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Description
Introduction to select photographs in Flaherty Collection Album notes. Transcript: February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under Executive Order No. 9066, authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders designated by the Secretary to prescribe military areas from which any and all person might be excluded as a matter of military necessity. March 2, 1942, Lieutenant General J.L. DeWitt, Commanding General, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, under this Executive Order, established Military areas No. 1 and 2, by issuance of Public Proclamation No. 1, and set in motion the history-making evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry from prescribed Pacific Coast areas. March 11, 1942, the Wartime Civil Control Administration was established as an operating agency under the supervision of the Civil Affairs Division of the General Staff of the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army. It was directed, in cooperation with other agencies of the Army and civilian agencies, to establish centers for the housing of Japanese evacuees and carry out all other details of evacuation operations as required by the Commanding General, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army. The series of selected photographs on the following pages, assembled from a number of sources, show phases of the evacuation program, and the final eight photographs show construction activity and completed facilities in Relocation Centers. The construction, equipment and initial supply of Relocation Centers was a function of Western Defense Command. The United States Engineers also were responsible to the Commanding General for the construction of the Relocation Centers.
The War Relocation Authority (WRA), together with the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), the Civil Affairs Division (CAD) and the Office of the Commanding General (OFG) of the Western Defense Command (WDC) operated together to segregate and house some 110,000 men women and children from 1942 to 1945. The collection contains documents and photographs relating to the establishment and administrative workings of the (WDC), the (WRA) and the (WCCA) for the year 1942.
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