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The Historical Presidency : From Truman to Trump: Presidents' Use and Abuse of the Incarceration of Japanese Americans
Author(s) -
Pistol Rachel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/psq.12695
Subject(s) - presidency , injustice , civil liberties , political science , redress , honor , law , democracy , criminology , sociology , politics , computer science , operating system
Abstract From Harry Truman to Barack Obama, both Republican and Democratic presidents have recognized the injustice suffered by Japanese Americans incarcerated under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, offering apologies and redress, including the 1988 Civil Liberties Act signed by Ronald Reagan. This article contextualizes the vast gulf between Donald Trump's use of this contested history and all postwar presidents before him and finds that Trump embodies a changed Republican Party that refuses to honor and learn from the injustice of Japanese American incarceration during the Second World War.