Civilian Exclusion Orders Nos. 18-98, 1942

The Western Defense Command (WDC) was a branch of domestic Army command that was responsible for defense of the Pacific Coast and the western United States during World War II. John L. DeWitt served as the first commanding general of the WDC following its establishment on March 17, 1941. The WDC advocated for and implemented the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States under Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. EO 9066 authorized prescribed military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded." General DeWitt issued a series of 108 Civilian Exclusion Orders to systematically remove all persons of Japanese ancestry from designated military areas in California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. These orders resulted in the forced removal and incarceration of over 110,000 people on the basis of race without court hearings or any evidence of wrongdoing. The WDC was officially disbanded on March 6, 1946, following the conclusion of World War II.