Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC)

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC)
Name	Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
Formed	1980
Dissolved	1983
Jurisdiction	United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Key people	John J. Hogan; Robert J. Donovan; J. Anthony Lukas
Report	Personal Justice Denied

Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was a United States federal commission created to investigate the treatment of Japanese Americans and other groups during World War II, culminating in the 1983 report "Personal Justice Denied." The commission examined actions by agencies such as the Executive Order 9066, War Relocation Authority, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the War Department and produced findings that influenced Civil Liberties Act of 1988, redress movements, and subsequent historical scholarship.

Background and establishment

The CWRIC was established amid activism linking the efforts of organizations like the Japanese American Citizens League, National Japanese American Historical Society, Asian American Political Alliance, and individuals inspired by works such as No-No Boy and scholarship by Peter Irons and Michi Weglyn. Congressional debates in the late 1970s invoked precedents set by inquiries into McCarthyism, Tuskegee syphilis study, and Church Committee investigations into the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Support from legislators including Senator Alan Cranston, Representative Norman Mineta, and Representative Robert Matsui aided passage of the enabling statute signed into law by President Jimmy Carter.

Mandate and membership

The statute charged CWRIC to investigate wartime relocations, internment operations, and related policies affecting Japanese Americans, Japanese Latin Americans, and others detained by Department of Justice internment or held at Manzanar War Relocation Center, Tule Lake War Relocation Center, and Gila River War Relocation Center. Commissioners included public figures and scholars such as J. Anthony Lukas, John J. Hogan, and Robert J. Donovan and advisors drawn from institutions like Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Columbia University, and Georgetown University. The mandate required review of classified materials from National Archives and Records Administration, Department of Defense, and agency records from War Relocation Authority and Office of Naval Intelligence.

Investigations and methodology

CWRIC employed legal analysts, historians, and social scientists who used methodologies comparable to those used by Kerner Commission and Commission on Civil Disorders, combining document review, depositions, and public hearings. The commission subpoenaed archives from Federal Bureau of Investigation, War Department, Department of Justice, Office of Strategic Services, and Civilian Exclusion Order records, and convened hearings in cities with large Japanese American Citizens League membership such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu. Testimony included contributions from survivors of Internment of Japanese Americans, attorneys like Wayne Collins, civil rights advocates from American Civil Liberties Union, and scholars such as Earl Warren’s contemporaries and critics, while cross-referencing media accounts from outlets like the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle.

Findings and conclusions (Report: "Personal Justice Denied")

The commission’s majority report, "Personal Justice Denied," concluded that exclusion, removal, and incarceration were not justified by military necessity but resulted from "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership," citing failures of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, recommendations by military figures in the Western Defense Command, and actions by local officials in California, Washington (state), and Oregon. The report documented falsified evidence in Military Intelligence Service and FBI reports, identified influential roles played by leaders in the California State Guard and the Office of the Secretary of War, and criticized judicial responses including decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States in cases like Korematsu v. United States and Hirabayashi v. United States. Minority and concurring opinions addressed complex issues involving national security precedents such as those arising from Ex parte Endo.

Recommendations and impact

CWRIC recommended a formal apology from the President of the United States, congressional passage of remedial legislation, and monetary compensation to surviving internees, alongside educational initiatives involving institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, state legislatures, and school systems in California, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C.. The commission urged revision of archival procedures at the National Archives and Records Administration and called for public memorials near former sites like Manzanar National Historic Site, Topaz War Relocation Center (Delta), and Minidoka National Historic Site. Scholars and activists from Japanese American National Museum, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, and university presses incorporated the report into curricula and exhibits.

Congressional response and reparations

Following CWRIC, Congress held hearings in which figures including Senator Alan Cranston, Representative Norman Mineta, and Representative Robert Matsui led efforts toward redress, producing the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 signed by President Ronald Reagan. The Act provided $20,000 payments to eligible survivors and established an Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, influencing legal settlements for Japanese Latin Americans and prompting reconsideration of wartime legal doctrines in cases revisited by courts, administrative bodies, and advocacy groups such as the Japanese American Citizens League and National Coalition for Redress/Reparations.

Legacy and historical significance

CWRIC’s work reshaped historiography on World War II civil liberties, informing subsequent studies by historians like Michiko Hasegawa and influencing museum exhibitions at the Japanese American National Museum and curricula at universities including University of California, Los Angeles and University of Hawaiʻi. The commission’s findings have been cited in debates over executive power involving later controversies such as post-9/11 detentions and influenced scholarly comparisons with programs like Internment of German Americans during World War II and civil liberties inquiries in the wake of Watergate. Memorials, documentaries, and literary responses—from survivors’ memoirs to academic monographs—continue to reference CWRIC as a pivotal institutional reckoning with wartime injustice.

Category:United States commissions Category:Japanese American history Category:World War II controversies