Department of the Interior

Report describes how the War Relocation Authority was established, organized, and managed. It covers in detail the logistics of setting up, staffing, supplying, and then closing the centers. One section covers the agency's records management of 450 four-drawer filing cabinets of evacuee information, 90 file cabinets of office paperwork, 10 filing cabinets of personnel files, and 100 of financial paperwork, mostly paid vouchers. Report chapters are: Introduction; The Place of Administrative Management in the Program; Gradual Development of the administrative Management Function; Program Developments that Affected Personnel; The Organizational Pattern; The WRA Manual; The Budget Making Process; Personnel Management; Fiscal Management; Supply Operations; Mess Operations; Records Management; Other Functions of Administrative Management; Mass Transportation Operations; and Center Closure.

Report examines the development and function of community government within the relocation centers. It describes early debates on how centers should be governed, problems caused by differences in attitudes and values held by alien Japanese (Issei) and those with American citizenship (Nisei and Kibei), and the negative reaction of evacuees to the exclusion of Issei from elective office as well as to the questionable extent of self-government allowed. Several violent incidents, the Poston Strike and Manzanar Riot, are discussed. Other points of conflict arose with regard to the forced registration of center residents and relocation policies. The last section describes the All-Center Conference held in Salt Lake City in February, 1945 organized and financed by evacuees from all the centers to discuss concerns about the closure of the centers announced in December, 1944.

This report begins by examining how the relationship between Japanese Americans living on the West Coast in 1942 with other residents led to their being singled out for evacuation and placement in relocation centers after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Chapter one relates the experiences of Japanese Americans as they moved into the relocation centers (May 1942 - January 1943) and their adjustments to living in artificial communities under government control. Chapter 2 covers from February 1943 - November 1943 when relocation center residents were asked to register by filling out a questionnaire that included two loyalty questions and young men were recruited to serve in segregated army units. Chapter 3 describes life and conditions in the relocation centers while Chapter 4 describes the process and confusion of closing the centers. The Epilogue looks at the attitudes and adjustments of the Japanese Americans as they were reintegrated into American communities at the end of the war.

This report examines the phases of the WRA program in relation to legal issues. It is broken into 3 sections: I. The constitutionality of evacuation and detention; II. Legal considerations in the development of center management policies; III. Structure and functions of the WRA legal organization. The basic constitutional issues regarding the evacuation and the WRA's position with respect to litigation strategy are analyzed. Also found in this report is a discussion about the basic policies for the administration as well as the organization of the Office of the Solicitor and the work done in Washington and at each level of field operation.

This report examines the postwar adjustment of relocated Japanese Americans during the 18 months following the closure of the Japanese American relocation centers in 1945. Begun in July 1946, the study was "to analyze the effects of the evacuation from the west coast, and to complete the study of the relocation aspects, such as the new distribution of the people, and the adjustment problems that relocated people continued to face...." Areas chosen for intensive study included Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle, with supplementary study in the Santa Clara Valley, the Snake River Valley, and Salt Lake City. Findings were compiled from recorded interviews with representative Japanese Americans within these communities as well as from published material. Findings are organized in the following chapters: The relocation; Public acceptance; Economic adjustment; Housing adjustment; Social adjustment; and Resettlement.

Report describes the War Relocation Program from its inception in 1942 to closure of relocation centers and resettlement of evacuees in 1945. It covers why and how the War Relocation Authority was created, the meeting with state governors in Salt Lake City on April 7, 1942 to explain tentative relocation plans and get their feedback, seasonal work leave for evacuees, and many details related to setting up the program and the relocation centers, moving Japanese Americans from the West Coast to the camps, etc. Relates proceedings of the All-Centers Conference held by residents from all the camps to discuss camp closures. Includes a table showing what states and cities relocation camp residents settled in after the centers were closed.

This report examines how property owned by West Coast Japanese Americans in 1942 was handled when they were forced to go to relocation centers. Table of Contents: Legal Provisions for Controlling the Assets of Enemy Nationals in Time of War; Property Problems Created by the Evacuation of Japanese Americans; Preliminaries to the Mass Evacuation of Japanese Americans; Establishment of Procedures for Protecting Evacuee Property; The Evacuee Property Program of the War Relocation Authority; Regulations and Procedures Governing WRA's Handling of Evacuee Property; Some Outstanding Instances of Property Loss and Damage.

Report describes the Emergency Refugee Shelter at Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York where 1,000 refugees of various European nationalities were brought to the United States from Italy by order of President Roosevelt in 1944; they were to be returned to their homelands after the War. This temporary action sought to further long-range rescue objectives of the War Refugee Board, relieve overtaxed Allied supply liines in Italy, and, lastly, assist the people involved (although this was not one of the major concerns at first). The vast majority of the refugees were fearful of returning to Europe and did not wish to go back. It took 18 months, a Congressional investigation, an administrative inquiry by three government departments, and finally action by the President himself before people were allowed to leave the camp. Most of them settled in the U.S. in 21 different states. The report describes the transport of the refugees to the U.S., their existence at the camp, a chronology, etc.

Describes Japanese migration to the U.S. before World War II, characteristics of the Japanese American people who settled on the West Coast, the myths and prejudices surrounding them, and how they were treated following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The report is organized into three sections: Part I, The West Coast's least known and most misrepresented minority; Part II, Interim: December 7, 1941-February 19, 1942; and Part III, Triumph for the Racists. Includes testimony of various government officials, politicians, and other individuals who spoke out, for and against, on 'evacuating' Japanese Americans.

Of the nine final reports written by the War Relocation Authority, this one differs in attempting to give a comprehensive view of the WRA program in its entirety rather than focusing on some particular facet of the program as did the other reports. Printed on high quality paper, it includes a chronology of the relocation program, a chart and nine statistical tables, and black and white photographs. The final chapter, entitled Reflections and Recommendations, examines 'some of the principal issues that were involved in the program ... in the hope that they may help the Nation to avoid a repetition of some of its wartime mistakes and that they may suggest some new avenues of approach to the perennial problem of combating racial intolerance.'