Tolan Committee and the internment of Japanese Americans

Within three months of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which allowed military commanders to establish zones of military importance within which they could remove any person considered dangerous, specifically those of Japanese descent. The Tolan Committee, a House committee examining the logistics of the new wartime economy, was immediately sent to the West Coast in order to evaluate the merit of the President's policy. They were presented with the most complete set of arguments both supporting and opposing internment, and were therefore in a unique position to make a well-informed decision regarding the internment of over 100,000 persons. Despite the strength of the arguments of the opposition, the Committee abdicated their power and submitted to the will of the President and the military. In succumbing to fear, the Committee legitimized the policy of internment without making a truly objective decision.