Final Report. Japanese Evacuation From The West Coast 1942

DEWITT, J. L. [LIEUTENANT GENERAL, U. S. ARMY, COMMANDING]

Publication: United States Government Printing Office, 1943, Washington

First edition. Thick 8vo. Inked presentation inscription "To Col. Truman R. Young with best wishes and pleasant memories of our service together. J. L. DeWitt, Gen. U. S. A. Ret., Washington, D. C., Nov. 11, 1959." Cloth, titles stamped in gold gilt on the front cover and spine, xxiii [blank], 618 pp., foreword, illustrated from photographs, charts, tables, maps, diagrams, and three large folding maps, glossary of terms, appendices, index. An illustrated government report on the need for and means of relocating Japanese citizens of the United States during World War II. Includes several leaves of photographs showing happy internees going about daily tasks. This copy has an especially interesting and desirable provenance: it is inscribed by Gen John L. DeWitt to Col. Truman R. Young on the front endpaper. Gen. DeWitt (1880-1962) was in charge of the Western Defense Command at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As such he was responsible for recommending the removal and internment of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, a plan which he then proceeded to implement, as laid-out in the present volume. When the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and thrust the United States into the war, Truman Young was aide-de-camp to DeWitt, and from March 16 to Aug. 8, 1942, he was temporarily reassigned to the new Civil Affairs Division established under the Wartime Civil Control Administration to implement President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 of February 1942, expelling "all persons of Japanese ancestry, including aliens and non-aliens," from West Coast military zones. Accompanying this copy is a related archive of papers and photographs. The archive includes three original photographs of DeWitt and Young together, DeWitt by himself, and a Signal Corps photograph of DeWitt and other officers on parade, saluting. Additionally there are fourteen letters signed by DeWitt and addressed to Young (three are hand written, the others typed), dating from November 1943 to April 1947, with a number from 1946, referring to Young's run for Congress. Stamp of "JAG, USAF" on front pastedown sheet and rear fly leaf, small inked page numbers at top of front pastedown sheet that refer to pages where Col. Young is mentioned in the book, and minor wear to spine ends, else a very good, clean copy.

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