Roosevelt authorizes Japanese American exclusion with Executive Order 9066

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. The order authorizes military commanders to exclude people from designated areas, becoming the legal basis for the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.\n\nThe government frames the order as a wartime security measure after Pearl Harbor. In practice, it targets people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S. citizens, without individualized proof of disloyalty.\n\nThe event is a major example of federal racial exclusion carried out through military and executive power.