On bill harris and im Deputy Director here. Its very nice to see everyone out on this sunday afternoon. We want to thank you on behalf of all of our supporters and want to thank you and for theport National Archives and records administration. The organizations helping to make this possible today. Its a place not just to hold and display the materials that were generated in collected of the course of his career but also as a place to study and learn about his administration and the about the times in which he was working. Little could have appreciated the economic complexities but the ultimate war which helped define his administration and his presidency. Seriouslye cars fair and we seem to encourage analysis into all facets of after your post life, leadership, and his decisions, as well as those now in retrospect of mrs. Roosevelt. Everything that was controversial must be taken with the good and the appreciation and the honor. This isnt to tear down but to understand and foster an atmosphere here that the president would have encouraged for debate and dialogue based on evidence here in the archives, the evidence that is here for interpretation and review. Not merely on opinion. We can trust that the sources here at the library are without question and that this form is open to everyone. It is for everyone. We are pleased to have here today greg robinson. He will be speaking about his book by order of the president fdr and the internment of japanese americans. He will provide us with valuable insight. We encourage all of you here today to go over to see it and go through the exhibit and appreciate the hard work that our team did to create this exhibit. Greg is a noted scholar on internment, the author of multiple works including a tragedy of democracy he is a professor of history at the university of quebec, montreal. He is a good friend of the library, greg, please . Thank you very much. [applause] mr. Robinson good afternoon, it is a very great honor to be here at the fdr library, thank you all for coming, thank you for inviting me. It is really impressive that we have this kind of turnout on a sunday afternoon, it is very nice of you to take time from your schedules for this. I wanted to talk today about the clash between franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt on the subject of japanese americans. President Reagan Roosevelt and first Lady Roosevelt president Franklin Roosevelt and first Lady Roosevelt clashed about this. The president signed executive order 9066 which authorized the removal of over 110,000 japanese americans from the west coast on the basis of their ethnicity. The president referred to the intern camps as concentration camps. He referred to them this way meaning that this is where people were concentrated. Not like the nazi concentration camps. This was the case of a government confining it on people. We understand that technically internment is slightly inaccurate. Because there is no other word for this, we use it as a placeholder. At the same time, the president allowed japanese americans to be stripped of their property and to be confined without charge. We will talk about what happened in a minute. His wife was a human rights activist who considered arbitrary confinement unamerican. Forced to remain publicly silent on this by her position as first lady. She privately attempted to persuade the president to not do this. She sought to speed the process of letting the inmate out. The vivid contrast between the roosevelts and their words and action helps to eliminate the larger question, how such events could take place and what lessons we can take from it. Follow me . Good. There will be a quiz on this later. [applause] the story starts during the late 1930s as the struggle for power in the pacific rose between japan and the United States. As japan begins largescale naval building in 1935 and 1936, it invades china in 1937 and then eventually signed an alliance with nazi germany and fascist italy. The president was planning for the possibility of war and took steps toward this. In the process, they became worried about japanese on the west coast. There were 100 150,000 people of japanese ancestry in each of these regions. They were made up of immigrants themselves who had been in america for several generations, since the beginning of the 20th century. They spent their adult lives in the United States. The majority of the community was their americanborn children. There had long been prejudiced against japaneseamericans on the west coast. Why was a different matter. On the west coast they could not own property. They faced job discrimination. Antijapanese journalists, publicists and speakers spread wild rumors about them such as absurd stories about how japanese american fishing boats on the pacific were Japanese Naval vessels in the sky that could be taken out at a moments notice and transformed into 20 torpedo boats. It is not clear how much the president and his advisors were directly influenced by such talk. Certainly they were led to suspect the loyalty of west coast japanese. Part of it was that the japanese American Press had supported japan in his work in china and had spoken up in favor of tokyos foreign policy. On the other hand, the japaneseamericans did not surrender their american is any less than any other groups that opposed american involvement. The president was very suspicious of japanese americans. When he learned in mid1936 is that japanese communities were being visited by sailors on japanese ships, he ordered his agents to make lists of all people who had contact with the ships so they could be put into internment caps in case of trouble. Internment camps in case of trouble. The fbi and his own agents. In mid1941, the president mobilized his own team of spies. You can see a letter from John Franklin carter who was the leader of this group. He went to the west coast in the middle of 1941. He reported that japanese communities were overwhelmingly loyal and very anxious to prove their american citizenship. Still, the president and his advisors were taking no chances and were very ready to believe any kind of rumor. The Justice Department compiled the abc list with names of people for roundup in case of war. These people were selected not because of any evidence about their personal activities, there wasnt any. Simply because the nature of their position. Community leaders, buddhist priests, led the government to suspect them of disloyalty. In november of 1941, several weeks before pearl harbor, the attorney general francis announced that the government had finished building concentration camps and was ready to undertake wholesale roundups of japanese aliens and segregate them for a temporary period. Let me be clear, i dont think there was any fixed and settled plan by the American Government for mass action against all japaneseamericans on the west coast that existed before the war. What we can say is that the suspicion against japaneseamericans the fake news the wild reports and false accusations and the Government Action created a climate of opinion in which the president and its advisors were prepared and even over prepared to think the worst of japaneseamericans while the white house was planning for concentration camps made for a bureaucratic momentum which may later action seem like not just unthinkable but followthrough. If you build it, he spend the money, if you build it, he spend the money, you are going to want to use it. The japanese raid on pearl harbor on december 7 of 1941 brought the United States into the war, devastated japaneseamerican. Within hours and days after the attack, over 1000 japanese immigrants and nisee were arrested. They were sent to camps in bismarck, north dakota and in montana. They were quite ready to hold any aliens in case of war. In the weeks that followed, military officials on the west coast became nervous over the possibility of a Japanese Invasion of the mainland. They singled out the regions ethnic residence. Mainly the nisee. They belonged to what commanding general john do it called an enemy race. The secretary of the navy, frank knox, visited hawaii about a week after pearl harbor and was anxious to shift the blame for the disaster from the navy. Claims without evidence that the attack was a product of japanese control over hawaii. West coast nativists and commercial groups that hated japaneseamericans who were competitors, nativists who didnt like nonwhite people on the west coast started to campaign against japanese americans. The fact that there was not a single act of disloyalty or documented case for sabotage by any west coast japaneseamerican did not, fears of their spanish neighbors. Instead, general john dewitt commented that the absence of any signs of sabotage only prove that japaneseamericans really were guilty. They were waiting for the signal. How are you going to respond to that one . By late january of 1942, Army Commanders and west coast local leaders began to press the government to evacuate all people of japanese ancestry regardless of citizenship for the west coast. These pressures brought the issue of removal to the white house. The War Department leaders led by secretary of war Henry Simpson seconded their local commanders, they figured people on a brandnew it there asking for. He had no evidence of any danger. The attorney general supported reports from the fbi and Naval Intelligence that the Japanese Community was overwhelmingly brought loyal and opposed the idea. On february 11, the president received a message from stinson said supported the removal but thought he needed president ial authorization for such a draft policy. He asked fdr for authorization. Roosevelt told him over the phone that he was too busy to meet with him but he trusted them to do whatever they thought necessary provided they were as reasonable and humane as possible. The army then arranged executive order 9066. This provided the authority for the army to remove japaneseamericans from their homes which later led to the imprisonment in government caps camps. It was signed on february 19. Why was fdrs elemental to such drastic and hasty action . As built out of you, i wrote a whole book about this question and i will not give you the whole book in two seconds. I can say that that his brother i can say that his brother he later stated that the president s final decision was imposed by a variety of factors. By several event under which he had little control, bad counsel, Strong Political pressures and by his own Training Background and personality. I think that is a reasonably accurate summary of what inspired fdr to this decision. Certainly, the play of events was not a sufficient factor. Roosevelt, we can agree was a rather passive figure. He responded to widespread cause of action and would have left japaneseamericans alone if there was not that kind of political pressure and fear of Japanese Invasion after the success in the pacific. Ironically, in hawaii, it had been attacked. Roosevelt ordered japanese communities to either be concentrated on the old leper island which would be shipped wholesale to the United States mainland. Opposition from the military commander general deal is emmons general emmons eventually scuttled to the plan. On the west coast, where he was a rather passive participant, it did happen. Bad counsel and incomplete information were also important. Years before the war, this big news, rumors and sensational accounts regarding activities must have helped influence at the same time, roosevelt was willingly misled. Even before the war with japan began, he was informed by his own agents the japaneseamericans were loyal. He chose not to accept such findings. As he believed the reports without foundation on the basis of lack of information it was because he was prepared to believe the worst about japanese. The political pressures on the president were enormous. They must be assigned significant weight. Simpson and mccoy were both prominent republicans agreed to join the buzz about administration on the grounds that they would be kept free from partisan politics. The entire west coast congressional delegation was solidly in favor of mass removal and there were journalists and letter writers of all kinds who wrote into the president. There was a Strong Political consensus for removal and hardly any opposition. It did not take a genius, but alone let alone president roosevelts; sensitivity to political pressure. It is hard to say what influence they had but we can say that fdr had a past history of sharing popular prejudiced against japaneseamerican. Prejudice against japaneseamericans. He publicly insisted that japanese were not able to be assimilated into american society. This prevented japanese immigrants from buying property or marrying whites were coming prince citizens. I am quoting him i will give you my best fdr. This is from his article in asia magazine. So far as americans are concerned, it must be admitted that as a whole, they honestly believe that the mingling of white with oriental blood on an extensive scale is harmful to our citizens. Mr. Robinson while it is not clear how much he continued this through the period of the war, he was friends with the scientists studying japanese skulls. He believed that they were biologically aggressive and evil. He believed their skulls were less developed, evolutionarily. It is certainly true that if you justify mass action on the grounds that they are not really americans, you will be less inclined to care about their Citizenship Rights enough to intervene and protect them. As i say on november 19, 1942, roosevelt signed his order and as a result of the order, over 110,000 west coast japaneseamericans were ordered from their homes without trial and sent to camps under military guard. The average age was about 18 and the rest were long resident aliens who were predominately middleaged. They could take only what they could carry and the had to sell their homes, their cars and other personal property. Roosevelt specifically refused to assign a property custodian to watch after their property while they were being moved. He said he might care about the people and what happened to them once they were removed but not about their property. The future Supreme Court justice who was the man on the west coast offered to protect the property of japaneseamericans to make sure they would move. They said that he was crazy. When they were first moved into Assembly Centers that were fairgrounds and racetracks on the west coast, you can see these very striking photos. The inmates were housed in stables and animal pens, after several weeks or months under army guard, they were transported with army guards to a network of relocation centers. Camps operated by the War Relocation Authority and hastily built in the interior of the country. In wyoming, arizona, california, utah, idaho and arkansas. These were remote desert and swamp areas and to the inmates were surrounded by barb wire and swamps. Barbed wire and swamps. The health and sanitary facilities where primitive, the food was limited and of poor quality. All adults were expected to work. Their maximum salary was 15 per month. Except for the doctors and other professionals that could make 19 per month. Their salary was deliberate lisette below that of an army private so as to show that no japanese were being coddled. There were riots and strikes in the camp. Most japaneseamericans remained in the camp through the war years. Once fdr had approved the cam policye; camp policy, he was generally detached from the state of the japaneseamericans. The first director got sick of the idea of confining japaneseamericans in his prison camps and fdr appointed another official dylan meier to run the camps. He resisted the suggestion that he make a statement publicly defending the loyalty of japanese americans and at least explaining why they had been placed into the camps. Antijapaneseamerican colonists colonists columnists worked full time. The navy and other branches of the military refused. The army permitted japaneseamerican citizens to prove their loyalty by volunteering for the army. In the process, the parole system allowed japaneseamericans who had been properly approved to get out of the camp. He made a speech or a Public Statement declaring that americanism is primarily a matter of the mind and the heart. Americanism is not and never was a matter of race or ancestry. Some months later, he publicly pledged to let oil japaneseamericans returned to their old areas on the west coast as soon as the military situation permitted. However, it by the beginning of 1944, his advisers agreed that the state of the war in japan the vetting of the japaneseamericans in the camps, there was no reason to keep the japanese in the west coast. The president ordered the exclusion maintained. They wanted to promote assimilation. Roosevelt delayed his approval of opening up the camps and letting japaneseamericans back. Until after the november of 1944, in the election six months later. Fdr deserves a certain amount of scrutiny, not because he hated japaneseamericans, he had a humanitarian interest. He had an indifference. He did not care enough to ask the difficult questions about what japanese americans had actually done, whether the campaign was based on prejudice. He went along with things and wants japaneseamericans were in the camps, he really responded with clinical political convenience. To political attacks, not about the treatment of the people on the ground. Eleanor roosevelt did not share her husband views. Husbands views. She virtually had no contact with japaneseamericans before world war ii. She seldom addressed the problem of antiasian discrimination during the first years in the white house. In 1941, the editor of a japaneseamerican newspaper in los angeles came to washington to ask what would happen to a japanese alien. He was an american citizen and thought he should be protected by the american constitution. He was worried about the