U.S. approves end to internment of Japanese Americans
During World War II U.S.Major General Henry C.Pratt issues Public Proclamation No.
21 declaring that effective January 2 1945 Japanese American evacuees from the West Coast could return to their homes.On February 19 1942 10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor U.S.President Franklin D.Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas as deemed necessary or desirable.
The military in turn defined the entire West Coast home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship as a military area.By June more than 110000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S.military in scattered locations around the country.
For the next two and a half years many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.During the course of World War II 10 Americans were convicted of spying for Japan but not one of them was of Japanese ancestry.In 1988 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recompense each surviving internee with a tax-free check for 20000 and an apology from the U.S.government.
