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  • Order 9066

    Chapter 2: The Order

    After Pearl Harbor, pressure grew to forcibly relocate all persons of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific coast. On Feb. 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.

    March 5, 2018

    A Japanese American boy in San Francisco
    A Japanese American boy in San Francisco waits to be sent with his family to an assembly center at the Santa Anita racetrack. A military policeman looks on.AP
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    Chapter 2: The Order
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    After Pearl Harbor, pressure grew to forcibly relocate all persons of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific coast. Long-held white prejudice against Asian immigrants and war hysteria fueled the animosity.

    On Feb. 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans from California, Oregon and Washington.

    People of Japanese ancestry were told they could only bring what they could carry to so-called internment camps. Families scrambled to sell or store virtually all of their possessions, including treasured heirlooms, shop inventory and farm equipment. They struggled to decide what to take with them into an uncertain future.

    This episode tells the story behind FDR's decision to sign Order 9066, and Japanese Americans recall the painful process of leaving their lives and belongings — and even their family pets — behind.

    NARRATORS
    Pat Suzuki
    Sab Shimono
    PRODUCERS
    Kate Ellis
    Stephen Smith

    EDITOR
    Mary Beth Kirchner
    THEME MUSIC
    Genji Siraisi

    AUDIO MIX
    Corey Schreppel
    Stephen Smith

    SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY PRODUCTION TEAM: Jennifer Jones, Noriko Sanefuji, Valeska Hilbig.

    APM REPORTS PRODUCTION TEAM: Mike Reszler, Nathan Tobey, Chris Worthington, Alex Baumhardt, Hana Maruyama, Emerald O'Brien, Shelly Langford, Andy Kruse.

    SPECIAL THANKS: Densho — The Japanese American Legacy Project.

    Support for Order 9066 comes from the Terasaki Family Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and Penelope Scialla.

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