By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans

by Greg Robinson

Book Overview

On February 19, 1942, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese Army successes in the Pacific, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a fateful order. In the name of security, Executive Order 9066 allowed for the summary removal of Japanese aliens and American citizens of Japanese descent from their West Coast homes and their incarceration under guard in camps. Amid the numerous histories and memoirs devoted to this shameful...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674006399
• ISBN13: 9780674006393
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Well-done critique and rethinking of the WWII internment

In this book, Greg Robinson reexamines one of the most controversial incidents in American history: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's decision to relocate more than 100,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, to internment camps for the duration of World War II. In this book, Mr. Robinson argues that scholars have not sufficiently examined Roosevelt's role in formulating and implementing the internment policy. Previous studies sought to explain FDR's decision primarily as a pragmatic reaction to political pressure from military and political leaders on the West Coast who feared pro-Japanese fifth-column activities, as well as powerful nativist groups motivated by racial prejudice and economic self-interest. While acknowledging the importance of these factors, Robinson also argues that standard accounts typically underplay two additional and important factors that influenced Roosevelt's controversial final decision: his own view of Japanese Americans as immutably foreign, and the weaknesses of his hands-on, competitive administrative management style.As for the accusations and charges that all Japanese Americans were probably disloyal and untrustworthy, it should be known that Japanese Americans did volunteer to join the US Army to fight against the Germans. For example if you read the book Go For Broke (written by Chester Tanaka), it tells about the bravery of the Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442d Regimental Combat Team during World War II. They were the most decorated unit in the United States Army; at least 680 of them were killed in action fighting the Germans.The 100th Infantry Battalion fought in North Africa and Italy, joining the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in June 1944. They fought in Italy, France, and Germany, rescued the "Lost Battalion," and their 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberated the survivors at the Dachau death camp. Of the 10,000 volunteers for the all-American combat unit, 1200 came from mainland U.S. concentration camps and the rest from Hawaii, where Executive Order 9066 to intern the West Coast Japanese-American community did not apply.So if Japanese-Americans were considered to be so untrustworthy and disloyal, then why would the United States Army allow young Japanese-American men from internment camps to join their ranks to fight against the Germans?

A Well-Rounded, Enjoyable Read

`By Order of the President' is a book that attempts to show how involved Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the internment of a group of Americans during World War II (more specifically, the Americans whom ancestrally came from Japan). The book starts out by detailing FDR's youth and pre-presidential opinions of the Japanese portion of the American population, as well as his position on the Japanese of Japan's population. It then proceeds to present the events that led to the internment and how the president contributed to the process. After the preliminary details on internment, Robinson goes on to bring forth facts and information in accordance with the continuation and eventual dismemberment of the internment as well as Roosevelt's involvement in the process. Robinson's work presents many facets of popular and unpopular interpretations of FDR's involvement in the events leading to, and beginning the internment - as well as presenting details as to why each opinion is in existence. His book notably allows the reader to see into the meetings and investigations that went into the original initiation of the internment, as well as the misinterpretations and lies that led to the ongoing existence of internment. Robinson sets out to show the true circumstances and events surrounding the prosecution and incarceration of the so-called Japanese American population as well as the involvement of the president in the matter, who seems to have actually been in support of the internment. The book presents its literary style in a very attractive manner and will keep the reader involved, despite the fact that the author does seem to use commas a bit excessively. Despite the title of the book, however, the book mostly centers on the positions and deliberations of the president's advisors - something that needs to be presented, but is focused on exceedingly in this case. Nevertheless, the factual evidence about FDR that Robinson does present is compelling and is demonstrative of the true nature of FDR. The facts are largely presented in such a way as not to force an opinion on the reader, but rather to allow the reader to come upon their own conclusions - a writing style that is seemingly growing rarer with every passing year. Overall, `By Order of the President' is a work that should not go ignored and which presents the opinions of the president on internment, as well as how these opinions led to the internment of Americans under the pretext that they were dangerous due to their ancestry. Robinson presents a pleasing literary style and I personally look forward to any future publications by the author. The book is therefore highly suggested for anyone interested in Franklin D. Roosevelt, civil rights, American history, or the World War II era in general.

please!!

to whoever wrote the review about "sickening anti-americanism"- that is completely ridiculous. the conditions in the internment camps are not the issues i am speaking of; it was the concept of forcefully interning american citizens that i find disgusting. that you defend this action is even more disgusting. perhaps you should rate the book- which i found extremely interesting- more on the basis of the information it gave rather than your view of American presidents being unable to do any wrong.

Important history lesson

While United States pop culture has tradditionally portrayed the 40's as a binary of freedom vs. facism, this book exposes the truth that had long been supressed behind ideological walls. The United States was in fact guilty of it's own internment of an entire group of people based on their involuntary membership in a subordinated group. Although taken to a lesser extent than that of the Nazi's, the actual reality of the country's actions severely clashes with the images of freedom and justice used to marshall support for the war effort. Paranoia and bias about the potential actions of a few people led to the stereotyping of millions. Their only crime was being of Asian descent in a world where racism and fear was rampant. The actual event in itself is still shocking, but what is even more shocking was that it happened under one of the great liberals whose presidency had been irevocably cross-referenced with the quest for social justice. FDR had openly built his presidency on advocating for the disavantaged and giving them access to the American dream, something which obviously did not happen here.

A very interesting concise political history and unique POV

Few Americans remember that in Winter 1942, weeks after the Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, officers of the U.S. Army rounded up American citizens of Japanese ancestry on the Pacific coast and sent them to internment camps on the orders of President F.D. Roosevelt (Executive Order 9066, 2/19/42). The order never said "Japanese", but it was directed towards the Issei , the first generation resident aliens who mostly arrived before 1907 and were forbidden by law to become citizens; the Nisei, the American born citizens of the second generation; and the Kibei, those Nisei who had been sent back to Japan for school. J. Edgar Hoover (FBI) said it was unnecessary as did Atty General Biddle. But Secretary of War Stimson advocated an "evacuation" and confiscation of Japanese American property. This is a fascinating book by Professor Robinson, which attempts to show that FDR himself took an active part in this order, and had his own anti-Japanese motives, both from his accumulated experience in the Navy, the Rape of Nanking, his sense of Japan as a rival, his family's great affection for China (Grandpa Warren Delano lived in Guanzhou), and his friendships with Captain Nomura, O. Matsukatam, and R. Asano. Whether or not you end up agreeing with the author's thesis, I still recommend this book as an excellent POLITICAL history of the period and the players, including the Federal Reserve (I had never heard of the Alien Land Act of 1913)