Collection is open for research.
Civilian exclusion order no. 49, gift of Lewis E. Nichols, August 1978.
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.
Civilian Exclusion Orders Nos. 18-98, Mss 1321, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Civilian exclusion order No. 46, Coll 102; Civilian exclusion order No. 49, Coll 207; and Broadside of Western Defense Command instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry, Coll 619, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection includes broadside exclusion orders, Nos. 18-98, 1942, ordering all persons of Japanese ancestry to evacuate, and broadside "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry," April 24-May 27, 1942.
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