United States Executive Order 9066 was signed into law on February 19, 1942 (during World War II), by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, using his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers.

This order authorized military commanders to declare areas of the United States as military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." It was eventually applied to one-third of the land area of the U.S. and was used against those with "Foreign Enemy Ancestry" even though they were native-born U.S. citizens.

The Secretary of War was to assist those residents of such an area who were excluded with transport, food, shelter, and other accommodations.

While Japanese-Americans were by far the best known and most numerous of those affected, some Italian-Americans and German-Americans were also subjected to similar restrictions, including internment. See [1], [2], [3]. Executive Order 9066 was finally rescinded by President Gerald Ford on April 19, 1976.

There had been some speculation that President Roosevelt was not at all enthusiastic about Executive Order 9066, but given that Japanese Americans were already being subject to increasing harassment by White Americans, and that it would only be a matter of time before killings and large-scale race rioting would start, President Roosevelt would have thought internment to be a lesser evil than having riots occur during wartime.

See Japanese American Internment

External link

• Text of the Order