Editing Executive Order 9066 (section)

== Opposition ==
According to a poll conducted in March 1942, majorities of Americans believed that the internment of Japanese Americans, regardless of citizenship, was appropriate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Public Opinion Poll on Japanese Internment - Americans and the Holocaust - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main/us-public-opinion-on-japanese-internment-1942 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250201121542/https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/main/us-public-opinion-on-japanese-internment-1942 |archive-date=2025-02-01 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=exhibitions.ushmm.org |language=en}}</ref> Because of the widespread support for the order, public opposition to it was minimal. Still, there were efforts made by prominent individuals to either stop or mitigate the effects of the order.

[[Norman Thomas]], chairman of the [[Socialist Party of America]], was a vocal critic of the order and worked to defend the rights of Japanese Americans. during the period of internment, he remained in contact with people in the camps, as well as various people and organizations involved in preserving the civil rights of Japanese Americans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=archives.nypl.org -- Norman Thomas papers |url=https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2975#detailed |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=archives.nypl.org}}</ref> In July 1942, Thomas published ''Democracy and Japanese Americans'', discussing the conditions inside the camps and the legality of the order.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Norman |date=January 2, 1942 |title=Democracy and Japanese Americans |url=https://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/democracyjapanese.pdf |access-date=April 1, 2025}}</ref> In late 1943, Thomas stated of the Japanese internment that "Congress and the President have created a dangerous precedent by adopting wholesale the totalitarian theories of justice by discrimination on the basis of racial affiliation."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1943-12-04 |editor-last=Manzanar Assembly Center (Calif.) |title=[Article] |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84025948/1943-12-04/ed-1/?sp=1&st=text&r=0.706,0.745,0.327,0.257,0 |access-date=2025-03-31 |work=Manzanar free press |pages=1 |language=japanese |oclc=ocm10795174}}</ref>

[[Eleanor Roosevelt]], who publicly stood behind the president, expressed concern in private about the necessity of the camps. She generally advocated for a more moderate approach to interring spies,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uenuma |first=Francine |date=2022-02-18 |title=80 Years Ago, Franklin Roosevelt Greenlit Japanese Internment. The First Lady Was a Steadfast Opponent |url=https://time.com/6148899/eleanor-roosevelt-japanese-internment/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref> and publicly stated the laws of the United States should apply equally to all citizens, regardless of race or nationality.<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 16, 1941 |url=https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydocedits.cfm?_y=1941&_f=md056057 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=www2.gwu.edu}}</ref>