On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued a vague executive order: Executive Order 9066. This order granted the Secretary of War- Henry Lewis Stimson- the authority to designate military areas and restrict access to those areas by certain individuals. Excluded individuals could then be relocated to separate "accomodations" which would be overseen by the Secretary of War and his colleagues. Other members of the cabinet were instructed to furnish these accomodations. Though the terms of this order are not explicitly stated, it is clear that the order was intended to allow for the segregation of Japanese-Americans, German-Americans, and Italian-Americans who were often arrested or sent to internment camps following the issue of the order. The order is deliberately opaque in its transparency to avoid seeming openly racist. Roosevelt qualifies the order by declaring that the country was obligated to protect itself against espionage and sabotage in times of war.
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