Editing Executive Order 9066 (section)

==Termination, apology, and redress==
[[File:President Gerald R. Ford Signing a Proclamation Confirming the Termination of Executive Order 9066 in the Cabinet Room - NARA - 30805921.jpg|thumb|left|President Gerald Ford signs a proclamation confirming the termination of Executive Order 9066 (February 19, 1976)]]
In 1943 and 1944, Roosevelt did not release those incarcerated in the camps despite the urgings of Attorney General [[Francis Biddle]] and Secretary of Interior [[Harold L. Ickes]]. Ickes blamed the president's failure to act on his need to win California in a potentially close election. In December 1944, Roosevelt suspended the Executive Order after the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decision ''[[Ex parte Endo]]''.<ref>Beito, p. 194.</ref> Detainees were released, often to resettlement facilities and temporary housing, and the camps were shut down by 1946.<ref name=Calisphere/>

On February 19, 1976, President [[Gerald Ford]] signed a proclamation formally terminating Executive Order 9066 and apologizing for the internment, stated: "We now know what we should have known then—not only was that evacuation wrong but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans. On the battlefield and at home the names of Japanese Americans have been and continue to be written in history for the sacrifices and the contributions they have made to the well-being and to the security of this, our common Nation."<ref>[http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/760111p.htm President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4417] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204124325/http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/760111p.htm |date=December 4, 2017 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=President Gerald R. Ford's Remarks Upon Signing a Proclamation Concerning Japanese-American Internment During World War II|url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/760111.htm|website=Ford Library Museum|access-date=January 30, 2017|archive-date=February 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217082149/https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/760111.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1980, President [[Jimmy Carter]] signed legislation to create the [[Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians]] (CWRIC). The CWRIC was appointed to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders, and their effects on Japanese Americans in the West and [[Alaska Natives]] in the [[Pribilof Islands]].

In December 1982, the CWRIC issued its findings in ''Personal Justice Denied'', concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. The report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". The Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official [[Federal Government of the United States|Government]] apology and redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; a public education fund was set up to help ensure that this would not happen again ({{USPL|100|383}}).

On August 10, 1988, the [[Civil Liberties Act of 1988]], based on the CWRIC recommendations, was signed into law by [[Ronald Reagan]]. On November 21, 1989, [[George H. W. Bush]] signed an appropriation bill authorizing payments to be paid out between 1990 and 1998. In 1990, surviving internees began to receive individual [[reparation (legal)|redress payments]] and a letter of apology. This bill applied to the Japanese Americans and to members of the Aleut people inhabiting the strategic [[Aleutian islands]] in Alaska who had also been relocated.<ref name="Civil Liberties Act">{{cite web | url=http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Topaz/id/6370 | title=Public Law 100-383 – The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 | publisher=Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center Digital Collection | date=August 10, 1988 | access-date=April 25, 2014 | author=US Government | archive-date=April 26, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426215007/http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Topaz/id/6370 | url-status=live }}</ref>