32.E.) FDR's policy of Japanese internment, an interview with Paul Sparrow Artwork

[Abridged] Presidential Histories

From Yorktown to the Civil War, Pearl Harbor to 9/11, discover the pivotal moments that defined each president's life and legacy and the lessons we can draw from them. New episodes available the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month.

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[Abridged] Presidential Histories

32.E.) FDR's policy of Japanese internment, an interview with Paul Sparrow

May 15, 2023 • Kenny Ryan

"By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States ... I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the Military Commanders ... to prescribe military areas … from which any or all persons may be excluded," - Executive Order No. 9066, Feb. 12, 1942

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Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order permitting the military to remove anyone it wanted from designated "military areas." By this authority, 120,000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and put in military prison camps for the duration of the war. Historical consultant Paul Sparrow, a former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, discusses the arguments for and against this policy, why FDR implemented it, and what life was like for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians caught up in order 9066.

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