Speech #980006109

The later justifications offered by DeWitt in his Final Report on the exclusion and by the Justice Department which defended the exclusion in court also fail to demonstrate any military or security threat. In fact the realistic estimates of the time suggested that there was as much or more danger from other segments of the population. DeWitts contention that ethnicity determined loyalty was answered as early as May 1942. by a Congressional Cc.mmittee which examined the impact of the Executive Order in extensive hearings on the West Coast: "This testimony has impressed upon us in convincing fashion the fundamental fact that place of birth and technical noncitizenship alone provide no decisive criteria for assessing the alinement of loyalties in this worldwide conflict." True of aliens. that statement can only be more powerful with regard to Amercian citizens. Our legal system is founded on determining guilt or fault on an individual basis. and citizens must be given the presumption of loyalty. Moreover. the conclusion that ethnicity determined loyalty was not a military judgment deserving of any deference.