Picture of the Day

This was a poster put up in San Francisco, calling for the forcible removal of Japanese Americans in 1942. The instructions are clear:

“All Japanese persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above designated area by 12:00 o’clock noon Tuesday, April 7, 1942.

No Japanese person will be permitted to enter or leave the above described area after 8:00 a.m., Thursday, April 2, 1942, without obtaining special permission from the Provost Marshal at the Civil Control Station located at:

1701 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California”

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which called for the incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent—most of whom were American citizens living on the west coast.

Many of them lost their properties and possessions and would not be compensated until 1988 when President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which apologized for the incarceration on behalf of the U.S. government. Each survivor received $20,000 (equivalent to about $44,000 in 2021).

FDR’s justification for issuing Executive Order 9066 was to prevent spies for Japan. In the end, 10 people were convicted in court for spying for the Japanese. They were all caucasian.