Revisiting Manzanar: A history of Japanese American internment camps as presented in selected federal government documents 1941–2002

Abstract

Starting with a U.S. presidential proclamation regarding Japanese enemy aliens on December 7, 1941, through legislative and educational information in 2002, the federal government of the United States has published, in varied media, numerous documents concerning its 1942–1945 internment of persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. This paper examines selected available executive and legislative branch documents in order to determine how much and what kind of information they reveal about the course of the government action over the years and its impact on the internees. Document tone and vocabulary are examined as a reflection of public opinion over time. The story that emerges indicates the U.S. government both reflected and reacted to public opinion over time as Americans sought to balance the rights of the individual with the rights of society.