Congress

Congressional hearings in Jan. and Feb. 1944 on several bills, H.R. 2701, 3012, 3446, and 3489, proposing (1) expatriation of Japanese Americans who under oath expressed loyalty to Japan and (2) creation of a Japanese Deportation Commission. The bills were largely the result of a questionnaire given to some 40,000 residents of relocation centers asking them to swear unqualified alliegiance to the United States, defend it from all attack, and forswear any form of allegiance to Japan. Statements include some discussion of the relocation centers as well as a letter from the War Relocation Agency providing the results of the questionnaire and the complexities behind the answers given. Statements are given by Harry R. Sheppard, Clair Engle, J. Leroy Johnson, W.F. Norrell, Sam M. Russell, Francis Biddle, John H. Provinse, R.W. Flournoy Jr., and Herman P. Eberharter.

In 1980, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians was established to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the relocation of American citizens and permanent resident aliens during World War II and "recommend appropriate remedies." Between July and December 1981, the Commission held 20 days of hearings and took testimony from more than 750 witnesses who included Japanese Americans and Aleuts who had been "relocated", former government officials, public figures, interested citizens, and historians and other professionals who have studied the subjects of Commission inquiry. Afterward, for another six months, the Commission collected and reviewed materials from government and university archives as well as contemporary writings, personal accounts, and historical analyses. Personal Justice Denied summarizes the findings of the Commission. Although generously footnoted and containing excerpts, this report does not provide the full text of the testimonies.