Excerpt from Citizen 13660

Reprinted from Citizen 13660.

Published in 1946.

"On April 24, 1942, Civilian Exclusion order No. 19 was issued and posted everywhere in Berkeley. Our turn had come."

On December 7, 1941, Japan carried out a surprise attack on a U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After this incident Americans feared the Japanese would attempt a similar attack on the U.S. mainland. They were also convinced that spies and saboteurs lurked within Japanese American communities. In 1941, 127,000 Japanese Americans—about 70 percent of them U.S. citizens—lived in the United States. California was home to 93,000, and another 19,000 lived in Oregon and Washington.

Within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agents moved through Japanese American communities, arresting prominent individuals. Working without any evidence of wrongdoing, they arrested anyone who they thought might have feelings of loyalty toward...