On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which removed, detained, and relocated over 100,000 people of Japanese descent living in the United States, most of whom were American citizens.  It was not until over thirty years later when President Ford finally rescinded this Executive Order with a proclamation issued on February 19, 1976.

Upon signing the proclamation, President Ford remarked:

Within this proclamation, one reads: “An honest reckoning… must include a recognition of our national mistakes as well as our national achievements.  Learning from our mistakes is not pleasant, but as a great philosopher once admonished, we must do so if we want to avoid repeating them.”

As we commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islanders Month, we hope this serves as a reminder of our problematic history, the need to constantly reexamine our past decisions, and the importance of making corrective action.

Authors: Brooke Clement and Dr. Richard Weld