World War II Japanese American Incarceration: Pre-war Surveillance and Planning
Pre-war Surveillance
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group 38)
Office of Naval Intelligence Reports:
- Secret and Confidential Reports of Naval Attaches, January 1940–ca. July 1946 (National Archives Identifier: 6850983)
- Formerly Security Classified General Correspondence, 1929–1943 (National Archives Identifier: 4490715)
- Security Classified Letters Sent, July 1, 1929–June 30, 1945 (National Archives Identifier: 4492717)
- Area Files, ca. 1924–ca. 1946 (National Archives Identifier: 300258)
Department of Justice (Record Group 60)
Department of Justice investigations of alleged subversive activity by Japanese American individuals and organizations, both pre-war and during World War II, are included in the following series:
- Class 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1930–1972 (National Archives Identifier: 20761627)
- Class 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files and Enclosures, 1940–1968 (National Archives Identifier: 17340193)
- Security Classified 146-7 (General Suspects) Litigation Case Files, 1937–1974 (National Archives Identifier: 185831514)
War Department General and Special Staffs (Record Group 165)
Security Classified Correspondence and Reports, 1917–1941 (National Archives Identifier: 305261): From the Military Intelligence Division. Intelligence reports and correspondence related to Japanese Americans and Japanese American organizations can be located using the following indexes:
Intelligence report documenting Kanichi (Jack H.) Nishino, a fisherman from Terminal Island, August 8, 1941 (National Archives Identifier: 41049982)
Naval Districts and Shore Establishments (Record Group 181)
Central Subject Files, 1940–1971 (National Archives Identifier: 295498): Photographs of Japanese fishing vessels based in Southern California, in folder A8-5 Espionage. Compiled by the Eleventh Naval District.
Central Subject Files, 1925–1954 (National Archives Identifier: 580688): Includes intelligence reports compiled by the Thirteenth Naval District in 1942 with titles including “Japanese Activities.”
Subject Files, 1936–1947 (National Archives Identifier: 605903): Includes lists of Japanese persons living within the Eighth Naval District and intelligence reports on Japanese ship movements from 1936–1940.
Proclamations and Legislation
Alien Enemies Act (1798) (National Archives Identifier: 183899816): One of four laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Alien Enemies Act formed the basis for apprehending foreign nationals from enemy countries and confiscating their property during World War II. This act is still in force today. World War II Enemy Alien Control Program Overview.
Executive Order 9066 (1942) (National Archives Identifier: 5730250): Authorized the mass removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland, and resulted in the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Proclamation 2525 (1942) (National Archives Identifier: 299955): Authorized the detention of Japanese nationals and confiscation of Japanese owned property. Proclamations 2526 and 2527 applied the same regulations to Germans and Italians, respectively.
Public Law 77-503 (National Archives Identifier 299811): This act made the violation of Executive Order 9066 a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Public Law 77-507 (National Archives Identifier 299811): Passed in March 1942 and known as the Second War Powers Act, this act temporarily repealed census privacy clauses and allowed the Census Bureau to provide individual level data that aided in the forced removal and detention of persons of Japanese descent.
House of Representatives (Record Group 233)
Committee Papers, 1940–1943 (National Archives Identifier: 583514):
- Records Relating to the Hearings on the Evacuation of Enemy Aliens and Other Persons from the Pacific Coast of the Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration from the 77th Congress (National Archives Identifier: 23869402)
- Newspaper Clippings of the Select Committee Investigating National Defense Migration from the 76th through 78th Congresses (National Archives Identifier: 23869422)
- Exhibits, Evidence, and Other Records Related to Various Committee Investigations, 1938–1942 (National Archives Identifier: 561018)
Planning
General John L. DeWitt Collection, 1921–1946 (Collection DEWIT)
Two folders of newspaper clippings and DeWitt's testimony in congressional hearings on the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
- Evacuation of Japanese (National Archives Identifier: 7764206)
- Evacuation of Japanese-Reaction (National Archives Identifier: 7764207)
Bureau of Agricultural Economics (Record Group 83)
Includes studies of the possible effects of the mass removal of the Japanese American population on agricultural production in California's Central Valley; and the sale of farmland and the process of developing confinement sites in Arizona.
- War Relocation Records, 1942 (National Archives Identifier: 72017194)
- Records of Adon Poli, 1941–1946 (National Archives Identifier: 296425)
- Correspondence and Reports, 1937–1942 (National Archives Identifier: 1414531
Posted Civilian Exclusion Orders (National Archives Identifier: 536017)
National Resources Planning Board (Record Group 187)
General Correspondence, 1936–1943 (National Archives Identifier: 296986): One folder includes public proclamations concerning forced removal, reports, and other documents discussing selection of confinement sites.
War Relocation Authority (Record Group 210)
Notices, Proclamations, and Laws, February 20, 1942–1945 (National Archives Identifier: 5634025): Records include executive orders establishing the Western Defense Command (WDC) and the War Relocation Authority (WRA), as well as public proclamations and exclusion orders from designated military areas.
U.S. Army Defense Commands (World War II), 1942–1946 (Record Group 499)
Records include public proclamations establishing military zones and civilian exclusion orders that restricted persons of Japanese descent from these designated areas.