Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
Established in 1980, this bipartisan federal commission was
directed by Congress to review the facts and circumstances
surrounding Executive Order 9066 and its impact on American
citizens and permanent resident aliens as well as Alaskan
natives in the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands. To arrive at its
findings, the nine-member federally appointed body held hearings
in major U.S. cities and heard testimonies from more than 750
witnesses. Its conclusions were submitted in 1983 as Personal
Justice Denied, a unanimous report that formed the basis for the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granting wartime survivors a public
apology, individual reparations of $20,000, and a public
education fund. The notion of a federal commission to study the
wartime exclusion began in the 1970s as a divisive issue in the
Japanese American community. The Japanese American Citizens
League led by activist Edison Uno began a call for reparations
with a resolution introduced at its 1