Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was a group of people appointed by the U.S. Congress to conduct an official governmental study of Executive Order 9066, related wartime orders and their impact on Japanese Americans in the West and Alaska Natives in the Pribilof Islands.

In 1983, the CWRIC issued its findings in Personal Justice Denied, concluding that the incarceration of Japanese Americans had not been justified by military necessity. Rather, the report determined that the decision to incarcerate was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." Lastly, the Commission recommended legislative remedies consisting of an official Government apology; redress payments of $20,000 to each of the survivors; and a public education fund to help ensure that this would not happen again (Public Law 100-383).

Personal Justice Denied Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-600664; Joan Z. Bernstein, Chair; Daniel E. Lungren, Vice-Chair; Edward W. Brooke; Robert F. Drinan; Arthur S. Flemming; Arthur J. Goldberg; Ishmael V. Gromoff; William M. Marutani; Hugh B. Mitchell Angus Macbeth, Special Counsel