President Roosevelt's Executive Order 90-906, 1942

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Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 19, 1942 (Executive Order No. 9066, 1942). The President of the United States of America, Franklin Roosevelt, personally signed and issued Executive Order 9066, which arbitrarily relocated and detained many Japanese Americans in designated areas (Executive Order No. 9066, 1942). Also, the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor during President Roosevelt’s term, which resulted in President Roosevelt’s oversight of military operations against the Japanese in the Pacific and internment efforts within the US (Executive Order No. 9066, 1942). President Roosevelt was privy to all information concerning the Pearl Harbor attack, military capabilities of the Japanese Empire, and possible domestic threats to national security. Given the segregated …show more content…

Furthermore, President Roosevelt gave the Secretary of War and subordinate commanders authority to designate any area as a military zone and detain or relocate virtually anyone they wanted (Executive Order No. 9066, 1942). Also, it’s important to note that President Roosevelt gave the Secretary of War permission to use other federal agencies at his discretion in implementation of Executive Order 9066 (Executive Order No. 9066, 1942). Essentially, Executive Order 9066 details the purpose, mission, and scope of the internment and relocation of any citizens deemed a threat to national security. I believe this was a knee-jerk reaction to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Furthermore, the Roberts Commission, a governmental panel convened to investigate the Pearl Harbor attack, publicly stated that Japanese Americans have been implicated in acts of sabotage and espionage (Fox, p. 412). In light of the Roberts report, the American public put pressure on the state and federal legislatures for action, and the internment didn’t find much opposition (Fox, p. 412). President Roosevelt had the support of the people, congress, and the military to issue his Executive Order (Fox, p.

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