation Authority & the Incarceration of Japanese- Americans in World War II," Truman Presidential Museum & Library. 10 Feb. 2007
External links
- Executive Order 9102
- Background documents, Truman Presidential Library
- Propaganda film by the War Relocation Authority.
- “The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice”, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan