Even under the one of the more successful administrations, the United States government is susceptible to fear and is given to imperialistic nature.

On this day in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of individuals “of Japanese ancestry” from the “military area” of the West Coast of the United States. 112,000 Japanese-Americans, many of them American-born citizens or naturalized immigrants, were forced to live in dismal conditions, under heavy military guard. Most lost their jobs and homes while imprisoned, and were penniless by the time of their release.

Courtesy of The Writer’s Almanac.