President Reagan's at the Japanese-American Internment Compensation Bill signing on August 10, 1988

the President of the United States hello you thank you all very much members of Congress and distinguished guests my fellow Americans we gather here today to write a grave wrong more than 40 years ago shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor a hundred and twenty thousand persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in makeshift internment camps this action was taken without trial without jury it was based solely on race for these hundred and twenty thousand were Americans of Japanese descent yes the nation was then at war struggling for its survival and it's not for us today to pass judgment upon those who may have made mistakes while engaged in that great struggle yet we must recognize that the internment of japanese-americans was just that a mistake for throughout the war japanese-americans in the tens of thousands remained utterly loyal to the United States indeed scores of japanese-americans volunteered for our armed forces many stepping forward in the internment camps themselves the 442nd Regimental Combat Team made up entirely of japanese-americans served with immense distinction to defend this nation their nation yet back at home the soldiers families were being denied the very freedom for which so many of the soldiers themselves were laying down their lives Congressman Norman Mineta with us today was ten years old when his family was interned in the congressman's words my own family was sent first to Santa Anita racetrack we showered in the horse paddocks some families lived in converted stables others in hastily thrown together barracks we were then moved to Hart Mountain Wyoming where our entire family lived in one small room of a rude tarpaper barrack like so many tens of thousands of others the members of the Minetta family lived in those conditions not for a matter of weeks or months but for three long years the legislation that I am about to sign provides for a restitution payment to each of the 60,000 survivors Japanese surviving Japanese Americans of the hundred and twenty thousand who were relocated or detained yet no payment can make up for those lost years so what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor for here we admit a wrong here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law I'd like to note that the bill I'm about to sign also provides funds for members of the Aleut community who were evacuated from the aleutian and Pribilof islands after a Japanese attack in 1942 this action was taken for the elutes own protection but brought property was lost or damaged that has never been replaced and now in closing I wonder whether you'd permit me one personal reminiscence one prompted by an old newspaper report sent to me by Roseau chee a former attorney the clipping comes from the Pacific Citizen and is dated December 1945 arriving by plane from Washington the article begins General Joseph W Stilwell pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on Mary Masuda in a simple ceremony on the porch of her small frame shack near talbert orange county she was one of the first Americans of Japanese ancestry to return from relocation centers to California's farmlands vinegar Joe Stilwell was there that day to honor Kazuo Masuda Mary's brother you see while Mary and her parents were in an internment camp kazuo served a staff sergeant to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in one action Casula ordered his men back and advanced through heavy fire hauling a mortar for twelve hours he engaged in a single-handed barrage of Nazi positions several weeks later at casino kazuo staged another loan advance this time it cost him his life the newspaper clipping notes that her two surviving brothers were with Mary and her parents on the little porch that morning these two brothers like the heroic Kazuo had served in the United States Army after general Stilwell made the award the motion picture actress Louise Allbritton a Texas girl told how a Texas battalion had been saved by the 442nd other showbusiness personalities paid tribute Robert Young Will Rogers jr. and one young actor said blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color America stands unique in the world the only country not founded on race but on a way on an ideal not in spite of but because of our polyglot background we have had all the strength in the world that is the American Way the name of that young yeah I hope I pronounced this right was Ronald Reagan and yes the ideal of liberty and justice for all that is still the American Way thank you and God bless you and now let me sign HR 442 so fittingly named in honor of the 442nd this is this is Mary huh no I'm sorry thank you all again and God bless you all I think this is a fine day

Channel: Reagan Library

Views: 68,213

Keywords: Ronald Reagan, U. S. National Archives, Reagan Presidential Library, Japanese-American Internment

Id: kcaQRhcBXKY

Length: 8min 52sec (532 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 20 2016