Editing Manzanar (section)

=== Designations ===
{{anchor|California Historical Landmark and Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument|California Historical Landmark|Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument|National Historic Landmark and National Historic Site}}
The Manzanar Committee's efforts resulted in the [[State of California]] naming Manzanar as [[California Historical Landmark]] #850 in 1972, with an historical marker being placed at the sentry post on April 14, 1973.<ref name="Reflections19" /><ref name="OHP">{{cite ohp|850|Manzanar|2012-10-07}}</ref> Manzanar, which had been historically owned by the City of Los Angeles, was registered as a [[Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument]] in 1976.<ref name="LAHCM_list" />
[[File:Manzanar Watchtower Sunset.jpg|left|thumb|Replica watch tower at the Manzanar National Historic Site, 2024]]
The Manzanar Committee also spearheaded efforts for Manzanar to be listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]], and in February 1985, Manzanar was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref name="Reflections19" /><ref name="NHL" /><ref name="NRHPINV2">{{cite web | author=Thompson, Irwin H. | title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination: Manzanar War Relocation Center/Manzanar Internment Camp | url={{NHLS url|id=76000484}} | publisher=U.S. National Park Service | format=PDF | date=August 12, 1984 | access-date=May 29, 2008}}</ref> Embrey and the committee, along with California representative [[Mel Levine]], led the effort to have Manzanar designated a [[National Historic Sites (United States)|National Historic Site]], and on March 3, 1992, President [[George H. W. Bush]] signed House Resolution 543 into law.<ref name="106 stat 40">106 Stat. 40; United States Statutes at Large, Volume 106, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session; Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act; To establish the Manzanar National Historic Site in the State of California, and for other purposes; Public Law 102-248. {{USStat|106|40}}.</ref><ref>{{USPL|102|248|Japanese American National Historic Landmark Theme Study Act}}.</ref> This [[act of Congress]] established the Manzanar National Historic Site "to provide for the protection and interpretation of the historical, cultural, and natural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II."<ref name="Legislation" /><ref name="GMP13–16">{{cite book | title=Manzanar National Historic Site: General Management Plan and Environmental Statement | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | pages=13–16 |date=August 1996}}</ref><ref name="Reflections20">Embrey (1998), p. 20.</ref> Five years later, the National Park Service acquired {{convert|814|acre|ha}} of land at Manzanar from the City of Los Angeles.<ref name="Reflections20" /> It was the first of the camps to be designated as a National Historical Site.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

{{anchor|Opposition to the creation of the Manzanar National Historic Site}}
After Congress named Manzanar a National Historic Site and gave the National Park Service the job of restoring the site in 1992, protests against its creation emerged. Letters were sent to the National Park Service included statements that Manzanar should be portrayed as a guest housing center, with others stating that calling the site a concentration camp is "treason", threatening dismissal campaigns against National Park Service employees and other related individuals, threatening to destroy buildings, and objecting to the use of the phrase "concentration camp" on signage at the site.<ref name="LATimes-Whitewash">{{cite news | last=Jones | first=Robert A. | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-10-me-56927-story.html | title=Whitewashing Manzanar: Various Veterans Groups want To (Bully) The Government Into Denying The Site of its Historic Meaning | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 10, 1996 | access-date=May 15, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518142020/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-10/local/me-56927_1_veterans-groups | archive-date=May 18, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> The California State historical marker was hacked and stained, with the first "C" of "concentration camp" ground off. A man describing himself as a World War II veteran stated that he had driven 200 miles to urinate on the marker.<ref name="LATimes-Bitter">{{cite news | last=Forstenzer | first=Martin | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-04-mn-54883-story.html | title=Bitter Feelings Still Run Deep at Camp | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=April 4, 1996 | access-date=May 15, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518142016/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-04/news/mn-54883_1_manzanar-internment-camp | archive-date=May 18, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>